Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-07-10
VALLEY MUST FIND RIGHT CROPS

There is disgusting the fact tnat Iof le Pasl wv
or three years the Willamette Valley has not oeen nor IS
If now as prosperous as it should be- There are some
reasons for this we know and others do not take the
troube TO discover There is no fertile land any
where and the climate is such that almost anything pos
sbIe to be grown in the temperate zone can be grown
here With this wide range of products to choose from
we have confined our farming to few.
Heretofore hops and prunes have been feleo on pll
cpav and are so to great, too great an extent YET
They are good sandbys, but they are not enough IL IS
strongly hoped that flax will add another crop OF con-
siderable magnitude and it promises to become one ol M e
leaders If results are all that hoped for when TINS
wears crop has been handled its future and that OF the
valley is assured In the meanwhile we shoulo eVeIs
inplv keen experimenting. Out OF the wide range Oh
products surely some one OF more can oe lUu ma ma W. M
Drove to be the money makers for the valley Inc III
neral Valley in California few years ago was deser
but today it is supplying the coast with melons,
fruit oranges and other citrus fruits; and Is one Oh te
most prosperous sections of the whole country Inc MD
die west found its great crop ana lts thfee pos
of bushels turned into meat products yearly nave maoe 1t
a farmers paradise. Eastern Oregon and washington
are prosperous because the worlds great staple whea
can he GROWN there successfully 1t can be grown mere OIL
and at one time wheat the crop OF the entire
valley But with land at the prices valley lahq haS aM
reached wheat is not sufficiently valuable CROP 1t VII
not give sufficient returns on $500 an acre SOIL; WIN
thirty bushels to the acre and the prce around eghtS
contc an acre will only give money return OF S24 and
the interest on the investment is fourteen dollars al seven
per cent This leaves but ten dollars an acre for he
and all of growing harvesting anu ma
po II is not enough Some other crop must De loulu
that will Weld greater returns To find this will require
experimentng and every farmer should take hand III,
If There will necessarily be many experiments that Will
not prove profitable but until they made this cannot
he discovered If out of hundreds of experiments one OF
two products that will pay well be found the reward
will he great AS an example of this what Rosebrg mas
done worthy of study and imitation For years tha
section has grown the turkeys for the state ana lou
it profitable Not long ago after experimenting Mit'
broccoli that has suddenly become one OF the pest ye
ing crops of that section Roseburg brocco mas maue
name for ITSELF Just Hood Rivers applies nave ploug'
renown to that little gem of a valley. ~
Surely there is something that the great WllaHetee
valley can grow to better advantage and greater pfot
than the things she is growing Hops and pnes are
all RIGHT but for the former the market is limited ana
within the last few years has become much more So
Prnes are profitable enough but the whole valley not
sted to their growth The same might be said OF hops
ur rich beaver dam lands have found of the products
for which they are especially adapted the growing OF
onions and there will be Others though all thus knd Oh
land can find market for its onion crop without tloodhg
it, Last year the growing of corn proved prontape o'
it was an unusually favorable year for It, and now de
pendable it will prove remains for time TO snow
If as is hoped it proves successful as last year III
dcated it will add to the incomes of the valley farmers
in great shape for it will make possible the growing ana
turning off of double the number of beef cattle hogs
and other stock This in all countries has proved one OF
the most valuable features Of farming for to certain
extent the farmer becomes manufacturer, turning ms
raw material cor into the finished product so tar as tne
farm is concerned, fat stock.