MATANUSKA VEGETABLE WILL
BE SENT TO SEATTLE FOR
MARKETING THERE.
LOW FREIGHT RATE ON CROOK.
Crop, Which Is of Superior Quality, Is
Between 200 and 300 Tons and at
Current Price Will Bring on Out
tide About $12,000.
Arrangements have been made for
shipment on the LTnited States army
transport Crook of Matanuska turnips
to Seattle, according to announce
annoancement of Andrew Christen
sen, who is in charge of the land and
industrial department of the Alaskan
Engineering commission. The freight
charge on the vegetables will be ST
a ton from Matanuska to Seattle, and
this charge will cover the cost of
transfer from rail to water here.
Agreement to this marketing scheme
has been given by the two privately
owned steamship lines operating be
tween this port and Puget sound.
'Their freight rate on turnips is
something more than $30 a ton, and
they realize this figure is so high it
would not permit the vegetable to
enter the market in the states on a
business basis. Because they do not
want to reduce the rate to a figure
that would make shipments feasible,
they are willing that this commodity
should be handled by the government
transport.
This Year’s Crop.
4 The Matanuska district,” said
Mr. Christensen, “will have a crop of
two or three hundred bushels of tur
nips, rutabagas and petvowskis. Pe
trowski is a Russian turnip. This
yield cannot be taken by the local
trade, and, accordingly, arrangements
have been made to market the sur
p!u- in the states. Some of the veg
etables in the sample shipment that
will go forward on the next sailing of
the Crook will be sent to the mili
tary cantonment at American lake,
ne_r Tacoma. I feel confident that
no difficulty will be experienced in
dbposing of the vegetables.
Superior to Turnips in States.
“Alaska turnips are regarded in the
' Kcts in the states as a vegetable
<>f •- ..perior quality to turnips raised
in ' • states, and the northern prod
uct 'Ught to command a higher price.
“The last quotation on turnips in
the Seattle markets showed they were
‘1 ng at $40 a ton. At this figure,
tn- Matanuska crop, if it amounts to
3 S-) tons—and I think it will—will
hr ng s 12,000 on the outside market.
“ 1 his proposed turnip deal will be
t: - first effort on any extensive scale,
I b-deve, to sell in the states vege
tab'es from southwestern Alaska.
SEEKS SEED STOCKS
Agriculture Pepartment Committee
Calls For Farm Data.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20. — The
committee on seed stocks of the Unit
ed States Department of Agriculture
wishes to locate all available stocks of
good seed of agrieultual crops, es
pecially wheat, oats, rye, crimson clo
ver nn the hull or hulled), and hairy
x-^.-h
The committee will be glad if any
one, farmer or dealer, will send infor
mation in regard to the quantities and
prices of seed of the above sorts which
he can offer for sale f. o. b. his ship
ping point, bags extra or included as
the case may be. The information
should give in each case the name of
the variety (especially in the case of
grain crops), condition of the seed as
to purity, year grown, and the price.
The committee will then undertake to
get such information into the hands of
those who want the seed. The commit
tee hopes that this request will re
ceive wide circulation and an immedi
ate response, as it is now time to get
seed in the hands of planters for all
u-e. Address Committee on Seen
f'dds, United States Department oi
Ac culture, Washington, D. C.
WHITNEYS WILL SOON
MARKET GO FIXE HOGS
The high cost of living, especially
as it applies to the price of pork
which retails at 25c to 40c a pound ii
Anchorage, isn’t worrying “Bud’
W hitney and his wife, the pionee
ranchers of this vicinity. They hav<
about GO head of young hogs of th<
Duroc variety ready to market whei
they can no longer put on weigh
ranging on sweet peas which grow ii
profusion on the creek bottom a
their place.
The price quoted last week fo
dressed pork, by local markets, was 11
to 20 cents a pound.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
EXPERT WILL THOROUGHLY
INVESTIGATE MATTER.
MAY ESTABLISH NEW INDUSTRY
Great Savings in Cost of Labor, Pack
J ing and Transporting Foodstuffs
! Would Result Without Affecting
Nutritiousness.
I __
! SACRAMENTO, Cal., Sept. 19.—
! Drying of many kinds of vegetables
' as a measure of food conservation
! may become a new industry on the
Pacific coast, in the opinion of E.
! Clemens Horst, Sacramento valley
; hop grower. Whether the industry
will be taken up depends on the ver
dict of an expert from the United
States department of agriculture. He
is to be passed on samples of experi
ments made by Horst and then will
report to Herbert C. Hoover, food ad
ministrator.
