Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-06-23
INSTITUTE WAS
A SUCCESS
TALENT PEOPLE HELD BIG AGRI-
CULTURAL EVENT.
.O.A.C. FURNISHES The SPEAKERS
Farmers Institute Friday Was One
of the Most Successful Ever Held
in the Rogue River Valley-Large
Crowd Present.

Talent did herself proud with her
first farmers institute, which con-
vened in the beautiful assembly
room of the Talent school building
Friday forenoon at 10 o'clock, Prof.
F. c. Reimer, superintendent of the
Oregon state experimental farm at
Talent, presiding. Despite the fact
that there were many compelled to
to remain at home to look after hay
which the rainy and cloudy days pre-
ceding had prevented the putting up,
yet the room was quite we'll filled.
Prof. Reimer in a few well-word-
ed remarks announced the scope of
the institute and introduced Prof. F.
l.. Kent, the dean of the dairying de-
partment of the Oregon Agricultural
College, who paid high tribute to
the beauty and fertility of the Rogue
River Valley in his opening remarks.
He opened his remarks by stating
that the increasing value of land was
compelling the dividing of large
tracts; that the man who tried to
farm a large tract in the slipshod
method of few years ago was find
ing himself behind the game and in
self-defense was turning to more in
tensive farming. He said he was
like the man who proposed the toast
at an Iowa picnic in the Willamette
valley: Iowa. We will never go
back on her or to her." He believed
that Oregon had decided advantages
over any other portion of the coun-
try, but in intensive farming there
were only four lines of production
which could succeed on high-priced
lands. They were dairying, horti-
culture, poultry raising and truck
farming. For the Rogue River Val
ley he believed the fruit-raising and
the dairying were especially adapted
In discussing the advantages of
dairying he called attention to the
fact that there were indirect as well
as direct profits, and while there
might be instances of apparently
higher direct profits in other lines,
yet considering the indirect profits
the dairy COW was the most profita-
BILE instrument of farming. When a
ton of wheat was sold from a farm
it brought in about $50 and took
from the farm $3.50 worth of soil
nutriment When a ton of butter
worth $500 was sold from farm it
took away but so cents worth of
farm nutriment. Not only that, if
the manure was properly cared for
and returned to the farm the crops,
instead of decreasing, as is the case
where a continuous policy of selling
the grain and hay is pursued, will
increase. At Grants Pass, the day
previous, he was shown field of
oats planted where alfalfa had been
grown for several years. A strip
was heavily manured last fall with
stable manure and the grain now
showed very distinctly the line of
demarcation between the manured
and the unmanured land.
Senator Pohemus of Washington
has stated at recent meeting that
if he did not get dollar from his
cows except the benefit to the land
that the increase of crops alone
would pay for the keep of the cows
The compact soils of the valley were
especially benefited by stable ma
nure.
Prof. Kent showed the record of
several dairy herds which had been
kept by the owners assisted by tests
of milk and of the cows by the ex
perts from the o. A. G.
Prof. Kent mentioned the fact that
among the dairy breeds there was in
each breed sort of 400" COM
posed of pure-bred COWS who had
record for production. This require
ment was $50 pounds of butter fat
per year for cows which calved at
~ years of age or under, increas-
ing to $50 pounds per year at five
years of age.
Prof. Kent showed some interest
ing figures from one Oregon dairy
man who for seven years kept
strict account of what each COW pro-
duced, both as to pounds of milk and
per cent of butter fat. The results
showed a very marked increase of
profits from the same number of
COWS.
Prof. Kent also called attention to
the necessity of good care and abun-
dant and proper feed for a COW.
There is, he said, certain amount
of food practically 80 ner cent of a