The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1913-11-07
DIVERSITY,
PROF. THORNbER
Orchard Expert Says Single Crop
Idea is Bad for Land and
Unsafe for Farmer

No one type of agriculture can
be successful in any community"
This was the text of Prof. Thorn
ber's most excellent talk to an audi
ence that crowded the capacity of
the Commercial Club room last Sat-
urday evening. AS inter-crops feas-
ible for Kennewick he named:
1. Potatoes. Double or treble
yield may be secured by proper
seed selection. (For method, see ar
ticle in last weeks Courier.)
2. Cauliflower, early and late, but
not in the heat Of midsummer.
3. Tomatoes. Furrow now, IL to
Is inches deep, fill with manure and
plow under, burrows five feet apart.
4. Cantaloupes. Plant early in
strawberry boxes and transfer to hill
when danger of frost is over.
5. Select plants carefully if you
grow Clark's Seeding. So many
are loafers; some bear 40 crates,
others 200 to $50 per acre.
6. Dewberries. One of the best
small fruits to raise. One man near
the Spokane market netted $500
from one-half acre.
Gooseberries and red raspberries
are not usually profitable.
For farm crops he recommends:
Canada peas and oats. These
crops are not for the smaller places,
but where there are large areas, SOW
peas go pounds to the acre. They
cut four tons to the acre and return
SIS worth of nitrogen per acre to the
soil. Common wheat hay, spring
vetch, hairy vetch and alfalfa all
are valuable for soil purposes as we'll /.
as feeds. He advised the study of
sweet clover.
One can produce better trees with
corn than with any other crop. Corn
shades the ground, preventing dry
ing out. Select seed carefully from
locally grown corn- Valuable crop
for ensilage and fattening cattle. He
recommended the pit silo with ce-
ment walls.
AS to stock, Prof. Thornber re-
commends that all fruitgrowers have
good line of poultry. Select the
breed of chickens you like best and
don't attempt to go too fast. There
is money in turkeys and especially
in Indian Runner ducks.
But the hog is the most feasible
side line Of stock for the orchardist.
The ideal way to market Gull fruit
is to feed it to the hogs. The fruit
should be fed with alfalfa and ONE
corn.
The dairy cow has a large place
on the fruit ranch. Dairy products
are always salable at a good price
and the cow is valuable adjunct to
the farm in other respects.
Every fruitgrower should raise at
least one good colt or mule each
year. Good draft horses or mules
are always salable.
Here the speaker entered into
discussion of the by-products of the
orchard, with figures as to the cost
OF evaporators and expense of hand
ling the fruit; but space forbids
further report. He closed with the
exhortation to all that they must
diversity if they would succeed. It
is better for the land and safer for
the owner.
Following the lecture the chair
man called on in turn each of the
members OF the executive committee
of the Fruit Growers Association.
Both DR.. Pressey of Selah and L. B.
Parsons of the Mob Hill district
made strong though brief pleas for
cooperation and loyalty to the asso-
citation. Mr.. Follansbee of Zillah
spoke of the value of the bulletins
that are put out to the members and
Mr.. Morris of Grandview appealed
especially to the business men of
Kennewick to support the associa-
ton. Mr.. Rudkin spoke of the
associations grade and pack and
the necessity of maintaining it.
Secretary and acting manager
Sickles spoke of the universally of
the idea of cooperation and how
the Yakima Valley organization is
being copied all over the country.
Yet the association is but youth
and far from the perfection of ma
turity. The association will be az
successful as the members make it.
Ii they are loyal it will grow and