TALKS WITH PRACTICAL IRRIGATORS. 



2I 5 



not put manure or straw into the bottom of the pond 

 if you ever expect to stock it with fish, as they will 

 surely die. 



"A plant like mine, or similar, with reservoirs, pumps, 

 etc., complete, ought not to cost over $250, counting 

 pay for the farmer's labor that he does himself on the 

 plant. I am lifting the water seventeen feet. This 

 pump will raise the water twenty-five feet from the 

 valve successfully. 



HOW HE IRRIGATES. 



"In irrigating a great many kinds of fruit trees, 

 berries, and in fact all small fruits, use furrows or 

 small ditches instead of flooding the land, and by so 

 doing save at least one-third of the water that it would 

 otherwise take to flood the land. I have eight acres 

 in fruit and in the last three years I have always had 

 enough water to flood this orchard. Where there is 

 a sufficient supply of water underneath and you do 

 not have to go too deep for it, say twenty to thirty feet, 

 I would advise the use of points instead of digging 

 open wells. Where a man is gardening, or wishes to 

 grow an orchard of ten acres, one of these plants will 

 pay for itself in one dry season, and the farmer who 

 has a plant of this kind is always sure of vegetables 

 and berries for his own family use, and I consider 

 this one of the most essential things to the farmer, for 

 in any country to make true farming a success the 

 farmer must grow his own vegetables and fruit for 

 home use." 



BRIEF NOTES. 



KANSAS AGRICULTURE. 



The report of the Kansas Board of Agriculture for 

 the quarter just ended is completed and in the hands 

 of the printer. It contains the interesting addresses 

 delivered at the Board's annual meeting in January 

 and the valuable discussions they elicited, along with 

 numerous instructive articles pertaining to Kansas 

 and its conditions, which are likely to be of decided 

 encouragement not only to residents within the State, 

 but to all people outside who either directly or indi- 

 rectly have interest in its welfare and advancement. 

 Besides the foregoing, it contains a painstaking digest 

 of detailed replies to carefully prepared lists of ques- 

 tions sent to about 600 reputable, experienced corre- 

 spondents, chiefly farmers, who were instructed to 

 make none but " careful, unbiased answers " upon 

 crop, fruit, live-stock and soil conditions as they were 

 March 31st. This report can be had by addressing 

 F. D. Coburn, Secretary, Capitol Building, Topeka, 

 Kansas. 



Georgia has established a bureau of immigration 

 and agents are at work at various points in the State 

 to induce settlers to move to that State. Large sec- 

 tions of this commonwealth are to be devoted to 

 fruit raising. 



Clean cultivation is the wise method for conducting 

 a farm. 



Stir the soil to conserve moisture and promote 

 plant growth, as well as to kill weeds. 



Storage rooms out of doors for farm tools are 

 cheap in the first instance, but most costly in the final 

 reckoning. 



Nitrate of soda can be used with benefit on all 

 crops. It is immediately available and should, there- 

 fore, be only employed in connection with plants in an 

 active stage of growth. 



There is far too little mulching done. Trees and 

 garden crops are given a most favorable opportunity 

 for attaining the highest perfection when their roots 

 are covered with a thick mat of hay, leaves or other 

 suitable material. 



The " weather crank '' really dates back a long way. 

 It is said that the first person in the United States to 

 incur the odium attachable to the name was one Dr. 

 Lining, of Charleston, S. C., who began keeping a 

 record of temperature in 1738, and in 1742 began to 

 measure the rainfall. 



From this modest beginning has grown up the 

 modern weather service which has proven of incal- 

 culable benefit, and is gaining in favor year by year. 

 At the present time reports are received by the Gov- 

 ernment from more than two thousand stations every 

 day, and the results of these reports are embodied in 

 the bulletins issued each day and widely distributed. 



Often the men who prove themselves to be the true 

 benefactors of the race are but little rewarded, nor 

 long remembered. Probably but few people ever 

 heard of the man who, by dint of experiment, by ac- 

 cident or otherwise, it matters little now, perhaps, 

 developed the Concord grape. It is now forty years 

 since that grape appeared, and it is not too much to 

 say that it has been a potent factor in the civilization 

 and well-being of the American people. If its money 

 value could be computed it would be safe to say that 

 a billion dollars would not compensate for its annihi- 

 lation from the long list of delicious American 

 fruits. 



A new town site has been laid out in the center of 

 the future Big Horn county, Wyoming. 



Kansas' greatest apple grower will add 25,000 trees 

 to his Leavenworth county plantation next spring. 



Near Eddy, N. M., a colony of sixty families from 

 St. Louis, Mo., will settle on Pecos valley lands next 

 month. 



The Irrigation Loan and Investment Company, of 

 Hutchinson, Kan., has been incorporated. Capital, 

 $50,000. 



