Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-03-18

SfSNS s'S @oTo WIN SulIl-
vator and Won With His Nerve and
srains-OIe's Experience With Potato
Growing.
This Is the story Of q farmer who
won because he had nerve and under
standing enough to sit down on his
land and fight it out to finish, Il
farmer who had never heard Of the
word discouragement and whose only
definition Of failure was that 1t meant
try again little harder" also 1t Is
| the tale Of a man who farmed as much
with his head as he did with his hands,
| and he did an enormous amount Of
work with those latter.
His name-nOt that 1t matters par
ticularly-is Ole Martin, and six years
ago he drifted into these United States
from Sweden. where he had been farm
Ing In rocky and exhausted land for
! fifteen years. Six months after his
arrival ut New York he was in Alaska
and six months after that he had a few
acres of land on the kenai peninsula.
Then he began to farm. There were
no neighbors-not then. ut least. for 1t
was not until later that taciturn
Scot sat down short distance away
and began to farm on his own &C.
| count
| Had No Dogs or Horses.
| The location was three and half
miles north of the new town of Sew
ard, and there WIS no railroad: also
there were no horses and ut first not
even Il dog. So supplies had ~ be
packed In. a man who has never
carried sixty to Il hundred pounds on
his back over rough. unbroken coun-
try can only imagine that. Ground
had to be broken and cleared. Then it
had to be prepared for sowing. and
the old methods Of Sweden and the
United States even were useless Mar
His results were watery caricatures
Of the potato of commerce He had
got his seeds from Seattle. and he
tried again and failed again. Then he
began to farm with his head. He pro-
ceeded to educate his potatoes and
teach them to grow respectfully. This
could only be done by growing and re-
seeding Soon he had real potatoes
and began to sell them.
Cultivation was II problem. for with
out tools it was difficult. Martin sOlv-
ell this problem. however. In his own
patient way. lie built himself hand
machine and pushed 1t himself with
prodigous labor. Later. when he had
secured a dog team. he broke them to
haul the cultivator. 1t was a severe
task. for he was alone There was no
hired man-just Ole himself and the
dogs.
Decided on Garden Truck.
Finding himself SO close to n grow
ing community. Martin saw that in
garden produce there would be mar
ket. and he set to put some seven
| acres under cultivation. In nearly oil
his work he had trouble with his seeds.
Those from the States would not grow
well in soil where there were 14O
inches of rainfall In year. and so he
had to educate his turnips. his cauli-
flower, carrots. cabbages and the rest
to grow In damp soil.
The government maintains expert
mcnt stations. but these were and are
too few: also they are only experiment
stations. and the real work must be
done by the real farmer. Martin went
through 1t all. and he built his log
house. barn and outbuildings. He cuts
his hay--tons Of it-by hand and ricks
1t alone. He finds time for flowers.
and these are his amusements. He
built an incubator and Is raising chick
ems and Is housing them In a log
house equipped with IA stove. Every
bit Of work OH the place-every last
tap-has been done by this farmer sin
gle handed lie has combined the
work Of the experiment stations and
the farm. and to him Is due the sue
cess Of farming on the Renal. Now
thu. railroad has come to him. and he
AN ship his products in to Seward.
even across the sound to Cordova and
Valdez. and he Is we'll TO do.
Fought Twenty Hours q Day.
| But the trials and the fight Of those
early days. when he was wrestling
| twenty hours of n summer day and
eight hours Of winter twilight with
Il rough. semiarctic country. pushing a
clumsy. homemade cultivator by hand
and smiling cheerfully. will not soon
fade. nor will the days when eighteen
hours Of yellow sunlight brought the
seeds rushing to the surface and ma
tured them In five weeks. Those were
the moments when he saw the things
the future held. And he's not going
to sell out and go back to Sweden.
He's going to stick on the job. It's
his home now. and he sees the time
In ten years-nO. five-when he will
have farmer neishbors all about him
and the rich soil will be working for
the men who can conquer 1t.
| Up In the Tanana valley and In the
Copper river and the Susitna. too.
farmers are following the track Of Ole
Martin, the man who farmed and made
| It 60 thr0ugh-alOne.
/
JUDGES on LIreur.
1t was the genius and foresight Of