The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-05-15

JOlu the SIOTN W llluSlIdlS luS ldSI ehiS
irrigation would turn barren and worth
less land into orchards worth $4,000 per
acre. This was very pleasing to most
of the Yakima county people and it has
been published for and wide. But the
report so widely spread abroad is hav-
ing a bad effect, for people are shun-
ming a country where land is worth
$4,000 an acre. One of the papers pub
lished in North Yakima recently pointed
out this injurious effect and cautioned
the people about circulating such re-
ports People who are coming west are
not looking for land estimated so high
When 1 was in Portland in charge of
the Yakima county exhibit, thousands
of people stopped to admire our wonder
full fruits and other products and then
would come the inevitable question:
What is land worth in that county,
1t required no little caution in an
swering that question. One day a man
was present from Yakima county, who
owns a valuable small farm almost ad-
Joining the townsite of North Yakima
and he blurted out when this constantly
recurring question was asked: 'One
thousand dollars an acre The inquirer
answered, I'VE are not looking for
country where land is worth $1,000 per
acre" and off he walked I cautioned
this man about such an answer with
out any qualification. He admitted the
wisdom of my suggestion. [ tried to
make it rule to explain to inquirers
how exceedingly productive are irri-
gated lands, with no failures of crops
and how many people were making
living and laying up money on twenty
acre tracts or even less. Then L eX-
planned to them that such lands could
be bought for $50 an acre and up ac-
cording to location and improvements.
In this way many were induced to go
there and look at the country and many
of them are living there now. The
same thing was done by. the men who
represented other counties in the state.
1t is safe to say that had we merely
paraded the fact that some of our lands
were worth $1,000 or more per acre we
would have proven ourselves effectual
barriers to immigration into our res
pective counties.
Y
A friend of mine here in Seattle
went over into the Yakima valley few
days ago and bought fine piece of
unimrroved land six miles north of
North Yakima for 1928 per acre, Sc
curing a good water right with his
twenty acres at that price. Such an
occurrence as that will do more to bring
in new settlers than the exploiting of
the fact that some man sold a ten-acre
tract joining the city at $4,000 per acre.
+
| was reading an advertisement the
other day in which I find the statement
that a certain kind of spray material
containing a large percentage OF soap
is valuable not only as an insecticide
and fungicide, but also as fertilizer
because the soap contains potash and
whale oil. Perhaps the fellow who
prepared this statement does not know
any better and he may find some
suckers who will bite at such a NOR
sell There is but one trouble about
such statement and that is, it is not
true. Potash is a valuable FERTILIZER
and possibly there may be some value
in whale oil for that purpose, but you
can not put fertilizers into trees through
the leaves. There is but one thing
that goes into a tree through the leaves
that helps to build it up and that is
carbon in the form of carbOnic acid or
carbon dioXide Not even water enters
the tree through the leaves in quaint
ties amounting to anything The upper
sides of the leaves are impervious to
water or anything else. The carbon
dioxide enters through the under sides
of the leaves, which are so constructed
as to have a vast number of minute
openings called stomata or mouths, and
nothing but gas can enter through these
openings. vast amount of water es-
capes through these stomata by evapor'
alton in the hot sunshine The water
goes out in vapOr and the carbon di-
oxide comes in through the leaves and