894 
son when i was there and the Cuthbert was the princi¬ 
pal variety grown. The bushes were from six to eight 
feet tall and much of the fruit 1 could not reach. 
There were step-ladders in the patch, which were 
regularly used to stand on while picking the berries. 
Strawberries had yielded a good crop. Peaches were 
beginning to ripen, and they looked very well, but I 
would not consider that a very good region for this 
fruit. Very few peach trees were seen in the vicinity. 
But cherries and plums were a grand success and 
were seen in all directions. Apples and pears did 
fairly well, but there is not much attention given 
them, which may be owing to their greater success in 
the irrigated regions east of the Cascades. Vegeta¬ 
bles of nearly all kinds flourish exceedingly. Rhubarb 
is grown there for the Seattle market by the acre. 
Stalks two feet long and two inches in diameter are 
common and that without any artificial treatment. 
There was one stalk at the exposition at Seattle from 
Whatcom county, the next one north of Skagit, that 
measured three feet two inches long and with a leaf 
just six feet. It was not weighed, but smaller ones 
from both these counties weighed over two pounds 
each. Celery, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, potatoes, 
carrots and all the ordinary vegetables of a temperate 
climate are grown there with the utmost success, ex¬ 
cept sweet corn, which does only fairly well. Flowers 
especially, roses, sweet peas, pansies, Dahlias, Asters 
and a host of others are grown in their highest ex¬ 
cellence. Cabbage seed in being grown by the ton 
and of the best quality. Dutch and other bulbs are 
produced as good as anywhere, and this will soon 
become a big business on these rich flat lands. Jap¬ 
anese and Bermuda lilies also flourish there. 
As to farm crops, as before stated, oats and hay 
are the leading ones. A farmer on the Skagit flats 
who docs not get 100 bushels of oats per acre thinks 
his crop a poor one. There was one large field 
there last year that produced a fraction over 180 
bushels per acre at the thrasher and crops of 150 
bushels are nothing very unusual almost any year. 
This may sound very big to eastern farmers, but it 
certainly does not to the Pacific Coast people. I 
saw hundreds of fields of oats and Timothy higher 
than the fences, and they were ordinary fences, too. 
Most of this i.ats and hay is exported. Much of it 
is sold to our War Department to go to the Philip¬ 
pines. The prices are good, too. Fifty dollars per 
acre, net, is not uncommon. The houses, barns, autos 
and other things seen are evidence of the prosperity. 
No irrigation is necessary, but there is rarely a rain in 
Summer. 
The scenery of this coast country is magnificent 
There are mountains in sight almost any direction, 
and lakes, rivers or the bays or broader sound waters 
are also to be seen from many points. The Cascades 
are eastward and the Olympics to the westward. 
Their snowy, jagged peaks loom up towards the sky, 
and when lighted by the rising or setting sun stand 
out in glorious relief. Let us not waste any pity on 
the far western farmer, for he does not need it. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
“VALUABLE INFORMATION” FOR SALE. 
One of our Connecticut readers saw in one of his 
papers the following advertisement: 
EASY MONEY; without capital, gathering ferns, flow¬ 
ers, roots and herbs anywhere. We pay $60 per ton for 
evergreen branches, f. o. b. cars, 10 cents brings price list, 
sample and advice. Botanical Bureau. 
He sent it to us to learn what there was in this 
matter of “easy money.” Our experience with money 
has been somewhat limited, but we never found any 
that was particularly easy except that given up to 
fakers by suckers. This advertisement had all the 
earmarks of a fake, and investigation showed its true 
character. Upon investing 10 cents we received a 
long typewritten letter containing nearly 2,000 words 
of about the smoothest language that ever went to 
bait a hook. Here is a sample: “You may as a 
direct result of this letter become engaged in a profit¬ 
able business of your own within a week or a month.” 
Of course all these things are possible, but this gen¬ 
tleman says he has spent years in obtaining his great 
knowledge, and if he sold the knowledge to only 
one person $1,000 would not repay him. He tells of 
his great love for the woods, and he is probably 
going back to the woods when he gets that $1,000. 
