Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1905-02-10
SILL HAS FAITH. .
L. L. Brooks, of This County,
Again Gives His Experience
on Benton Farm.

a farm a few miles north of this
city, contributed quite letter to
the Pacific Homestead OF Febru-
arv 2. Mr.. Brooks says that for
some ii ne he has ppndered over
the matter of how to maxi mon
ey on a valley farm and we qaote
his deductions as given in the
Homestead, as follows:
As the Homestead asks for the
experience Of people i'll success
and failure, I can give little of
mine. The two first years l did
not make a success OF farming;
as farming is so much different it
has to be learned over. Now the
outlook for the future is encour-
aging. l have come to the con-
cluslon that the Willamette val
ley farmer can make the most out
of vetch, alfalfa, cows and hogs;
these four handled right 'hrre
can be considerable made from
them. 1 mean the valley farm
er. l don't mean those living
out in the foothills or mountains
where there are mountain pastures
and plenty of out range.
First.-If you have an old
WORKOUT wheat farm SOW it to
vetch; it will pay if seed is 81
cents pound. 1t will grow a
goe d profitable crop on this old
ground.
Second Sow a 25-acre hog
pasture t. alfalfa; put it i'll right;
use land plaster and inoculated
alfalfa dirt. The first year do
not pasture, put cut it every three
weeks all summer. l might say,
to prepare the ground before SOW
ing manure the ground heavy,
then plow very deep, then pul-s
verize down very fine aud sow.
about May Ist. ti.
Third. a few Of the very
best mich cows, and Keep no
worthless cows that don't pay
their board. The number of
cows should depend on the size
of farm aud the help you have.
Fourth Get from three to 10
of the very best Poland Ch,na
brood )sows; the number should
be counted by the feed you. h ave
and the size of pasture. 1t takes
time to get ready to raise hogs.
You must have good fences,
shed, and the alfalfa pasture to
make them pay. Then cnt the
largest portion of the vetch for
hay, as hay the past four years
has been good price, and thresh
a few acres for seed. Grind up
the vetch screenings to fatten out
the hogs feed with separated
milk, but let the hogs run on the
alfalfa or clover all the time.
don't think It pays to put a hog
up in tight pen and fatten on
wheat; the ground feed with pas
ture is much cheaper and gives
the best results.
have just lately made up my
mind that alfalfa will do better
than clover, as my experience has
proved that way. With several
trials with red clover it has not
been satisfactory; it kills out toe
quickly and its yield was toe
light. 1t may be that people ex-
pect too much of it before the
ground gets inoculated so it will
do we'll. I prepared two acres o.
ground and sowed to alfalfa the
26th of May, 1904, and used lane
plaster and inoculated dirt from
an old alfalfa field, and after al
the extremely dry year the alfalfa
did fine.
I want to say for the benefit o
any Eastern people that may
read this, that this Willamette
valley is fine place to live-sucl
an even climate; people dom
have to freeze all winter and il
the summer set up all night ant
fan themselves to live as they d,
East. Can go to bed and sleel
comfortably any night in th
year. notice that after an East
erner comes here and stays
year or two he seldom goes Eas
to stay; several to nay knowledg
went back East but In less thai