TALKS WITH PRACTICAL IRRIGATORS. 



259 



in charge is Mr. F. B. Linfield, formerly of the travel- 

 ing dairy school of the Province of Ontario. This 

 work will be made a prominent feature. 



The chemical laboratory has had at its head Prof. 

 W. P. Cutter, who resigned a few months ago. His 

 assistant, Mr. R. W. Erwin, a senior in the college, is 

 now in charge. His work has been recently narrowed 

 to include mostly ordinary routine analyses that 

 accompany the farm operation. One work of some 

 interest to irrigators of the arid region was a test of 

 the waters of several rivers of Utah. These rivers 

 show a large amount of lime and bring to the soil 

 more than their essential supply, but they are exceed- 

 ingly deficient in potash-phosphoric acid, a mere 

 trace of the latter being found, and make it apparent 

 that the irrigating waters that proceed from the 

 Wasatch range are unequal to maintain the fertility 

 of the soil unless supplemented by manures of some 

 kind. 



The station is now nearly four years old, publishes 

 one bulletin per month, and an annual report of 200 

 to 300 pages; and is, as you will observe, engaged in 

 an extensive series of experiments covering the great 

 fields of interest to our western farmers. In addition 

 to the irrigation experiments mentioned, others are 

 associated with the horticultural department, and 

 the station will make more prominent in the future 

 its irrigation researches, now embracing those of the 

 farm, the horticultural department, and of Prof. 

 Fortier as hydraulic engineer of the station, who will 

 investigate the irrigation systems of the territory and 

 do some practical work in the interest of the irrigators 

 of Utah. Most of our work, as you will observe, is 

 along new lines of investigation in irrigation problems. 



A LARGE ITEM OF WASTE. 



One fruitful source of waste on the farm is the un- 

 scientific treatment of farmyard manures. It is 

 estimated that a reasonable value of the manures 

 produced upon the farms of the State of New York is 

 a hundred million dollars, nearly one-half of which 

 is wasted through ignorance or neglect of the proper 

 methods of handling it. Professor Voelker of the 

 Royal Agricultural College of Gloucester, England, 

 who has given much time and labor to the subjeqt 

 advises that barnyard manure be kept composted 

 and under shelter. It should also be kept moist dur- 

 ing the period of fermentation, in order to prevent 

 the escape of nitrogen. Professor Voelker also as- 

 sures us that the urine of animals is the most valuable 

 part of farmyard manure, and should be scrupu- 

 lously preserved with the other more solid ingredients 

 of the compost heap. It is well known, too, that gyp- 

 sum, or land plaster, applied plentifully to the manure 

 heap will prevent the loss of nitrogen and add ma- 

 terially to the value of farmyard manure. 



Poultry should constitute a source of revenue on 

 every farmstead and orchard. Especially may the 

 orchard derive great advantage from keeping poultry, 

 aside from the pleasure and profit coming from hav- 

 ing a good supply of eggs and "spring chickens'" for 

 family use. Poultry should be allowed to range freely 

 in the orchard, and indeed should often be compelled 

 to do so. Many small orchards are kept comparatively 

 tree from insect pests >y having a flock of poultry 

 ranging about under the trees. While nearly all 

 breeds of domestic fowls are valuable, some are worth 

 much more than others. Some recent investigations 

 of the value of different crosses among various breeds 

 of poultry at the Rhode Island Experiment Station 

 led to the recommendation of certain crosses as 

 follows: 



" The various crosses, both alive and dressed, 

 were exhibited at the Rhode Island poultry exhibition 

 in December. A description of the carcasses of each 

 cross was given, together with data as to the live 

 weight at time of killing and the loss on dressing. 

 The judges pronounced the cross of Indian Game on 

 Light Brahma the best specimen of dressed poultry, 

 followed by the crosses of White Wyandotte on 

 Indian Game, White Wyandotte on Light Brahma, 

 Indian Game on Golden Wyandotte, and Dorking on 

 Dark Brahma. The judgment was made in accord- 

 ance with the popular demand for yellow poultry.' 1 



IMPORTING POTATOES AND BEANS. 



For the calendar year 1893, there were imported 

 into the United States 4,061,359 bushels of potatoes, 

 at an invoice valuation at ports of export of $1,998,- 

 708. The amount of beans imported during the same 

 period was 1,584,312 bushels, valued at $1,525,154. To 

 pay for these, wheat was exported at a farm value of 

 less than 54 cents per bushel. It would seem as 

 though such object lessons as these would soon teach 

 the American farmer the supreme folly of continu- 

 ing on year after year, in the same unprofitable rut 

 of raising wheat at a very low price in order to pur- 

 chase his potatoes and beans in foreign countries at 

 high prices. It requires a little more labor to pro- 

 duce a crop of potatoes or beans to be sure than a 

 crop of wheat, acre for acre; but when it is remem- 

 bered that a good home market nearly always awaits 

 the former while the latter must be sold abroad, or at 

 least that the price is fixed abroad, it must be clear 

 that some changes are needed in our system of 

 cropping. 



There will be an irrigation convention held in 

 Gering about June 19th and 20th. Many prominent 

 irrigation men are expected to attend. Farmers in 

 this valley are putting in considerable alfalfa this 

 spring ; about 2,000 acres will be planted. 



