Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-05-28

There Is nothing 90 interesting to q
eastern man, on trip to the West, rs Z
Is to watch the farming operations as h'
goes from the land OF rocks and stumpl
to the broad spreading areas Of lanf
where there ID no rock or stump to b
seen. A new sensation comes over one
whose vision has been bounded by near
by hills and mountains, AZ he sees fol
the first time the level or rolling prairie
az 1t stretches away for miles and mile,
until It melts into the horizon.
To our eastern ways of doing anC
thinking, We are inclined to look will
wonder and admiration on the farmer
who has the courage to plant from flfteer
to twenty acres Of crops Of any kind
but the eastern farmer has to learn .
new lesson as he travels westward, and
keeps his eyes open as he goes.
In recent trip through the West,
saw, at three different places, an expanse
of ploughed land that actually reached
as far as the eye could see in all direc
lions. The land had been recently
ploughed by steam ploughs, and the rich
black loan extended to the horizon
whichever way I looked.
Farming on such scale as this is q
big business. 1t means lot of money
invested, and big expenses and big re.
turns. No poor man, without money
and without credit, can hope to carry on
such business.
lpresume that such farms as these are
uncommon, but all farming is done on a
much larger scale than in the East,
although the land is much more costly
than here. 1t is no uncommon thing to
see twenty five or thirty horses working
on single piece of land and apparently
owned by one man. The larger farms
are ploughed by steam ploughs, or trac-
ton engines with gang ploughs behind
the engine, which often are capable of
ploughing twenty five to thirty acres in
a day.
A DAY ON AN OREGON FARM.
1t was my pleasure to visit farm, or
ranch as they are called in the West,
that may be of special interest to the
readers of the Democrat, from the fact
that the proprietor married Paris girl
who was once Miss Una Taylor, now
Mrs. Ira Mournian of Forest Grove,
Oregon.
One of the first days of April, in COM
pany with Mr.. Edwin F. Fobes Of Lex
ingtop, Mass, also we'll known to Paris
people, it was a great pleasure and privi-
lege to see traction engine with gang
plough behind turn up the rich black
soil, on farm that would make our OK
ford County farmers wish they could do
the same thing. This engine was caps-
BILE of ploughing a strip fourteen feet
wide and much faster than horses can
walk. l followed it for q while but soon
found that it would be very hard work
to follow it for very long. The engine
was also equipped with a powerful head
light and could work as we'll in the night
as in the daytime. In fact we were told
that it was quite likely to be used
nights, as the season was late and it
would be necessary to use it day and
night in order to get the land ploughed
that Mr.. Mournian intended to plant.
1t was the plan to plough up several
hundred acres and plant large part to
potatoes, just how many was not decided
at that time, but our eastern farmers can
Judge by the fact that two carloads Of
pUS0lOoo uou OCCu OOuSue W OO
used for seed, on this piece alone.
In that part of Oregon there is very
little frost, 80 that the potatoes can be
kept in the ground for long time after
they are ready to dig, so the farmer is
not so absolutely dependent on the mar
ket price, as he can leave them until he
gets ready to dig, If he chooses to do so,
and wait for a change of the price within
a reasonable length of time.
On our way to see this farm we were
obliged to ride about six miles over such
roads as we have in Maine, and through
just such a country as we have In Oxford
County, in fact 1t made me think more
of Maine than any other place l saw
while on this trip.
A few years ago the government i'm
ported a quantity of pheasants from
China, and turned them loose in the
states of Washington and Oregon, and
we saw quite a number of them on this
carriage trip. They are one of the most
beautiful birds that can be imagined, a
little larger than our common partridges,
with much longer tail, and with bril-
liant red and bronze on their heads and
bodies. had seen them mounted, in
museums, but never expected to see such
beautiful birds walking about the fields,
and apparently quite tame, for We saw
quite number of them, and quite near
the road, apparently not much alarmed
at our presence.
can hardly tell the full story of the
trip without telling of the wonderful
sight of Mt. Hood. 1t had been rainy In
the morning and the clouds had been
close to the horizon all the afternoon,
but as we rode home at about sunset, the
clouds cleared away, and suddenly, as II
a curtain had been drawn aside, we saw
Mt. Hood In its snowy grandeur in the
distance. 1t rose above the horizon like
an iceberg at sea, or like an enormous
snow bank, magnificent and imposing.
1t looked almost like huge cloud, and
at first sight 1t was hard to believe that
it was not an illusion of the eye, that
would soon dissolve like the mirage of
the desert. Our guide told US that 1t
was seventy-five miles away, but it
seemed only short distance to me.
WHICH IS BEsT-EAsT OR WEST?
have been asked since / came home,
where would rather live, in the East or
the West, and have always said that I
preferred to stay in the East. Where
our home is, is best, and while there are
many very beautiful places, and alluring
climates free from snow and cold, think
that the changing climate of the East
suits me best.
have also been asked which is the
better place for man to get living,
and to this question that is as broad as
the country, can say that l have not
found any place where man without
money can get living without work. 1t
is also my impression that man who
has the persistence and ability to get
any more than living in the West, can
do the same thing here If he tries, and
his chances of getting start in small
way are a good deal better here than In
the West.
1t is a common thing to find persons
who think that II they can but get
money enough to get to California, they
will suddenly be rich, il they can but
buy an orange grove-that it will yield
untold wealth in year or two.
II such persons would buy an Oxford
County farm and put in az much work in
up the rocks and setting out
apple trees as they would have to in
caring for an orange grove in California,
they would find that one end of the rain
bow is in their own backyard, if the other
end is west of the Rocky Mountains.
1t is my opinion that there is just as
good a chance to make money in raising
apples here as there Is anywhere, and II
our farmers would give the same care
that the western farmers do, they will