TALKS WITH PRACTICAL IRRIGATORS. 



27 



use their straw with good advantage. Large amounts 

 of straw plaited goods have been shipped to many 

 countries, and the export of this class of manufactures 

 to the United States is rapidly increasing. This 

 affords a brisk and increasing market for barley 

 straw. 



NITRATE OF SODA. 



Nitrate of soda (Chile saltpeter) is regarded as one 

 of the very best and cheapest of all fertilizers applied 

 for their nitrogenous contents. In fact, it is about the 

 cheapest source from which nitrogen in large supply 

 may be easily obtained. Especially is nitrate of soda 

 valuable for cabbages, cauliflowers, celery, spinach 

 .and beets. It has many advantages over most other 

 nitrogenous fertilizers in that it is clean, easily ap- 

 plied, comparatively cheap and takes effect almost 

 immediately. Of course, those farmers who have 

 enough good stable manure need not necessarily use 

 other forms of nitrate, but unless the supply is abun- 

 dant and has been well prepared, it may'Jbe often 

 necessary to supplement it by using commercial 

 nitrates in addition. Ni.trate of soda may be applied 

 to crops either by sowing broadcast or by special 

 application of small amounts about the roots of the 

 plant. A tablespoonful scattered about the roots of 

 cabbages and other plants will soon give good account 

 of itself, and the application may be profitably re- 

 peated once or more during the season. When sown 

 broadcast, 150 to 300 pounds to the acre may be applied 

 with advantage. The main sources of this valuable 

 substance are the nitrate beds in Chile, South America, 

 although recent discoveries of it have been reported 

 in the United States. 



WHEAT OUTLOOK IN INDIA. 



Word comes from India that, due to excessive 

 rainfall during the present season, the wheat crop is 

 suffering from an attack of rust, thus materially les- 

 .sening the yield. While American farmers cannot 

 but deplore a calamity to their fellow men in any part 

 of the world, yet it is not improbable that rust in 

 India, damage to the harvested grain by excessive 

 rain lately reported in Argentina, and the diminished 

 acreage sown to spring wheat in Russia, all taken 

 together, may redound to the advantage of wheat 

 growers in this country by stimulating to some extent 

 the price for wheat in the foreign markets. 



But American farmers cannot and should not rely 

 upon calamities to befall wheat culture elsewhere to 

 make living prices for their product. Wheat plant- 

 ing is rapidly extending in other countries, and the 

 output is destined to increase from year to year with 

 almost absolute certainty, especially in those countries 

 where the cost of production has been brought to a 



point below possible competition by the farmers of 

 the United States. More diversified agriculture and 

 lesser acreage in wheat should be the industrial policy 

 of American farmers ; at least, until conditions change 

 to a more hopeful outlook in this direction, which event 

 does not at this time appear imminent. 



ARGENTINE WHEAT CROP. 



The wheat crop of Argentina is rapidly increasing 

 year by year. In 1893 the exports are reported at 

 one million tons, or, say 33,000,000 bushels. The 

 present season's crop is expected to be much larger 

 than the last, due to a wider area sown and to an in- 

 creased yield per acre. Should good weather prevail 

 during the harvesting and threshing period, which is 

 not yet assured, no doubt the surplus for export 

 would be considerably increased. An almost unlim- 

 ited area of virgin wheat land remains untouched in 

 that country, and with the cheap labor obtainable 

 there and the low cost of transportation to all great 

 markets, Argentina will soon be found one of our 

 strongest competitors in the wheat markets of the 

 world. As a matter of fact, wheat can be produced 

 on the plains of South America at a much less cost 

 than is possible to our farmers in the United States. 

 To meet such formidable competition our farmers 

 must change entirely their methods of wheat culture 

 if indeed it is possible to successfully meet it at all. 



KEEP A GARDEN PATCH.' 



Every farmstead should have a good " garden 

 patch '' as a source of family supply. It need not 

 be large, but should be well cultivated and properly 

 watered. A little plat 40 feet square, well irrigated, 

 will often produce more and better supplies for the 

 family table than an acre promiscuously planted, un- 

 watered and poorly tended. Perhaps the cheapest 

 piece of farm machinery, and most useful in propor- 

 tion to its cost, is a good wind mill. Every farmer or 

 gardener should make use of the power of the wind 

 in pumping- water, grinding grain and in various 

 other ways known to every tiller of the. soil. If no 

 other use be made of the wind mill than to pump 

 water for stock and for the family garden, its price 

 may often be saved in a single year. A good garden, 

 even if small, is not only valuable in saving cash out- 

 lays for needed vegetables and fruits, but it is a good 

 physician as well as a civilizer. Its effect upon chil- 

 dren alone is worth more than its cost. The ideas of 

 order, neatness and thrift, which a well-kept vege- 

 table, fruit or flower garden inculcates are valuable 

 in shaping character and destiny, to say nothing of 

 its economic value as a source of table supplies for 

 the family. 



