The Newport miner. [volume] (Newport, Wash.) 1899-current, 1912-04-04

mercial timber left on the premises
after the loggers have done their
worst. This crop usually consists OF
cordwood, and, in some cases, cedar
posts, single bolts, etc. If these re-
sources are carefully conserved, the
net revenue derived from the average
quarter section should bring the own
err in the neighborhood of $500. Some
claims, of course, will bring much less
and others a great deal more.
The process of marketing these
products usually covers a period of two
or three years, depending largely on
in their marketing. During this mar
keting process there are Certain sea-
sons of each year when team work
can not be proftably employed in the
hauling of these products, and it is at
these times that the settler usually
puts in his time in clearing little
land on which to make start.
Paying For Cost of Land.
AS a general rule, the cordwood and
other products from piece of logged
off land will about pay the first cost
of the land in case of purchase. In the
event the owner was the original
homesteader he will have this money
for further improvements on his pro-
perry.
The soil on these lands ranges from
a heavy clay in the river bottoms to a
sandy loan on the benches. Numerous
creek bottoms throughout the noun
tain regions carry considerable areas
of black loan, usually covered with a
heavy growth of alder, birch and other
deciduous growth, as well as cedar,
white pine, etc. Black lands as rule
are too moist for fruit culture, but are
well adapted to the growth of small
grains and grasses. The writer has
had better results, however, from the
higher and better drained lands in the
production of legumes, vegetables and
fruits. A red, sandy clay loan con-
stitutes the major portion of the up
lands, or bench lands, as they are
commonly known, in this section, and
they likewise comprise practically IS
percent of the available lands suitable
for agricultural purposes within this
district.
Clearing the Land.
After the cordwood has been re-
moved, the slashing and burning of
brush and rubbish, leaving the ground
free of everything except standing
stumps, should not exceed $40 per
acre. In my own experience it has
not cost that much, most of it having
been contracted for at $3.50 per acre,
and on two different 40-acre tracts the
contractor made over So per day for
his labor, doing the work alone with
the exception of team and driver fur
nished to drag and pile old logs too
large to- be handled by hand. The
slashing should be burned in the fall
whenever possible and a mixed pas
ture grass sown in the ashes before
the heavy fall rains, and no narrowing
is necessary, as the light ashes make
an ideal seed bed, and a heavy rich
pasture is assured the following sea-
son which will endure Oh any of the
soils until wanted for other crops. If
any portion of the seeded area is suf-
tciently free from stumps to permit
OF the use of mower, this can be
fenced off and a fair crop of hay can
be cut the first year and a Gull crop
the second year.
A sufficient amount of small stumps
can be pulled from the pasture land
each year by the use of a team and
chain to enable the farmer to pillow for
the seeding of wheat or rye either of
which, If planted early in the fall, say
up to September 20, will make a fair
yield the first year if the soil has been
plowed deep and well narrowed and
freed from small fbrous roots. Shall
low blowing is time and money vast
ed. If timothy or bluegrass is de-
sired, this should be sown with the
grain and dragged in with a peg-tooth
harrow. The accompanying cut shows
the first cutting of timothy and clover
seeded with wheat in the fall of 1909.
the wheat being cut for hay in 1910
The 1911 grass crop yielded between
four and five tons per acre on newly
cleared timber land with one plowing
and without the use of fertilizers of
any character.
The land where this crop stands
was cleared clean for approximately
$50 per acre, but carried heavier tim
Der than the average of the farm.
The first question that naturally
suggests itself to the average man who
ccntemplates timber farm is: What
can l raise to feed my stock? To
answer that I would say that horses
were wintered largely on wheat hay
and carrots until the timothy and clo-
yer were ready for use, and alfalfa
hay was purchased for my cows to
supplement the use of wheat hay and
roots. The open timber affords snIen-
nld pasture during the summer months