The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1917-02-27
SUMNER FALL0W
NOW UNNECESSARY

| SPOKANE, Feb. 27-"The pea croI
and the bean crop of the Palouse coun-
try are going to insure land owners
there against any possibility of re-
cession of the present high values OF
wheat acreage" said Eugene Favre
vice president of Murphey, Favre &
Co., who has just returned from trip
through that country and Oregon.
Land is $40 to $40 an acre higher
than it was a year ago and farmers
are confident that the new level will be
normal
1.-The reason for this, said large
Palouse farmer to me last week, a
man who owns 1000 acres between
Waverly and Fairfield and farms his
land himself, is that summer fallow-
ing in the Palouse is doomed. l have
been farming in this country for near
ly 80 years and / did not know how
to farm my land until about two years
ago. Now l will never summer fall
1
to the enormous waste that we have
permitted under the summer fallow
system.
The present high prices have been
the cause of our learning this. Land
is getting so high and the price of all
produce is so high that we must get
nf off 10 nd
and at the same time conserve it for
the future. When land was cheap and
prices low about all we did was to get
a good wheat crop and let it go at
that. Three years ago began to put
in peas. Not only has my pea crop
paid me handsomely, but / found that
my wheat yield on pea ground was
increased nearly one-quarter. / have |
tried beans, and while they were not |
SO good as peas they made my summer /
fallow pay me good money and helped |
my land. / have tried clover with |
equally good result.
"'And I'll tell you another thing he
said to me. up there in Spokane and
everywhere the papers have been cry
ing that the farms should get smaller
Instead they have been steadily get
ting larger, because it is cheaper to
raise wheat on large scale. But peas
and beans and corn require cultivation
and plenty of it. A man can not farm
there on such a large scale and he
can make more money per acre on a
4" L intend to split up my farm now,
when three years ago my only thought
was to get more land. | know that
the present price of peas and beans ]
can not be maintained forever, but
when the market is low we can feed.
Watch the stock business grow in the
7alouse when the present high prices
begin to drop. 1t will be just like
owa and Illinois. | am getting ready
low | never was so enthusiastic in
ny life about farming in the Palouse
is I am now. Just think: Not so
many years ago I summer fallowed
very other. year, but my yield of O
Wheat was never so big as the last h
ew years You will see smaller farms, g
lOre people and more stock That is ;,
that hundred-dollar land is doing for r
he Palouse.' ;,
All through the country, not only w
l the Palouse, | find that the present fl
Ugh price of wheat has put the farm
I in such shape that he is now de- a,
citing himself to improvements rather re
Ian struggling to pay his debts W
hattel mortgages are almost a thing W
the past. Real mortgages have
cen steadily reduced and the new m
ortgages are made to farmers who sn
re buying additional land. Country
inks are compelled to buy CONNER
al paper from their reserve banks;
ey can not invest it at home Arm vi
s are becoming bond buyers, just as II
ey are in Iowa. Today we are SELL pr
G bonds and mortgages to the same N
rmers who owed us money on mort ST.
lges five years ago. This means a ~
condition of prosperity" -
Love Of Appreciation. re-