He then goes on to tell of the great value of clip¬ 
pings from evergreen trees, ferns and similar mate¬ 
rials, but the fun of it all is that these do not appear 
to have any particular value until they are made up 
into wreaths or put on a special winder, and here 
comes the joker. The great knowledge which this 
gentleman possesses is in knowing how to make this 
wreath and wind up this winder. He consider the 
information and business worth $3. If you will send 
him $3 right away he will, fix you so that you will 
know the whole business in a few hours. It is good 
for life for yourself and family; to quote his ex¬ 
THE RURAIi NEW-YORKER 
pressive language, “there is money knocking at your 
door.” Will you accept it? There is no question 
about his willingness to accept the $3, but all there is 
to it is this information about how to make the 
wreath. You had far better take the $3, buy flowers 
and make a good wreath for your wife, and hand 
her the balance of the $3 in cash and keep as far 
away from this bureau as space will permit. This 
is a fair sample of the way fakers work. On the 
face of it you would think you had a market of $60 
per ton for evergreen branches. When you get down 
into it all they are after is your $3 for supposed valu¬ 
able information. There is nothing evergreen alx>ut 
it except the character of the simpletons who will 
actually send the $3. 
SUCCESSFUL CLOVER IN MAINE. 
The soil of Central Maine seems particularly well 
adapted to raising clover. The grasses and clover 
together make a solid, compact, heavy turf, such as I 
have never seen elsewhere. In raising clover we have 
followed the methods recommended by others, plowing 
deep and keeping the soil well filled with humus. 
The heavy turf and plenty of barnyard manure from 
60 head of cattle and five horses puts the soil in good 
condition. The one point perhaps we consider very 
important is to cut the clover early, before the seed 
forms to exhaust the plant. As we all know, clover 
is a biennial plant, and if allowed to perfect its seed 
the second year it has run its course and dies. We 
commence our haying in the clover fields, and when 
the second crop is grown it is cut soon after it com¬ 
mences to blossom. Thus the plant is left strong to 
pass through the Winter for another year, and if the 
land receives a light dressing of chemicals each year 
after the first crop is taken off, it will frequently 
give us a good crop the third and sometimes the 
fourth year. We have no system different from others, 
but put a stress on early cutting. chas. s. POPE. 
THE “MIDDLEMAN” IN OLD TIMES. 
Every old reader of The R. N.-Y. will remember 
F. D. Squiers, who played such a prominent part in 
the famous Jersey cattle case. Mr. Squires is now 
located in Colorado. He has written us of an “old 
settlers’ picnic” at which old timers told of their early 
experiences. Among other facts are the following 
concerning a character well known to Colorado peo¬ 
ple : 
Wm. Hoebne or “Dutch Bill” Hoehnc, as he was famil¬ 
iarly known in his early days, came from Germany and 
settled for a time in Illinois, but soon pushed farther 
west, coming to what is now St. Louis, then called West- 
port, at which place he took an option for one day on a 
parcel of land, paying for the option $20. The next day 
he decided he would rather lose the $20 than take the 
land, deciding to push farther west. It is said that 
the parcel of land for which Mr. Iloelme was to pay 
hut a few hundred dollars at that time is to-day worth 
$15,000,000, but “Dutch Bill,'’ undaunted, pushed on 
farther west. In their canvas-covered wagons with the 
words printed on the side “Pike’s Peak or bust” many 
returned, says Mr. Hoehne, with the words “Busted” 
piinted on the other side of the wagon. 
It was Mr. Iloehne who set out the first trees (and by 
the way the very same cottonwoods under which the 
picnic was held! and built the first irrigation ditch in 
September 24, 
Colorado, grew the first wheat, and built the first mill 
that ground the wheat into flour in this part of Colorado. 
For a time he thrashed his wheat with his flock of goats, 
but eventually imported thrashing machinery to enable 
him to make a better grade of flour, 51 r. Hoehne told of 
one time he started for the trading post, what is now 
Denver, with a load of flour, and on the way one night 
when he was asleep the fellows who were yet thrashing 
their wheat with goats took his flour and put into their 
sacks and put their flour in his sacks. At another time 
some years later he had sold a large amount of his 
produce to a dealer in Denver, and was unable to get his 
pay. Each time in answer to his earnest appeals for 
his pay they would write him a very nice letter telling 
him how anxious they were to pay him, but were unable 
to at the time, until in desperation Mr. Hoehne went 
to Denver in person and tried all sorts of moral persua¬ 
sion to get them to pay him. In those days the gun 
was law in Colorado. Mr. Hoehne went out and bought 
a gun and a box of cartridges and returned to the man’s 
place and at the point of the gun 5Ir. Hoehne got his pay. 