Two Thousand Hop Kilns.
There are two thousand hop kilns
in the vegetable producing centers of
the Pacific coast, which are in opera
tion only two weeks each year.
Horst says . He contends there is no
reason w’hy these kilns should not be
used in drying vegetables. Dried veg
etables, he says, are used as a war ra
tion by the British government and
one barrel of dried vegetables made
enough soup for five thousand sol
diers, according to reports made fol
lowing the Boer war, when the food
first was used in that form.
Incentive to Farmers.
un incentive tu me lamina tu
put their lands into vegetables for
drying purposes, it is pointed ' out
that great savings are made in eosts
of transportation, packing and labor.
The department of agriculture has
1 issued a bulletin recently, Horst as
serts, saying that nothing is lost on
food value through drying of vegeta
bles. The water is only taken out.
j AMERICAN FLOUR
SELLS LOWER IN
ENGLAND THAN HERE
Here are a few facts which explain
why American gamblers in wheat ar.d
other articles of food opposed so vig
| orously—and for several months suc
! cessfuliy—all efforts of the U. S. gov
ernment to regulate prices and stop a
species of brigandage for many years
imposed upon the people of the Unit
ed States:
England bought northwestern
wheat in Minneapolis and Duluth, took
it across the ocean, made it into flour,
and sold the flour in England in May
for $8.50 a barrel.
Same month and same day, in Far
go, N. D., where the wheat is grown,
the people paid $17.00 a barrel for
flour.
In other words, England at war
with huge freight rates and labor
lacking, could buy wheat grown in
North Dakota, carry it across this
continent, carry it across the ocean
make it into flour and sell it to her
people for $8.20 a barrel, while the
same wheat made into flour in this
country sold in North Dakota, where
the wheat grows, for more than dou
ble the price in England.
FARMS FOR CANADIANS
Ontario Will Undertake to Establish
Agricultural Colony.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20.—Consul
Edward A. Dow, accredited to Fort
William and Port Arthur', Ontario,
Canada, reports that
The minister of lands, forests, and
mines of Ontario announced during a
visit to Port Arthur that the Province
will soon undertake to establish an ag
ricultural colony in this vicinity. The
plan is already being tried at one
point, where thirty sets of fa"m build
ings will be grouped in one communi
ty. Separate housese are built foi
single men. It is hoped that there wil
be a demand for more buildings as the
| community develops.
The Government clears ten acres o:
■ land and advances a $f>00 loan on tin
[ 1 improvement, charging f> per cent in
terest. No payments are required dur
. ing the first three years, and the loar
' expires in twenty years. The farm
( ers are to be allowed 5 years to mak<
’ certain improvements and develop th<
. farms.
i Applications already number 300
> Selections are carefully made by giv
i ing a preliminary thirty days’ tria
t course to determine if the men ar
i suited to farming, and those who sho\
t no special interest in such work ar
promptly eliminated. During the tria
r period the men are given soldiers
5 regular pay, separation allowances
and shares from the patriotic fund.
THE RANCH
VALUED AT MOO
Second Season of Farming in This
Region Results in Big Advant
age to Everybody
Two hundred thousand dollars, at the very least calcula
tion, is the value of this season’s agricultural crop in the Mat
anuska district, as estimated by Andrew Christensen, the head
of the land and industrial department of the Alaskan Engineer
ing commission. This output is remarkable, declares Mr. Chris
tensen in view of the fact that this is only the second harvest
garnered in the district and that not until two years ago was
the soil turned by spade or plow.
The chief part of this year’s yield consists of potatoes.
But turnips, cabbages and other vegetables will give pro fit a
ble returns. Restaurant owners and produce dealers of An
chorage have agreed to handle Matanuska products exclusive
ly, so long as any are available, and have contracted to pay
farmers 3 cents a pound for potatoes, at the Matanuska load
ing station.
RETAIL PRICE IS FIXED.
To encourage consumption, the merchants have stipulated
to retail potatoes at a price not to exceed 4 cents a pound in
hundred-pound sacks and not to exceed 5 cents a pound in
broken lots of less than 100 pounds,
crop to more than $200,000.
‘‘Twenty-five hundred, possibly 3,000, tons of potatoes
will he harvested in the Matanuska district this fall.” said Mr.
Christensen- ‘‘At the stipulated price of $60 a ton, from $150.
