Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1907-10-08
NOTES BY THE WAY
Observer Representative Spends a
Day Among Prosperous Farmers
and Dairymen of Pedee.

AlbhOuBH CuCC uuu GllO oulIOuHu-
ing country is settlement of nearly
as great age as the Airlie district, ii
gives to the casual visitor the impress
ion of being comparatively new
country, and one yet in its formative
state. There are two reasons for this,
the one being the natural contour of
the country, and the other the fact that
the farming industry in that region is
just at this time passing through a
transitional stage, which was COM
pleted several years ago in the neigh
borhood around Airlie.
Airlie lies farther out from the Coast
range proper, and the land has been
formed in long, low hillocks, with
gently rolling flanks and wide shallow
valleys. The characteristics of the
Pedee country are quite the contrary.
Flat plains Of alluvium lie between
huge knoblike crests, whose sides
are sheared away so steeply as to
make their cultivation a matter of
great difficulty. With its rougher,
wilder formation, this region has, and
will always have, the appearance of
being a younger country and of
having more virile, progressive life
within it than the land which lies
stretched out in placid prosperity in
the less rugged country farther out
from the flanks of the Coast range.
The farming industry in this region
is. as previously mentioned, in state
of transition. The growing of grain,
which is gradually being superseded
by fruit-raising and dairying in the.
Willamette Valley, is only beginning
to yield its place on the farms of the
Pedee. The farmers have tried dairy
farming and finding it more profit
able employment than wheat raising,
considering the amount Of work
required, are steadily adding to their
herds of cattle and as steadily decreas-
ing the number of acres planted in
grain each year. The Corvallis
creamery has established milk route
through this territory and is taking
out large amount of cream every
week.
B. Pickens has the largest herd of
cattle in this neighborhood, and
devotes his time entirely to dairy farm
ing. He has 80 COWS, and is increas-
ing his herd as rapidly as possible.
Jesse Yost comes next in order, with a
herd Of 16 COWS, from which he is
milking IA at the present time. G. A.
Pagenkopf, Thomas Kinchin and
r. A. Hastings are each milking six
COWS, and each says that he intends to
increase his herd next year. Nearly
all the people along the new milk route
are becoming awakened to the import
ance Of dairying, and it is probable
that five years of time will see this
locality one Of the most thriving dairy
regions in Polk county.
r. A. Hastings, in speaking of his
success in the work up to this time,
said that during the summer, while he
was milking six COWS, he averaged one
dollar day on the sale OF the cream,
aside from what he kept for family use.
These results were obtained without
any special feeding. The COWS were
turned out into the pastures and
allowed to Craze where they would.
Although the interest in fruit raising
has been awakened along with dairy
farming, little has been done along
that line thus far except to prune and
clean up the old orchards that had
become diseased and in a measure
unproduetive through years of neglect.
Yet there is every indication that fruit
growing has received the impulse that
will cause it to develop, because nearly
every man who is interested in dairy
ing also declares his intention to
make the culture Of fruit one of his
occupations in future.
Those steep, rugged hillsides that
now lie untitled and unproductive,
giving the richness of their red soil to
nourish nothing but tangles Of under
brush, are already being found out at
their true value. No better soil can
be found for the production of apples,
or the culture OF fine vineyards. Under
the movement for development that is
now under way, in the hands Of the
progressive and intelligent people who
dwell in that locality, it is probable
that in few years much of the blue
ribbon fruit Of our Blue Ribbon
County will be grown and harvested
in the Pedee country.
DEAN COLLINS.