The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1925-01-08
DIVERSITY

MOST alluring and interesting OF
NA farm practices are those speciai-
ty or "one-crop" farms which occa-
sionally are brought to our attention
because of their marked success.
Among these, the great wheat ranch
es Of Washington serve as a good ex-
ample.
Washington has an increasing num-
Der Of farmers who are raising a
variety of crops, including livestock
and poultry. Their farms are not SO
spectacular as the farms of the wheat
kings and hay kings and so on. Nor
do they make so good a story. But
on such as these, the diversified
farms, the states welfare depends.
Washington is new, from the stand
point of settlement and, as is always
the case in newly settled region,
many Washington farmers plant what
will grow the easiest and for which
there is a ready market.
Thus we have various sections of
the state devoted singly to wheat,
fruit or dairying. This system of sin
gle-cropping succeeds well in the be-
ginning, but permanent system of
agriculture requires diversified farm
ing, such as now is being practiced
in older sections Of this country.
The growing of the same crop on
the same land will in time rob the
soil Of the elements necessary for
plant growth. A rotation of crops is
necessary and will in practically ev-
cry case correct the fault. Humus-
producing legumes solve the problem.
Alfalfa, sweet clover OF peas may
well be grown in eastern Washington
where there is sufficient moisture.
Where alfalfa or sweet clover is pro-
duced the stalks are removed in the
form of hay while in the case of peas
the growth is turned under, thus add
ing Immediately to the richness of
the soil. The hay produced may prof
itably be fed to livestock.
Then there is left the manure to
be returned to the soil. Peas af-
ford pasturage for hogs which, with
q little grain at fattening time, will
yield the producer neat income.
On the one-crop farm, particularly
wheat farms, there is an unequal
of labor throughout the
year. During the harvesting season
this is most noticeable, as one would
expect.
Labor shortages on farms during
harvest are often overcome by farm
ers helping each other. One mans
crop is harvested, then the crew
moves to the neighboring farm, and
so on until the harvesting is complete.
1t is in the winter season, though,
that the single-crop farmer quite Of
ten finds himself without work. Per-
haps most farmers welcome winter
because of the rest it affords, but
few head of livestock to consume part
of the hay produced will often result
in better price being obtained for
the hay than if it were sold direct.
In the event Of the failure of the
one crop raised, or a poor market,
the single-crop farmer suffers Sc
we're loss. Too large a variety of
crops should not be recommended but
certainly more than one crop should
be grown. Failure in several lines is
unlikely to occur in the same year.
In Washington farming values de-
mand that waste must be reduced.
All crops should be used. Proper har-
vesting machinery will help reduce
the grain waste but there is always
to be found down grain, that the
cycle is unable to reach, or small
grains that pass through the ma
chine. Hogs given chance, will turn
these wastes into profits. A steadily
farmers are using hogs ITO follow the
increasing number of Washington
threshers."
The question involved in running
hogs, however, is whether the ex-
pense of fencing the fields hog-tight
will be justified by the returns. Some
farmers prefer a few cattle to gather
the waste grain.
Plant pathologists tell us that
where one crop is grown on the same
land year after year, plant diseases
are given good opportunity to do
their work. Pea-weevil and potato
scab which winter over in the ground
may be destroyed by crop rotations.
Using the land for other crops for a
year or two robs the disease of "host"
and when the crop is again planted
the disease will be little in evidence
particularly if the seed treatment
has been practiced.
Washington farmers have learned