THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



vent the manure heaps from being the fertile breed- 

 ing grounds of unnumbered hordes of insects should 

 be observed. One progressive farmer in Kansas 

 even goes so far as to cover his manure heaps by 

 means of fine netting to prevent the entrance of flies 

 to deposit their eggs. He finds this an effective pre- 

 ventive, when added to the other precautions he 

 takes with his stables and other outhouses. 



As a matter of fact, it is not difficult to prove that 

 protection against the fly nuisance, both in house and 

 stable, is not by any means an impossible task, and 

 that it pays large dividends in cash, as well as com- 

 fort, upon all time, labor or money spent in erecting 

 effective barriers against this great, but controllable, 

 evil. It is hoped that the intelligent and progressive 

 rural clientele of THE IRRIGATION AGE will set a 

 humane and otherwise praiseworthy example by ex- 

 cluding flies from both dwellings and stables, for it 

 can be done if properly undertaken. 



Experiment Stations. One of the instances in 

 which " book farming " has proven of immense bene- 

 fit to farmers, and indeed to the whole country, is 

 that wherein Professor Snow, of the Kansas State 

 University, innoculated chinch bugs with a deadly 

 disease and then turned them loose among their fel- 

 lows. The result was to spread the disease, and 

 thus destroy chinch bugs by the million. In one 

 year it is estimated that the farmers of Kansas gained 

 over 200,000 on their wheat crop alone by reason of 

 this wholesale destruction of the devastating chinch 

 bug. In nearly every state there are certain political 

 demagogues who decry the value of the Agricultural 

 Experiment Stations, and in some cases these men 

 have succeeded in making farmers believe that 

 they are not "practical," and should not be sup- 

 ported by a taxation of the. people. Of course such 

 men do not make effective protest against any sort of 

 reckless appropriations for unnecessary purposes 

 where they may profit by them, but try to make cheap 

 capital among those farmers who oppose "new 

 fangled notions" in agriculture. Farmers should 

 strengthen the hands of the Experiment Stations by 

 every possible means. They are doing a better work 

 for the country than all the glib tribe of demagogues 

 ever can do, and they are doing it at comparatively 

 small expense. Every Congressman from a farming 

 district should be compelled to pledge himself to up- 

 hold the proper work of the Stations, and to favor 

 reasonable appropriations to that end, or suffer defeat 

 at the hands of the farmers. 



Feed Wheat to Swine and Poultry. Low 



priced wheat is an inevitable necessity again this 

 year. There is little hope of paying prices for that 

 crop in its raw state in any market in the world. It 

 is well known that THE IRRIGATION AGE has taken 

 the ground that, so long as American farmers persist 

 in producing two hundred million bushels of wheat 

 to be sold annually in the British markets in compe- 

 tition with that grown by the cheap labor of India, 

 Russia, Egypt and Argentina, they must expect low 

 prices. At this writing the day of good prices for 

 wheat appears very distant. Immense areas of new 

 land are being planted with wheat each year, and 

 the available areas for that staple which have not 

 yet been touched are very great. It would seem, 

 therefore, that if our farmers still continue to pro- 

 duce a large surplus of wheat, they must devise 

 better means of realizing a living price for it than 

 merely sending it to market as raw material. 



In some of the Northwestern States where wheat 

 has been very plentiful and money scarce of late 

 years, many progressive farmers have made money by 

 feeding wheat to stock. It is found to be excellent 

 food for work horses, and swine may be readily and 

 cheaply fattened with it at present prices in many 

 districts. It would, therefore, seem to be good busi- 

 ness policy for those farmers, either in the arid belt 

 or elsewhere, who find themselves " long " on wheat, 

 to use a market term, to utilize it by feeding stock. 

 It is a reasonable suggestion that at the present 

 prices of pork and poultry, for example, wheat can 

 be made to bring eighty cents to a dollar per bushel, 

 and perhaps more if marketed as a manufactured 

 product rather than as raw material. If properly 

 distributed, there certainly could be found a market 

 for several times the number of turkeys, capons and 

 other first-class poultry that are now annually sold. 

 Ground properly, wheat may also be largely used as 

 food for dairy cows. The testimony of a number of 

 reliable dairymen is to the effect that when properly 

 fed to the right kind of dairy cows, wheat will 

 almost certainly yield a return equivalent to a dollar 

 per bushel. Along these lines there is an outlet with 

 some hope of fair profit for a part of the immense 

 surplus of wheat which has already filled the mar- 

 kets of the world, and awaits tardy final purchasers 

 at prices below any reasonable profit in production. 



Mushroom Bed. Mushrooms are everywhere 

 considered to be a delicious and wholesome article of 

 food, but it is generally believed that they are pro- 

 vided only at great trouble and expense. In France 

 and other places they are extensively grown in natu- 

 ral or artificial caves, and it is generally thought that 

 much of the ordinary daylight must be excluded for 

 best results. In some places in the United States, 

 however, they thrive remarkably well among timber, 

 especially where the ground is suitable and the shade 

 not too dense. But most farmers can readilv produce 

 this toothsome fungus by a little care and attention 

 and will be amply rewarded by a very valuable addi- 

 tion to their list of table delicacies. 



Sugar Beets in Washington. The people of 

 eastern Washington count upon being able to suc- 

 cessfully produce sugar beets in that region. Prof. 

 Elton Fulmer, of the State Agricultural College, has 

 been making tests from which he appears to con- 

 clude that the crop may be grown in that State for 

 sugar-making the sugar trust permitting, of course. 



Poultry Manure, An irrigation farmer in south- 

 ern Colorado lays great stress upon the value of 

 manure from the poultry house, especially in the pro- 

 duction of cabbage, which he claims is greatly stim- 

 ulated by the direct application of such manure in 

 quantities which would injure most other crops. 



The eastern farmer who fences against nothing 

 smaller than a "shoat," and the western farmer who 

 fences against nothing at all, will alike be interested 

 in the fact that, in portions of California great fields 

 of irrigated grain, containing hundreds of acres in 

 some instances, are fenced against rabbits. 



An insect pest, an aphis, allied to the fruit louse, 

 did some damage to wheat fields in eastern Washing- 

 ton this year, but its ravages seemed to be checked 

 by the advent of hot weather. 



