Imperial Valley press., 1918-04-01

= intensive farming. Lunch was served
in the High School Of the progressive
. and original little town of Tracy, anC
consisted Of products of the county
the main part being rice and almonds
along with dairy products. At Man
teca. the conference were showr
through the fine new Spreckles sug.
ar factory just nearing completion.
Stainslaus county came neXt-the
only county in the state that rivals
Imperial in the value of dairy pro-
ducts. StainSlaus has about 10000
more dairy cows than Imperial. The
Siio plays a very important part in
the dairy business. One of the So
called university" silos, which had
been used for several years, was in
spected and found to be doing excel
lent service. This silo, with ca
pacity of ninety tons, cost but $3.50
for material.
The party travelled through Modesto
and Turlock, attended the Farm Bu-
reau meeting at Merced and spent the
night at that place. This may be said
to be a fairly typical day Of the great
"trip. The distance covered was some
135 miles. During the day many
things of interest and value had been
visited, beautiful and highly developed
parts of California toured, as well as
new and promising districts not far
removed from the days of the great
cattle ranges.
Wednesday morning was bright nd
cold. The Imperial Valley delegates
longed for a warm breeze from the
Land OF Barbara Worth" The cold
wind could be easily accounted for by
the ever-present sparkling and beau
,tiful snow-capped peaks of the high
'Sierras. From Merced county the
earvana traversed MADEIRA county, in
specting dairy farms, fire fighting
apparatus and large grain elevator
at Chowchilla. The magnificent new
high school of this progressive little
place is a splendid monument to its
faith and progress.
On the way to Fresno a scientific
Acally-conducted poultry farm was Wis
tied, and some fine vineyards inspect
ed. A much anticipated rabbit drive
had to be omitted on account of the
weather. Some II tons of dressed
jackrabbits had been shipped out of
MADEIRA county as a result of former
drives. At the conference meeting in
the Fresno hotel, in the banquet room,
the Imperial county delegates were
given an opportunity to put in some
good 1licks' for the Valley.
4 Kearney Farm, magnificent estate
left to the University of California by
its former owner, was one Of the big
gtst attractions of the trip. While
"a great many experiments, some OF
them very eXpensive,-are -heing con
Quoted on the farm, nevertheless il
inetted the treasury Of the University
.S63, 900 last year.
4 A visit to the packing house of the
Associated Raisin Company proved
very instructive. After the farmers
had sampled the raisins freely, theil
attention was attracted to the pack
ing Of the raisins III small cartons
, or perhaps to the girls who were do
/ ing the packing.
These girls work in teams Of three
, The best teams are able to set up tn
, boxes, fill, wrap and seal from Y,
r 600 to $4,000 cartons per day. During
the afternoon the conference visite
the largest fig orchard in the Unite
: States. At Fowler, where the bunch
= took dinner, and attended the Farr
? Bureau meeting, the chief attractio
y TO the Imperial delegates was Ne
Y Locke, former Y. N. {. A. secre
a ,tary.
s The Fords "shook the dust" of Fre'
y no as they rolled into Kings count,
The largest muscat vineyard in tn
: world is one Of the attractions
e Kings county. An unusually fine hei
: of pure bred Poland Chinas was ais
0 of interest. The conference left Han