What would happen in these days if some of the 
farmers who are robbed went after the trooked com¬ 
mission men with a gun? Would they get their 
money or get in jail? 
HOMEMADE CEMENT MIXER. 
Fig. 390 illustrates a cement mixer designed and 
made by R. C. Sabin, of Mason Co., Mich. All that 
is necessary to make it is a strong iron-bound barrel, 
a piece of wood for a shaft, two posts to rest the 
shaft on, and an endless rope to couple to the engine. 
No pulley is necessary, as it is belted direct to the 
barrel. Nails are driven on each side of the rope 
to guide it. When ready for use sand and cement 
of the proper amounts to be used are put in the 
barrel, the cover put on, a few turns are given, after 
which water is added, and it is revolved until prop¬ 
erly mixed. This is a very simple affair, but does as 
complete work as the high-priced machines, and can 
be made by anyone. Mr. Sabin is a fruit grower, 
and uses the engine to operate his spray pump, pump¬ 
ing water and doing any kind of work that an engine 
of this size is capable of operating. e. v. a. 
BEST LIVE STOCK FOR ORCHARDS. 
Some time ago you asked my opinion as to what 
kind of stock I could recommend as best suited for 
an orchard. I believe I wrote you none outside of 
poultry, and perhaps a hog. From recent observation 
I have come to the conclusion that in a bearing or¬ 
chard, fairly high-headed, there is nothing equal to 
sheep. Not long ago I visited an apple orchard of 
60 acres, the trees 15 years old, moderately well 
trimmed up, which is in grass and clover, and was 
pastured with 306 head of sheep last year and this. 
I found more fruit and better fruit in this orchard 
than in all the others, and noticed a better wood 
growth, healthier, stronger fruit buds for next year, 
and a deeper green foliage than I have ever seen in 
any orchard in the Ozarks in any year. I am con¬ 
vinced now that sheep are the best stock for an apple 
orchard, provided the trees are old enough and 
branches high enough to prevent serious injury being 
done from browsing or gnawing. Sheep not only fer¬ 
tilize an orchard uniformly, but by eating the weeds 
and tender brush keep it in attractive and sanitary 
condition. louis erb. 
Missouri. 
A PNEUMATIC WATER SYSTEM. 
If that water tank at Hope Farm has seen its best 
days, I would like to recommend a system which I am 
sure would please the Hope Farmers. Buy a good 
pneumatic pressure tank of whatever capacity you 
may think you need, made of steel and place it out 
of the way of frost, in your house cellar if you have 
room, then pipe to it from your windmill pump and 
let it go ahead. If that is not sufficient hitch on the 
small gasoline engine which you speak of and you 
will have no further trouble. You will have no 
worry about frost in the Winter, and in the Summer 
instead of the water being up in the hot air at a 
temperature in the nineties you have it in a cool 
cellar at a much lower temperature. You simply pipe 
from the tank to any part of the house, barn, or to 
any place on the farm. My little 1J4 horse-power 
engine puts the pressure up in my tank to 120 pounds, 
which would be equal to a tank with an elevation of 
240 feet. My expense for fuel (gasoline) is one cent 
a day. We have all the water needed to supply 500 
hens, a cow and two horses, the house with family 
of four and in the hot weather we hitch on the hose 
at each side of the house, the boy takes one and the 
“old man” (that’s me) the other and start the engine 
and let her go. It seems as though some of the hot 
nights last month it would reduce the temperature 
around the house a good many degrees. This system 
1 have had in operation 10 years, and to all appear¬ 
ances it is good for 20 years more. It has never 
given me any trouble except on one occasion when 
by mistake I neglected to open the valve between 
my pump and the tank, when starting the engine, 
and the result was a broken crank pin and a ruptured 
pump frame. That was “trouble,” but don’t intend 
ever to let that happen again. z. m. b. 
