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Show I GiifoFlI" IS GREAT FACTOR Subject Is Treated in Letter Issued by National Cop-per Cop-per Bank. MEANS MUCK TO .LANDS Also Is an Important Figure in the Raising of Live-stock. Live-stock. Tie regular monthly trade and financo letter of the National Copper bank was issued yesterday and is de- voted largely to the growth of grasses and the raising of livestock. The let- H ter follows: We cannot but foe that the lack of attention paid to the growing1 of j Erass and the raising of livestock la a re?retUblo and oenous error In the H practice of tho farmers of this tom- 1 If there were no other reason for this letter, there would be one In B the fact that the farmers in a large Part of the lntermountaln empire nro at present able to pay their bills only once a year. Crop handling c-xpeiiscs, store bills and interest must usually wait until December before their payment Ib possible. It Is obvious that If some sort of hus-bandry hus-bandry were adopted which would allow the farmer to secure a contin-ous contin-ous Income throughout the year, he would cut short hl3 slavery to the circumstance which ofttlmes compels him to act at the dictation of others. Ho would become hla own master. There Is onlv one farm product that Is capable" of supplying a con-stant con-stant flow of Income, 1. e., llve-stock llve-stock and not all livestock at that. Sheep ranged and handled In the usual way will afford returns to the owner twice a year, and something similar Is true of rango cattle, though cattle may be fed upon a farm in such a way as to provide marketable stuff at any month in the year, or the farmer may com-mence com-mence the raising of hogs, and may Install a dairy. In these laat two Items are found, we believe, the maximum of profit. Supply and Demand. Partlcularlv in these last fow years when the price of beef cattle has swung upward to about twice what It was and the price of pork has done likewise, it Is profitable to develop this Industry. The increase in meat prices Is due almost entirely to an Increased demand. for both the amount of livestock produced In tho United States and the expense of producing It, have remained at flg-ures flg-ures not far from those of ten years 1 ago. But In that time our population j has cumulatively Increased, growing at the rate of about 2 per cent each vear. Furthermore, a large share of that Increase too large a Hhare lias been in the population of cities and towns, which Is a population that cannot produce food, though It must 1 consume it. It is no wonder that ( the prices of meats have soared. They have a "scarcity value." Even at the lower prices of ten years ago. It used to be proverbial among the farmers of the middle west that the richest of them wore those who. even with high-priced land?, devoted their energies to beef and dairy cattle, and to nogs. It Is now more true than ever. Condition Holds Good. This same condition holds In the lntermountaln empire, and certainly j to an even greater extent- If there Is a natural hog and dairy country In the United States, this Is the place. Pure water, clear, dry air, and cool . nights are valuable assets In thla business, and nowhere else aq they possessed In an equal degree. .Adding 1 to this the richness of tho inter- mountain soils, with their rcmarlca-ble rcmarlca-ble accumulations of natural fertilizers fertiliz-ers k crs, and their no less remarkable physical conditions, plus the proxlm-Ity proxlm-Ity of hungry, expanding markets, one has a situation under which the failure to develop rtalrj'lng ami hog j raising stems the grossest negligence. There Is not a single logical reason why this lntermountaln empire, so highly favored bynaturc. should Im-port Im-port dressed meals by the train-load from Omuha and Chicago, should buy Gutter and cheese by tho car-load from Wisconsin, and even Impoort it j from Xew Zealand. Yet all of these It does. It Is ridiculous that thoso places should be supplying us, when vo otrcht to be supplying ourselves and tlfcm. TVc could do It so much Tn spite of these facts there Is so far developed In this territory only one really notable dairying district, I. e.. the Cache valley. In northern Utah. Tn this valley of relatively small extent, the creameries and the j condensed -milk factories this year paid to the farmers SI. 500.000 for this one 'product alone. The money comes j into the hands of the farmers In monthjv installments, and. more than nny other Industry, not even except-inn except-inn the sugar factories, has estab- llshed the credit of the valley, The conillllons arc so favorable as to at-tract at-tract the attention of oven such a. company as Borden's Condensed Milk company, which lias recently cutab-llshed cutab-llshed a plant here. Development Going on. It Is true that In the central and lowiM' Snake alleys in Idaho, na woll as In sonic of the Utah valleys, a similar development is going on. though It li:u not ronrhed tho Farno productive and profitable stage. Not even In Cache vajlcv has more than r buglnnlusr he:n made, hi the estab-Hshmont estab-Hshmont of Inlx Industry. Thore is no dan gar of Its over-development. over-development. Tilllk. butter, beef and pork are tapirs for which the de-ntftnd de-ntftnd Is over Increasing. VTo havo he'ird fcara expressed that the plartt-Ing plartt-Ing of anplo orchards will outrun the market demand for (znr- apples, and ho It might ppslbly do. though wo think not. at !catl in the present cyieratlon: but one tan scarcely Im-.