58 



'IHZ IRRIGATION AGE, 



in two feeds, morning and evening the 

 grain ration with the silage and giving a 

 small foddering of hay directly afterwards. 

 No other feeds are given during the day. 

 With this manner of feeding silage I have 

 had good results and I firmly believe that 

 it will pay any farmer who keeps cows to 

 have a silo. Practical Farmer. 



ENCOURAGING THE FARMER. 



Secretary of Agriculture Wilson, in 

 view of the crop estimates which his ex-' 

 perts have made, looks for rising prices. 

 ''The outlook for good prices," he says 

 "was never better. We have a shortage 

 in the American wheat crop this year 

 which will probably amount to a hundred 

 million bushels in all. This alone would 

 serve to make the present yield more val- 

 uable. There are additional reasons, how- 

 ever, which incline me to believe that 

 wheat will make a marked advance before 

 the end of the present year. There is un- 

 exampled prosperity throughout the coun- 

 try to-day, and the prospects are that the 

 present year will be a record-breaker. 

 This has been best instanced, perhaps, in 

 our enormous export of niauufacured 

 goods of various descriptions, while the 

 trade balance is all our way. But our 

 home market is, and will continue to be, 

 the greatest wheat market in the world. 

 This year the demand for the great bulk 

 of our crop is at home, and the people 

 have the money with which to pay fur 

 whatever breadstuff they desire. 



"Not only will our people be the best 

 fed people in the world during the present 

 year, as they have been in years past, but 

 they will be better fed than they have 

 been in years past. They have plenty of 

 money to buy all the wheat they want for 

 bread and will haye flour left over for cake 

 if they want it. Hard times directly affect 

 the price of wheat by decreasing the de- 

 mand, and at the same time cuts off the 

 consumption by decreasing the buying 



power of the people. The consumption of 

 wheat per capita this year will go above 

 last year and will probably be nearer seven 

 than six bushels, because this year the 

 people are better able to buy than ever be- 

 fore, as the milld and factories are going 

 everywhere and labor is receiving more 

 general and more generous employment 

 than ever before. Moreover, the farmers 

 themselves are getting good prices for all 

 their products and will not be forced to 

 stint themselves in their food supplies and 

 in their buying, as formerly. The short- 

 age and the increased domestic demand 

 will make foreign countries who buy wheat 

 pay more, and the price must advance. 



"It will probably be advisable for our 

 farmers to feed much of their corn this 

 year to sheep, horses, cattle and hogs, as 

 the price of meat is high and the outlook 

 fur a continuous demand for our meat pro- 

 duct, both at home and abroad, is excel- 

 lent. Germany can exclude our meat on 

 whatever pretext she pleases, but if she is 

 going to feed meat to her soldiers in China 

 she must buy it in Chicago. Moreover, 

 our meat is the best in the world. With 

 the stimulus which our foreign commerce 

 is getting, and the introduction of our 

 manufactured goods into other markets, 

 tLe home demand for all food products 

 must grow and steadily increase. More- 

 over, we may look for an increase in the 

 average price of our farm products from 

 this time on for the same reason." 



BIG OREGON HOP CROPS. 



In the opinion of the well known hop 

 buyers in Aurora, Ore., the hop crop of 

 the state will reach at least 90,000 bales, 

 tin increase of about 10,01)0 bales over the 

 yield of 1899 Exact figures are not yet 

 obtainable, but the buyers say that reports 

 so far received warrant the foregoing 

 statement ; also that the hops are of fine 

 quality and sell readily at 14 and 142 

 cents a pound, with a few sales at l5o 

 cents. Last year prices ranged from 4 to 

 6 cents per pound, or less than choice '99 

 hops bring today. 



