The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1929-07-18

farming is 90 per cent engineer
ing and 10 per cent agricultural.
The small farmer will not be
able, alone and single-handed, to
compete with corporation farming
if it really gets under way, just as
the independent retailer is finding
that the chain stores are making
life hard for him.
But declarations of farmers may
do what declarations of Independent
retailers are doing.
A community of farmers may EN-
ploy expert supervision and bust
ness management, farm whole re-
gion as a unit, and compete with
corporation farming on Its own
battle front. Copyright, 1921
Friend Reed:
Here is a clipping from the Sc
attic Times that puts official seal
upon what has long been one of
my hobbiesNcomunity cooperation.
Community cooperation as
means of community development.
Glenn Frank is national authority
and had I possessed his faculty of
expression / might have put my
idea across. That letter / wrote
last fall was designed to arouse
public sentiment to the value Of
genuine cooperation. / hope to see
the day when "Kennewick Valley,
Inc. will be reality rather than
an intangible dream. I'm darn near
thirty-seven years of age and will
likely be fifty before my dream is
realized but it holds almost limit
less possibilities if we will go after
it with determination, devote the
time, money and brains that is es-
sential to make any good thing go.
AS q result of 20 years exper-
fence we now have the necessary
experience and machinery. All we
need is to utilize and expand it.
Let us study President Franks
article and try to see how we
stand and what our chances (under
present conditions) would be were
we suddenly confronted with this
"chain farming" menace. Frank
says, Corporation farming under
takes to achieve for the farm units
under its control four things:
First, greater efficiency through
more scientific methods than it is
possible either to afford or apply
on a single small farm"
There is not one farm In every
ten in Benton County that is me-
chemically equipped or adequately
managed to so compete. We see, on
every side, farmers working with
inefficient and antiquated machin-
cry. Slow, laborious one-horse cul-
tivators where riding machines of
two, three or four row capacity
should be used. Small walking
plows, inadequately powered, make
sorry stab at scratching the soil
where eighteen inch gangs should
be used to really till the soil at a
speed in keeping with the modern
ideas. We wouldn't think of using
oxen on the highways for obvious
reasons. The reason we use obso- I,
lete farm methods is not so obvi-
ious but equally fundamental our
farms do not justify the necessary
investment. The overhead would
ruin us individually.
And, despite modern educational
and extension methods, many of
the farmers are a long, long way
from being really efficient. 1t
would be amusing, If it were not
tragic, to watch the methods in
use on many of our farms. Aver
age production records speak vol
umes in this respect. But few far
mers actually know the proper
procedure in blowing up a field
of alfalfa and really attaining the
value Of this crop for succeeding
crops. Our knowledge of the pro-
per cultural practises to use on the
soils of this valley is distinctly
limited. And this is more serious
in view of the fact that the soil is |
our basic asset. Our entire struc-
ture will collapse unless the fer
tility of our soil is increased and
maintained. doubt if there is one
dairy bull in the territory east OF
Kennewick that is capable OF mat
erially improving the value OF our
dairy COWS and there is ample room