Individual farms and small herds are now the order of the day and, incidentally, better breeds are developing. This is true of horses, cattle and sheep. The demand for horses is chiefly for the heavy draft animals for use in the logging camps and on the streets of the cities, and the demand is fairly well supplied, chiefly in eastern Washington.
Good cows and fat steers are always in demand, and Washington's market for them is not fully supplied from the home farms. The same is true regarding sheep and hogs. The phenomenal growth of the seaport towns on Puget Sound and the difficulty in clearing the lands in western Washington combine to make the consumption exceed the home grown supply, and many are imported from neighboring states.
There is abundant room for expansion in stock raising in the state. Conditions are admirable. Grass is abundant for pasturage, hay is a prolific crop, the climate is mild, no pests afflict the cattle, and the markets are at the door and always hungry.
THE DAIRY.
There are few states in the Union equal to Washington in its possession of natural conditions suited to make dairying profitable. In all of western Washington, in the western part of eastern Washington, and in both the northeastern and southeastern sections of the state, the climate and soil conspire to make ideal grazing. Particularly is this true in the western part of the state. All the grasses grow in luxuriance, and with proper care and forethought there may be secured almost twelve months of green feed annually. The crops best adapted for use as ensilage grow well, making large yields. Timothy, clover hay and alfalfa are the standbys for winter feed so far as the coarse feed is concerned, and while mill stuffs and all grains are high in price, so are correspondingly the products of the dairy. Butter ranges from 25 cents to 40 cents per pound, and milk sells in the coast cities for 10 cents per quart.
POULTRY.
Perhaps no part of agriculture is more profitable to the wise farmer than his barnyard fowls, and in Washington this is exceptionally true. Eggs retail in the coast towns at 25 cents to 60 cents per dozen. Turkeys at Thanksgiving time are worth from 25 cents to 30 cents per pound dressed, and other fowl in proportion. Conditions can be made as ideal for poultry raising in this state as anywhere, and with the market never satisfied, the poultry raiser has every essential to success in his favor.
BEE CULTURE.
Bee culture among the orchards and alfalfa fields of eastern Washington is a side line which should not be neglected by the farmer or horticulturist. Many are fully alert to the favorable conditions, and Washington honey is on sale in the late summer in most of the cities and towns until the supply is exhausted, and then that from other states comes in to meet the demand.
Pasturage for bees is also abundant in many parts of the western half of the state, and many a rancher among the forest trees has upon his table the products of his own apiary.