The Western news., 1904-04-13


1t is said that little vaseline rub
bed on the teats of COW that is
hard to milk with dry hands will an
swer every purpose of fabrication and
make such cows easy to milk. 1t is
worth trying.
Foresight Is a most valuable trait
for a farmer to cultivate. His present
is so closely linked with his future that
If he cannot look ahead his chance of
winning success is slim. Varying pres
ent conditions compel equally varying
future ones.
1t is the woman who has much to do
with the unsurpassed excellence of
Dutch cheese and Danish butter. and
the best type of European women in
the matter Of health, strength and
beauty is found in direct connection
with the dairy business.
We note that the English sparrow
has great liking for the long and
plant fibers which are to be found on
all telegraph and telephone poles when
they get the nest building fever on
We saw a dozen of these birds at work
on one pole the other day busily strip
ping the fiber off.
One of the very best types of Euro
pean agriculture is to be found in Hol-
land on lands reclaimed from the ocean
and which lie twenty feet below the
level Of the ocean, protected from it by
dikes. These lands, largely in grass,
are made to produce an annual income
Of 500 per acre and over.
A growing industry and a new one
Is the production of bulbs on the is
lands in Puget sound, where climatic
and soil conditions favor the produc-
ton of bulbs-lilies, tulips, gladioluses,
hyacinths-in every way the equal of
those produced in Holland, a country
which has enjoyed monopoly of the
business for centuries.
One very pleasing feature of the
present spring is the temperance of
the bluebirds in large numbers. For
several years they entirely disappear
ed, and we thought we had entirely
lost this most CHEEKY harbinger of
spring, but here he is back again,
ready to go to housekeeping as of old
In the box you have prepared for him.
We think that the owner Of the sandy
farm is more to be pitied than any 9TH
er farmer. The wind whips his fields,
In a dry season he can raise nothing
and in wet one his fertilizers are
leached away and largely lost. We
could stand a billy farm, a fat and
wet one, stiff clay and quite a sprin-
king of rocks, but would steer clear
Of the sandy farm.
The breakfast food craze has about
subsided. Scores of concerns which
claimed for a tablespoonful of parched
wheat or other grain a nutritive value
equal to a pound Of beefsteak have
gone to the wall and quit business.
Breakfast food is all right, and few
OF the old standbys in oat and wheat
preparations survive, while the high
priced trash has almost disappeared, to
the great relief Of the retail grocers all
over the country.
Very primitive methods still prevail
on many Of the best farms in Europe.
The wooden plow still stirs the rich
soil of the Nile valley. The scythe still
cuts the harvest Of hay and grain in
the Netherlands. The wheatfields of
England are still cleaned by the wo-
men, as in the days Of Boaz. The cul-
tivated area of the island Of Jersey is
nearly all spaded over by hand. Dogs
take the place Of horses as haulers of
produce in Belgium, and the vast beet
fields of Germany represent an almost
Infinite amount of patient and unceas-
ing hand labor.
Science Is doing more for agriculture
and its allied branches today than for
any other profession. In the line of
manufacturing, mining transportation
and engineering it would seem as
though the limit Of improvement was
well nigh reached, while with agri-
culture the field Of possibilities is ev-
cry day widening. The abundance and
cheapness of land In the past, which
made it possible and easier to draw
lpon the earth's stored fertility than
to devise ways and means of conserv-
ing such fertility and increasing the
yield Of farm products, have come to a
full stop, and the question Of fewer
pcres. larger crops, a more humane
and intelligent treatment Of the soil
confronts every farmer. Within five
years more has been learned about soil
physics, the value Of improved seed
and breeds Of domestic animals, the
numberless insect and bacterial pests
which beset the crops and stock, than
during the entire period of agricultural
Development in this country. This
most valuable knowledge is constantly
Increasing in power and widening In
It's scope through the medium Of agri.