Items of Interest January 16, 1915 Issue

Items of Interest

A committee of prominent fruit growers and business men, recently appointed at a large conference at Spokane, Wash., is attempting not only to bring together the big fruit marketing agencies of the Pacific Northwest, but to establish factories in all districts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana to manufacture by-products of surplus fruits and vegetables. The committee is opposed to the sale of stock of canneries, evaporators, and other by-product plants by promoters, and recommends that in each district the growers perfect their own organizations for manufacturing purposes on a purely cooperative basis. In a report issued by the committee, the following statement is made: "For the protection of the existing plants and as a foundation for a logical expansion of business, we wish to go on record in favor of a central selling agency to be organized for the purpose of marketing the output of all the existing by-product plants now in operation in the North Pacific states and of all plants that may hereafter be formed; this organization to have a central board of control composed of one representative from each plant, and especially to endeavor to bring about a standardization of pack and a high standard of product by means of a general superintendence of the output of all plants."

Deschutes river, in Oregon, a tributary of the Columbia, is one of the unique streams of the United States, says the United States Geological Survey. Its natural flow is remarkably constant, rising in times of so-called floods only a few inches, owing to the fact that the river flows for a considerable portion of its course through a region of lava and loose volcanic material which acts as a huge sponge. The headwaters of the river afford reservoir sites so large and so well distributed that the total flow of the river may be utilized both for irrigation and for power. The irrigable lands in the valley, aggregating from three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand acres, are so situated on a plateau in the upper part of the basin that the total flow of the upper river and its principal tributaries may be utilized for irrigation. Below the irrigable area the river flows in a deep canyon having a fair slope and affording excellent opportunities for power development. A reliable water supply is assured by the return waters from the irrigated areas above, a large proportion of the water seeping back into the channel and by the lower tributaries of the river.

An offer by Theodore N. Vail, president of the American Telephone Company, to turn over to Vermont his large farm at Lyndonville as a school for girls, is announced in a circular letter addressed to all members-elect of the incoming legislature. Mr. Vail has already established at Lyndon an agricultural school for boys. "I now desire," he says, "to use my energy and means to demonstrate the utility, necessity, and advantage of schools for girls where they may be thoroughly trained in all the home-life industries and economics to make good homes and housewives." The Speedwell farm, Mr. Vail's home at Lyndonville, includes hundreds of acres of land and many fully equipped buildings. Mr. Vail estimates that for the state to provide such a plant as he now offers would entail an expense of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He believes that an annual appropriation of from twenty to thirty thousand dollars would be sufficient to maintain the school.

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