-igiue oven suh u risibility with dairying and hog raining. Our argument will be replied to by j the Matcm-iut that lntermountaln lands ran often produce returns larger Shan stock would bring, as is cv-dericed cv-dericed by tho fact that Utah lands well fitted' for market gardening bring an annual cash rental that W Fometlmcs goes'as high as 510D. But puch instances nro not the rule, and ovcii where they exist, such farming rniift eventually deplete tho soli. And that brines us to tho second point of the argM'ncuu Gr.iss Does the Work. Vhon nw noli is to bftvbrought un-.dor un-.dor cultivation, when depleted land is to be restored to its original fertility, whan clayey or other compacted eolla arc to be subdued, or when some plant disease like the dry rot of po-tatoes po-tatoes in to be eradicated from thi toll, nothing but grass will do the Here let us quot? f'om Eufjenn II irubb. the Hiding potnto expert of i ho United titate-. :i., in convi;:i- B Hon a few -woeka ago. Mid to us, ' Corn Is not king, nor Ik cotton, noi i wheal. Grass is king." Thoro are fctar reasons for this. First, lands arc usually far mure profitable! when s-upoortlttg livestock Uinn uhen 1 rnppcd. Second, th" most ncczcar as well an the cheapest food for stock 13 grass. Third, the cheapest, deepest deep-est and best tillers, drainers and warmers of the coll are roots. Fourth, the cheapest fertilizer Is a turf composed com-posed largely of deeply rooting plant. Referring to the fourth, the advantages advan-tages to be obtained by filling the soli with deeply rooted turf arc chiefly these; The crops mature earlier. Tho eoll is kept In better physical condition. condi-tion. It docs not become soggy. Heavy rains do not wash the soil, or leach away its mineral constituents. Tho land can be more easily and deeply plowed and worked "Weeds are absolutely extinguished. The deep rooters will penetrate and break up tho hardest pans. The soil Is supplied sup-plied with humus to a considerable depth. It Is more deeply aerated and moistened, and It retains moisture longer. Tough and almost unworkable soils are completely altered In character. char-acter. Besides all this, some of the grasses keep the land supplied with nitrogen, which, of all fertilizers, is tho most Important and the hardest to secure in any other way. It is tho pivot round which farming turns. Benefits Are Valuable. The3o are assuredly benefits worth securing. That they can be secured In the way wo point out Is not Just a matter of theory. These facts have been established beyond question, ques-tion, and are especially true In this country where ' most grasses root deeply and grow well. The grasses, when properly seeded and properly cared for, aro almost tho only crops that can pay rent on tho land, pay a sufficient Interest on tho capital ln-evted, ln-evted, and, on top of these, can add constantly to the valuo of the land. The failure of cereals, fniltB and most vegetables to accomplish this last result Is tho causo of most of the troubles of the farmer, whether ho lives east or west. For If his wheat or potatoes pay him a fat profit on his Investment, and If the growth of population and the betterment In roads and railway servlco causes his lands to advance in price, he believes that ho Is getting richer, very likely forgetting, or not knowing, that a chemical analysis of the soil would show a dangerous reduction in the quantities of phosphates, nitrogen, etc., necessary to continued cropping, and that the digging of test-pits on his land would show a consolidation of the soli particles or even the creation cre-ation of a real hardpan Just beneath the level of plowing, which forces tho thin layer of top soil to support tho crop, and, by the same token, to waste It3 riches more quickly. Can Be Prevented. Dither of these ills will out dorm tho Income-producing power of tho land. Either could be prevented by such a rotation of crops as would put the land In grass for at leaat as many years in tho series as arc allotted for all the crops combined, or else by seeding down for a permanent pasture, pas-ture, lntermountaln lands are fertile not only because they contain large quantities of mineral fertilizers, but becauso of their excellent physical condition, i. e., their looseness, warmth and friability, which has everything ev-erything to do with the growing of good crops. That condition must be maintained. Grasses can do it. Other crops cannot. Wo cannot emphaslzo this idea too strongly. No matter how much money a farmer Induces his land to yield him, he Is not a successful farmer unless he 1h also causing' his Innd to grow better year by year. The lntermountaln Irrigated valleys val-leys can maintain throughout the season green, thick pastures of succulent suc-culent grasses. These are so nutritious nutri-tious and luxuriant that tho Agricultural Agricul-tural college vouchoa for tho fact that they can support from four to eight times as many cattle per acre as can tho lands of the middle west. Then If hogs arc "mortgage-lifters" tn Iowa, we must acknowledge that they would bo about six limes as valuable valu-able In Utah, Nevada and Idaho. Grasses, dairy rattlo and hogs it Is tho keystone of good farming. Mixture Is Needed. Wliero wo havo spoken of grasses, we do not mean any one grass, but a mixture of them. Some valuable mixtures contain as many as flfton or twenty varieties of grasses, all put into tho list for valid reasons. Tho clovers, vetches, timothy. Italian rye-grass, bromo grass, alfalfa, chicory, chic-ory, and blue grass are somo of tho prominent In most or tho mixtures. We might mention here that great caro should bo used in buying grass seeds, for thore Is as much or more difference in their quality as there Is botwen the grades of horses, for Instance. In-stance. The farmer should make certnn that the seed Is Just what It Is supposed to bo, and that It has a high germination percentage. In fact, he ought to buy his seed in the fall or winter, so that ho would t have plenty of time to secure Just the mixtures ho might need, and so that ho might have time to test the germination of tho seeds himself. He should not buy seeds except under a guaranty that they will show a high percentage under test. Good seeds-' seeds-' men are willing to give this guaranty. guar-anty. Grass mixtures must van' according accord-ing to the nature of the land, and we will not attempt to go Into tho details of that subjoct at this time. It Is one for the Agricultural college to handle. The collogo has done valuable val-uable and commenda.ble work In establishing es-tablishing proper grass soed mixtures, and wo urge upon every farmer that he send samples and descriptions of his soil to tho college, and ask what mixtures would be best suited to it. Wo also urge upon every banker In the lntermountaln empire that ho discuss dis-cuss this matter with his customers, and spur them forward to the establishment estab-lishment of properly seeded meadows and pastures, and to the building up of dalrv bonis, and the raising of hogs. There is not a single lrrlKatcd Ecctlon of all this territory ,to which this vital principle does not apply, and when this course Is intelligently followed out, It will result In untold wealth for both farmer and banker. |