000 to $180,000 will be realized on the potato crop. On 300 tons
1 of turnips, which, it is expected, will be marketed in Seattle at
j $40 a ton. $12,000 will he received in gross returns. The sale
j of cahhages and other vegetables will bring the value of the
crop to more than $200,000.
REGARDING ANCHORAGE MARKET.
1 he belief is quite generally entertained bv business men
and farmers that the Anchorage market will be able to take
and to dispose of locally the entire potato crop. 1 still have
-ome doubts on this matter. In the event, however, that the
Anchorage market cannot handle the whole crop, preparations
must be made to sell elsewhere what cannot be taken here.
• 4> I he great advantage to the community of patronizing
home industry must be apparent to any person. If residents of
Anchorage will buy and consume Matanuska products, the
money spent for these edibles will remain in the countrv. At
first it will go to the farmers, but soon they will put it in cir
culation again in the city. If outside vegetables are brought
| here, the money for them will go to the outside, and will never
return here. Patronizing home industry in the matter of veg
I etables alone means the retention here this season of $200,000.
\nd this sum will be greatly increased every year.”
BIG CROP AT FAIRBANKS.
If the weather man will kindly refrain from giving us too
early a frost this year, Fairbanks and interior Alaska will
havest a bumper crop, the largest in its hnstory, declares the
Fairbanks News-Miner. This will be cause for rejoicing. It
will mean that prices of produce that can be grown in interior
Alaska will be cheaper and will also mean that Alaska will
not have to draw on the outside so heavily for provisions. And
in this-way, Alaska will have done a good service to the coun
try and the world at large.
As a matter of preparedness, many Alaskans who never
tried to grow any farm products before planted war gardens
this year. In every community vegetable patches are to be
seen where they were never seen before. And, due to the
recent rains, they are all looking tine, promising an abundant
crop to repay the people of the interior for their war-time
efforts to increase the nation’s crop production.
Matanuska Farmer Dispels Common
Illusion About Grain and Poultry
New arrivals in the Cook Inlet coun-'N
try, who contemplated engaging in
diversified farming, have been told j
| that chickens and other poultry “can
not be raised here profitably because
of the high price of grain feed and j
because grain will not grow well
■ here.”
One excuse for this erroneous con
■ elusion is that farming is in its in
i fancy here and that the few engaged
• in it have not given the growing of
i grain and the raising of poultry fair
; trials.
George O. White, who owns a farm
■ near Palmer station, says he has con
- vincing proof of the giain possibilities
1 of soil here. This season he tried the
; experiment of raising barley, with
r great success—to the discomforture of
i the skeptics. Mr. White says he has a
1 large barn filled with as fine un
’ threshed barley as can be grown in
, any “real grain country.” The stems
and heads are of large growth, the
emels mature and equal in size to
the average grown anywhere. The bar'
ley ripened early, in spite of the back
ward spring and wet summer, proving
that other cereals can be grown here
on a commercial scale.
“The Cook Inlet farmer who adds
grain growing and poultry raising to
his list of money-making endeavors/'
declared Mr. White, “will not only
solve the problem of the high cost of
living for himself, but ne will at the
same time enable his friends in An
chorage and the neighboring mining
towns to live cheaper and better.”
The Tanana Valley farmers were
recently awarded a contract by the
government for the delivery of 65
thousand pounds of potatoes for Fort
Gibbon. The farmers are planning to
try to receive contracts to furnish all
the vegetables possible.
Job printing at The Times office.
PRIZE EXHIBITS III FI HERE
GRAINS AND VEGETABLES REMAIN ON VIEW FOR
ONE WEEK UNDER AUSPICES OF CHAMBER OF COM
MERCE AND ATTRACT GREAT DEAL OF ATTENTION
AND RECEIVE MUCH FAVORABLE COMMENT FROM
RESIDENTS OF PUGET SOUND METROPOLIS.
SEATTLE, Sept. 22.—Today brought to a close the for
mal display for one week in the display windows of prominent
business houses here of agricultural products from the Anchor
age district. The exhibits consisted of potatoes, pumpkins, tur*
nips, cabbages, radishes, parsley, lettuce, rhubarb, onions,
wheat, barley and hay. Some of the vegetables rivaled in size
evervthing ever seen in this eitv.
PRIZE WINNING ENTRIES.
The produce was comprised of prize winning entries at the
agricultural and industrial fair early this month in Anchor
age. The specimens were sent by the land and industrial de
partment of the Alaskan Engineering Commission at Anchor
age to the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Commercial club,
and were distributed by the Seattle organization among lead
ing merchants for displav in their place of business
DISPLAYED FOR ONE WEEK.
