The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1923-11-08
TYPE OF FARMING DETERMINED
BY KIND OF SOIL IN
ANY DISTRICT

The types of farming in any area
are determined primarily by the
type of soil, the altitude and tempera-
lures, winds, available moisture and
markets.. The great wheat belt of
Washington, for instance, is there not
because the pioneers particularly de-
sired to make it wheat country but
because the soils hold moisture well
and are wonderfully rich, because of
climate of moderately warm days
and cool nights and a rainfall of be-
tween ten and twenty-five inches with
plenty OF sunshine and practically no
rain during harvest season. These
factors are more favorable to cereals
and particularly to wheat than any
other crop. Moreover, the cereals
can be shipped comparatively long
distances to market. The same soil,
the same rainfall, the same tempera-
lures and the same sunshine will al
ways. be with US, hence the perna-
nent adaptability of this section to
wheat production. In the long run,
the major crop will be wheat and
every effort should be made to so
shape the agriculture of this section
that the highest type of wheat pro-
duction may be carried on. This
should be remembered when we urge
changes in the type of farming be-
cause of unusual economic difficult
ties in the marketing of wheat. At
the same time, the wheat grower
must realize that wheat is a world
crop and producers compete in the
| world markets. Moreover, where
wheat is produced exclusively, the
soil will suffer and cannot yield prof
liable crops continually. Even in the
great wheat sections, other crops
must be grown in rotation and live
stock raised so that the fertility rap
idly consumed by exclusive wheat
| farming may be retained, so that the
labor may be well distributed during
the year, so that there will be more
than one source of income, so the
| family larder may be kept full from
products grown on the farm and so
that setback in prices, whether due
to world conditions, or to temporary
causes, may not react too seriously
upon the farmer. In the wheat belt
where the rainfall is such as to JUS
tify say 18 inches or above, every eff
fort must be made to establish per-
manent system of agriculture through
rotation system in which legume
crop is an important element and in
which livestock of one kind or anoth-
er becomes one of the permanent
enterprises. Where rainfall is so linn
tied as to make this impossible,
wheat farming will continue as such
for years to come with dependence
on free nitrogen fixation from the air
for fertility and the best possible til
lage methods for profitable crop pro-
duction. Every year, however, there
must be sufficient of the crop set
aside for forage whether that be
wheat, rye or some other crop to in
sure feed for the cows, the pigs and
the poultry, supplying the milk, eggs
and meat for the family. Unless this
is the case, q low or negative in
come, depression and discomfort can
not help but prevail in periods Of
large world production or demoraliz-
ed markets.
What is true of wheat is in meas
ure true Of the dairy and fruit indus
tries. Dairying has developed rapid
| ly and will grow in Importance on the
Coastal side of the Cascade and else
where. The dairy cow follows the
/ SCumOSs OOlIlK uCI OWA harvesting Va
the crops that grow between them.
The pasture season is long and both
heat and cold are rare or entirely abb
sent. Moreover, her products may be
shipped to the markets Of the world.
That dairying may grow unhampered,
the strangle hold upon it now held
| by the industries manufacturing SUBJ
stitutes which depend upon milk for
their flavor but are inferior to milk
products in human nutrition must be
released. Mr.. Richards of the North
west Dairyman and Farmer has made
the computation that the four mil
lion pounds of butter, substitutes
made from cocoanut products inn
ported last year took the place of the
production of 10000 cows or one
thousand dairy farms OF so acres
each. Here is something to think
L