THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



233 



Southern Pacific 



Farming Demonstration Train 



"And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this 

 land." Deuteronomy 2o-U. 



Senator Beveridge, in his recent Portland address, 

 said : "Oregon is the grandest country I have ever seen 

 and I have been nearly all over the world. When I re- 

 tire I am going to buy a little ranch in Oregon and 

 settle down." If he could have accompanied the South- 

 ern Pacific demonstration train recently through the 

 Willamette Valley he would surely have made his pur- 

 chase before leaving for the East in anticipation of the 

 rapid rise in values which will, no doubt, take place as 

 an after-effect of the educational work just completed. 



Early in November, 1908, the most elaborate and 

 complete train ever equipped for demonstration work in 

 the United States, left Portland for an eight days' trip 



children and apparent amazement of their elders, as 

 there are few opportunities to see these machines in 

 the Valley at present. 



Car Xo. 2 was prepared to accommodate the public 

 in Ciise of bad weather, but there was no occasion to 

 use it during the trip. 



Car No. 3 was in charge of Prof. H. D. Scudder, 

 agronomist, and contained illustrations of better meth- 

 ods of farming that could be applied by farmers in the 

 Willamette Valley. Soils of all kinds and how to use 

 them were prominently displayed. One of the mosl 

 interesting exhibits was the method of seed selection and 

 propagation of same. This illustration alone should 

 save thousands of dollars to the farmers in Oregon. 



Car No. 4 was in charge of Prof. A. B. Cordley, 

 entomological expert, and Prof. F. L. Kent, dairy hus- 

 bandry. Prof. Cordley had illustrations in frames, es- 

 pecially prepared for the trip, showing nearly all the 

 diseases and bad bugs that infect our fruit, also the 

 method of exterminating same so far as known. Prof. 



throughout the Willamette Valley. The train was in 

 charge of General Freight Agent R. B. Miller, working 

 in conjunction with Dr. James Withycombe, president 

 of the Experiment Station of the Oregon Agricultural 

 College at Corvallis, assisted by eight professors from 

 the institution. 



The train was made up of seven cars, as follows: 

 Car No. 1 was occupied by Clara Eva and Lady King, 

 two cows of good family and excellent reputation. 

 Clara Eva, a Jersey, has a record of 530 pounds of but- 

 ter from 8.733 pounds of milk and Lady King, an Ayr- 

 shire, gave 544 pounds of butter from 11,769 pounds of 

 milk. The stalls occupied by the cows were of the latest 

 type in every respect and so simple in construction that 

 most any one could build one. A gasoline engine in 

 one corner operated a compressed air machine to which 

 a milking machine was attached and at each station one 

 of the cows was milked, to the great delight of the school 



Kent had a complete dairy kitchen in his end of the car 

 showing just what a model dairy establishment should 

 consist of. 



Car No. 5 was in charge of Prof. C. I. Lewis, horti- 

 culturist, assisted by Prof. Cole and Prof. Allen. Here 

 complete information was given on how to raise and 

 pack all kinds of fruit, bud and trim trees and in fact, 

 all subject matter relative to the fruit industry. 



Car No. 6, sleeping accommodations for party. 

 Car No. 7, private car California. 



The train covered 442 miles during the time and 

 held sessions at twenty-seven towns, meeting and ad- 

 dressing over 25,000 people. Everywhere the merry, 

 bright faced children thronged the train listening eagerly 

 to the talks, viewing with open-eyed astonishment the 

 exhibits and in many instances making a second trip 

 through the train for further information. At every 

 stop the public schools were present, and in nearly every 



