Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-04-03


the series. DR.. Withycombe, of the
o. A. c., was the principal speaker
and took as his subject, "Co-opera-
tive Dairying."
The speaker started out by urging
cooperation among the farmers and
between the farmers and city people
in all lines. In the past agriculture
has been a profession of individual
ism, because of the fact that the
farmers were isolated. At present it
is, however, a great field for CO.
operation.
DR.. Withycombe declared that the
present generation owed a deep debt
of gratitude to the sturdy pioneers
who crossed the plains before the
days of the railroad We of the
twentieth century have no knowledge
of the priyations they passed
through.
There is no place like Oregon, de-
clared DR.. Withycombe, and its fu-
ture depends upon it's farms He is
not in sympathy with the back to
the farm" slogan, but he believes in
farm boys on the farm" because,
he said, the city man who went onto
the farm without training will fail
nine times out of ten.
The wealth of Oregon farms, ac-
cording to DR.. Withycombe, and none
is better able to judge than he, lies
meeting of the Oregon Develop
ment League in Portland a few years
ago, at which a very eloquent gen.
tleman from Baker county eXpatia-
ted at length on the enormous
wealth in the mines of that county
and spoke sneeringly of the william
cite Valley. Aftes he closed DR..
Withycombe reminded the league
that the ordinary barnyard hen in
the despised Willamette valley, mod
wealth the preceding year, three
times over, than the mines of Baker
county.
Dr. Withycombe does not believe
in the public market as conducted in
Medford, though he praised that
highly as market of its kind. He
declared that the various stalls in
duced competition in price and
worked against the farmers. He ap-
peared to believe rather in the con-
signment of farm produce on COM
mission
The speaker declared that no coun-
try or section of the country had be-
come eminently successful which de-
pended upon raising one crop. He
cited various well-known sections of
the country to prove this and prob
ably every man in the audience men
tally added to the number.
The Rogue River Valley, he said,
must have something besides fruit
to depend upon. Then if the fruit
crop failed or prices were low, the
country would not become straitened
in circumstances
The Rogue River Valley, he de-
clared, was a paradise for dairying
compared with Denmark, which was
considered the model dairy country
in the world. Little Denmark, with
an air so cold that cows had to be
blanketed in pasture to keep them
comfortable, had proven that even
under those circumstances there was
money in dairying. The future pros
perity of the Rogue River Valley was
in keeping more COWS and keeping
good cows.
Every ton of alfalfa hay sold took
from the land So in value, leaving
| but a meagre pay for the labor of
raising. A ton of butter fat, selling
at $500, takes from the ground SO
cents worth of nutriment, and when
the manure made by the cattle is
properly returned to the land leaves
it richer than before.
At one time, said the speaker, the
Ashland creamery had the highest
per cent of average butter fat of any
creamery in the world This was
because of large number of Jersey
cattle shipped in and bred by w. c.
Myers, and the fact that almost the
entire bunch of cattle supplying the
creamery was Jerseys.
He warned the community against
keeping poor cows, COWS which failed
either in quantity or quality of milk.
DR.. Withycombe closed his princi-
pal address by urging the people to
stand together, and not only sell at
home where possible, but to always
buy at home. He also commented
upon the number of beautiful home
places in the Rogue River Valley,
and said that it led any section of
America in that respect. He strong
ly urged it's continuation, and de-
| clared that he did not blame anv