The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1912-09-13
THE TRIBUNE'S
HIRED man

lIllALU Ul[1lV
The Idaho potato crop is 50 per
cent good: i. e., it is making Is sacks
~ the acre. On the Twin Falls tract
the buyers are paying IS cents per
hundred and the crop is being rushed
off to the eastern market In the
bailiwick of The Tribune the yield will
not reach IS sacks of marketable pota-
toes to the acre and but little shipping
is taking place to date. Montana is
Getting nearly all that does move from
This region, with a good chance that
the eastern buyers will come here a
little later after the Twin Falls terri
tory stripped. Here we are going to
feed 80 per cent of the crop to hogs
and the least little old runty pig in the
country is going to bring a good
price. Some potato growers are get
ting ready to store their crop for
spring sales, and this is going to help
the fall and winter local market, while
not cough men will hold over their
spuds to endanger the $l.25 price for
early spring. 1t begins to look like
farmers everywhere in the United
States will make feed of their spuds if
BUYERS cannot or will not go as much
as 50 cents per hundred in the field.
Those who have tried feeding potatoes
claim that stock can readily stand
half cent pound for cooked potatoes,
and whatever the spuds can be bought
for below this, is simply profit.
Some efforts are being made to
bring in a process and machinery for
evaporating the Idaho potato, but to
date it seems that no drier has been
landed anywhere in the state.
Next year is going to be the banner
year for Idaho potatoes, for growers
will save their own seed which will
make them cheap to themselves, the
low selling price now will discourage
many who tried it this year and those
discouraged folks will do so much
knock" talk, that the wise heads will
seethe point and go after the potato
growing business pretty heavy next
spring.
There are rs focks of black birds in
the valley between Caldwell and Boise
and these focks will average 1900
birds each, (which makes $4,000 of these
little useless fellows in this valley. If
each little craw will get away with
half an ounce of grain and weed seeds
each "a hours and half the quantity is
actually grain it means that l2,5OO
ounces of grain is consumed every day
and this means 781 pounds which, if
sold at one cent pound would make
it cost the farmers of this valley 81 81
for their daily bird feed and in a
month with 80 days in it the birds
would get away with $234.3O. There
are Is valleys like this in the state
where the birds are doing the same
thing ad this makes it cost the state
$35l45O per month to feed its black
birds alone and this is not saying any
thing about the other kinds of winged
creatures. If some old kind-hearted
king would come along this way and
stir up the habit of having live black
bird pie once day, it would be quite
a relief, and yet the state can we'll
afford to keep. these little workers at
work and feed them, for just look at
the weed seed they destroy, for you
will notice that l have only calculated
they destroy as much grain as weed
seeds Then just see how beautiful
it is to be sailing along on an electric
car when a cloud of the little black
things rise from the field, all together
in perfect accord and unison, all fly
together and all light together and yet
there is no leader Then think how
much spraying an orchard will need
when the surrounding woods is full of
scale and mites, etc, etc, and those
two thousand birds with their 1000
feet will light in a few minutes on a
scaly patch of willows or balms and
then after filling their feet and legs
with diesase, fly gracefully over to the
orchard and scrape it all off OH the
mans nice trees. All in all it does look
like nature goes to work to give us
something and just as soon as she sees
what she has done, she proceeds tC
take it away from us. The new wife
will give the world a bouncing baby
child and heaven looks million miles
nearer to earth on account of that Civ
ing, but the next day nature turns
loose a dreaded and deadly disease
and the infant must fight for his life
The next year the timid disease is cal
led off and more formidable ailment
is set after the child and so on and i
by strength it gets away with all The
enemies and lives to be 80, then ole
Father Time comes along with hi!
scythe and cuts him off behind the
ears and the wheel at the cisterr
ceases to turn and the pitcher at the
fountain is broken.
There is immense power and forc'
in the three high tension wires tina
stretch across this part of Idaho, ant
there is power in the huge motor'
that haul the cars swiftly over the two
rails and there is power in the tinkl'
of the signal bell with which the con
ductor tells the motorman to get on
of town with his car, but your Hire
Man saw all this power put to naugh
one day this week when a pretty CIR
started out of one of the waysid
stnt;nns aud altar ridinn five or 81,