The merchants that are co-operating in the undertaking
agreed to keep the produce on display for the week ending to
night and the Chamber of Commerce and Commercial club ar
ranged the exhibits in the windows and during the week sorted
and kept them in presentable condition.
The displays attracted a great deal of attention and were
the subject of much favorable comment.
AGRICULTURE
TO RE TAUGHT
SACRAMENTO, Cal., Sept. 15.—A
course in practical agriculture, in
volving the farming of a definite
project by every pupil for not less
than thirty-six weks, with record kept
of profits and losses, is among the in
teresting branches of vocational ed
ucation to be carried on in California
during the next few years, with state
and federal aid. The course will be
open to any person of fourteen years
of age or over, no matter what his
previous schooling, and can be install
ed in any school district where the
state board of education deems it ad
visable. The district will pay half
the expense of instruction, the state
and federal government sharing the
other half. This was made possible
by the last legislature and plans now
are being worked out by State Com
missioner of Industrial and Vocation
al Education, Edwin Snyder.
Three-Fifths For Farm Proect.
Three-fifths of the time will be set
aside for farm project work, one fifth
to mechanics of the course and the
remainder to academic subjects in
cluding farm mathematics, farm
science and farm English. Every pu
pil will conduct a farm project, se
lected on the basis of his interests,
opportunity and strength. This work
will include the producing and mar
keting of farms, orchard, vineyard
or garden crops or of bees, poultry,
stock or other animals or their prod
ucts. The work will be conducted on
a commercially productive basis. Each
pupil must buy or lease the necessary
land or animals, purchase seed, fer
tilizers and feed, and may rent teams
or farm implements and employ labor.
He must also market his pi*oduct,
keep a complete record, close the pro
ject and balance his accounts. A pu
pil might operate a farm belonging
to his parents or himself, as the pro
ject. Where he buys or leases from
his parents or other adults, all con
tracts must be duly signed to give a
legal status.
Study of Gas Engines.
The course in farm mechanics will
consist of farm carpentry, concrete
and cement work, plumbing, pipe fit
ting, tinning and care and repair of
farm buildings and tools. It may also
| include study of gas engines, automo
biles, pumps, motors and electrical
wiring. Scientific and literary writ
ings on rural subjects will form the
academic and farm English course.
Applications for the installations
of these agricultural courses by the
state board of education already have
come from numerous school districts
in all agricultural portions of Califor
nia. During the next ten years the
| state and federal government will set
aside an increasing amount of money
I annually for installing and carrying
on these and other vocational courses
; including vocational trade, household
economics and industrial courses.
Another good way for the bride to
tell when the honeymoon is over is
by the way he is willing to let her
turn the ice cream freezer.
THE FARMERS’ PARTY.
Adding to its political confusion, the state of Oregon is
soon to hear a new voice in its inharmonious chorus, says the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The Farmers’ Nonpartisan league,
which has practically taken possession of the public offices in
the state of North Dakota, has been indorsed by a substantial
number of farmer and labor organizations in Oregon, and will
probably have a ticket in the field in the next campaign. The
propaganda work, for the present, is likely to be directed to
ward state-owned elevators, packing plants and warehouses,
state supervision in marketing farm products, state insurance
| and the guaranty of bank deposits.
The Oregon situation is very different from that of North
I Dakota when the league commenced its work. Oregon has. for
! many years, entertained an active propaganda for paternal and
| socialistic government, and not many “reforms” remain un
discussed. North Dakota has a tanning population, while
j Oregon’s urban vote is more important than that of the prairie
! state. It was to remedy the alleged abuses directed against the
farmer that the league was organized.
In North Dakota the movement began with a campaign for
state-owned elevators, and the scope of propaganda work was
gradually enlarged to include state control or ownership of ev
ery instrument for marketing crops and for supplying farmers
with their commodity needs. A. C. Townley, the head of the
North Dakota league, contends, curiously enough in these days
of farm prosperity, that the farmer is downtrodden and abused
by commercial interests, “parasites wheli suck the blood of the
farmer, buying the farm products at a pittance, and selling at
a fabulous price.” Townsley and his co-workers are after the
middleman from A to Z.
Whether such a distinctively farm organization may ac
quire any important influence in Pacific coast states is a ques
tion; a question that may become important in Washington
politics.