TALKS WITH PRACTICAL IRRIGATORS. 



231 



fine apples, some big sweet potatoes from fields that 

 have netted from $100 to $200 per acre per year for 

 several years past, several half-grown heads of red 

 Kaffir corn (the coming grain crop of the Great 

 Plains), and, perhaps the most interesting of all to 

 the Eastern farmer, some bunches of alfalfa. The 

 display was gathered up in a couple of hours, and is 

 neither so varied nor of such quality as it might have 

 been. The apples are from the orchard of Capt. E. L. 

 Hall, who shows sixteen varieties of apples from his 

 orchard at the coming Finney county fair, the orchard 

 not yet eight years old. These products of the once 

 arid and desolate " Great American Desert" may be 

 seen at Mr. Hudson's office at 4032 State street. At 

 Garden City men are supporting their families upon 

 three and a half to five acres of irrigated land, irri- 

 gated by pumping, So it is that homes of comfort 

 may be made for millions of people in Arid America. 



Feeding Values of Corn and Wheat. Else- 

 where in THE IRRIGATION AGE attention has been 

 called by a contributor to the probable value of util- 

 izing cheap wheat as a ration for stock of various 

 kinds, including hogs fattened for pork. Experi- 

 ments on a considerable scale at some of the agri- 

 cultural experiment stations confirm the views therein 

 expressed, and show with much clearness that when 

 corn and wheat are the same price per bushel, a 

 marked advantage is found in feeding wheat instead 

 of corn. While a considerable variation in the feed- 

 ing values was shown by the analyses of some 262 

 samples of wheat, yet the average was finally deter- 

 mined at 59 cents per bushel, or practically, one cent 

 per pound. It is a little remarkable that the average 

 feed value of the corn analyzed was 55 cents per 

 bushel, or practically one cent per pound, the same 

 as wheat. These figures relate to the feeding value, 

 without reference to the value of the manure result- 

 ing from thus using the two grains. It has been 

 shown, however, that 1,000 pounds of corn contain 16 

 pounds of nitrogen, 5.70 pounds of phosphoric acid 

 and 3.7 pounds of potash, while an average of an- 

 alyses of winter and spring wheat shows for each 100 

 pounds, two pounds of nitrogen, one pound of phos- 

 phoric acid and .65 pound of potash. From these 

 data it is estimated that the manurial value of corn is 

 20 cents per bushel, and of wheat 24 cents per bushel. 

 By proper care probably three-fourths of the ma- 

 nurial value of these grains may be saved, thus mak- 

 ing the total feeding and manurial value of wheat 77 

 cents per bushel, against 70 cents per bushel for 



Cultivating Small Grain. The cultivation of 

 small grain so clearly and largely increases the yield 

 that it will doubtless become a general practice 

 among irrigation farmers to so plant their grain crops 

 that cultivation may be systematically undertaken. 

 Farming by irrigation is the perfection of farming. 

 It should lead not only to the sure production of a 

 crop ever/ year, but to getting all that each acre will 



E reduce every year. Hence it will doubtless be 

 Dund profitable to sow grain in drills twelve inches 

 or more apart, and to make it a practice of stirring and 

 loosening the soil between the rows. If a little extra 

 labor and a little more care in irrigating the grain crops 

 will both increase the yield of grain and economize 

 the water supply and such is undoubtedly the case 

 men who farm small tracts of valuable land by ir- 

 rigation can only afford to bestow the extra labor and 



Seed Potatoes. Some farmers plant whole pota - 

 toes in the hope of a better crop or larger tubers, but 

 the experience of a great number of advanced 

 growers leads to the belief that fewer eyes in each 

 hill will yield better results. It is claimed that when 

 whole potatoes are used for planting, the great num- 

 ber of eyes which sprout have the effect to crowd the 

 roots and stalks to the great detriment of the crop. 

 Experienced potato growers allege that good results 

 from such planting cannot be expected with any bet- 

 ter reason than can a good crop of corn be looked for 

 from the planting of entire ears in each hill without 

 subsequent thinning. While it is quite probable this 

 is an exaggerated statement, the experience of some 

 of the most successful potato culturists in the country 

 appears to establish the best practice to be the plant- 

 ing of pieces having but one or two eyes each, and 

 then giving plenty of room in the hills as well as be- 

 tween the rows. It is a very common practice to 

 allow too many stalks of corn to grow in a hill, and 

 the same may be said of many other crops, as straw- 

 berries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries and 

 currants. Vigorous thinning will be found to pay 

 handsomely, for the overcrowded stalk or cane can- 

 not give a good account of itself, and frequently leads 

 to discouragement and loss. Plant the best seed, but 

 do not plant too many eyes in a hill, is good advice to 

 potato growers. 



Good Domestic Stock. On the irrigated farm, 

 which should never be large, it must be constantly 

 borne in mind that only the best domestic animals of 

 any kind should be kept. Scrub stock has no proper 

 place on the irrigated farm. It really costs but little 

 more to keep a first class animal from which both 

 satisfaction and profit may be derived, than to keep 

 inferior stock which often consume more and yield a 

 far smaller return. Especially should no inferior 

 cows be maintained on the small farm, or any other 

 farm, for that matter. But particularly on the small, 

 snug, well-tilled, well-watered farm, the well bred 

 and well fed cow of the most patrician lineage will 

 be found by far the most profitable and desirable. In 

 fact on the little farm the cow should be almost re- 

 garded as "one of the family/'and treated accordingly. 

 She should always be well housed, well fed and well 

 tended. No fear need be felt that she will be 

 " pampered '' too much, for she will always give 

 value in return for all she receives. Cows may be 

 taught to consume a good deal of food about a farm 

 which is ordinarily wasted, and careful attention in 

 this direction may often result in the appreciable 

 lessening of the expense of keeping by at least one- 

 half. But above all things, the farmer on the irri- 

 gated farm should not attempt to save expense by 

 stinting the rations of his stock. It is sure to be the 

 ruinous policy of saving at the spigot while wasting 

 at the bung. 



New Uses for Reservoirs. Although the man 

 who, for the first time, contemplates installing a 

 pumping plant to irrigate a small tract of three to 

 five acres may at first grudge the amount of ground 

 space which his reservoir will necessarily occupy, he 

 will cease to do so when he realizes how valuable that 

 space may be made. The people in Western Kan- 

 sas who have been so successful in irrigating for some 

 years past by the use of pumps, windmills and small 

 reservoirs, declare that, by the production of fish and 

 by the ice put up for home use and for sale, the area 

 occupied by the reservoir may be made the most 

 profitable portion of the tract. 



