THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



view of the pending revolution in this direction, then, 

 the best advice to farmers is to commence at once a 

 weeding process, and dispose of all but the best horses, 

 that is, the best for the purposes to which their ener- 

 gies are to be applied. As said elsewhere about cattle, 

 it costs little if any more to keep a well-bred horse 

 fully adapted to required conditions than to keep a 

 scrub of little value. 



Irrigation and Fruit Shrinkage. \Ve learn 

 from a coast paper that a California fruit company 

 has been investigating the effect of irrigation on 

 fruit as regards its shrinkage when it is dried. They 

 found rather unexpectedly that the irrigated fruit had 

 less shrinkage, and was therefore worth more in its 

 green state than fruit grown without irrigation. The 

 conclusion is that the greater amount of water in the 

 soil enabled the roots to take up more mineral mat- 

 ter. It also made a more vigorous growth of leaves, 

 and through these the air contributed a greater pro- 

 portion of saccharine pulp than was possible with 

 the poorer foliage on trees that h id a deficient sup- 

 ply of water. 



Propagation of Plants by Cuttings. The 



lover of plants would often increase her (or his) stock 

 of a favorite plant but for supposed difficulty of 

 propagation. The jessamine is among this class. A 

 California woman, says the Santa Clara Valley, con- 

 ceived the idea of splitting the end of a slip of a 

 Tecoma jasminoides and inserting a grain of wheat. 

 It grew readily. Another took a slip of the mande- 

 villea, which is usually propagated by layering, 

 nicked in several places the bark about the joint 

 nearest the downward end, planted it in the sand, and 

 it readily grew. 



Still another had a rare clematis given her, with 

 one eighth of an inch of stem embracing a joint on 

 two leaves. She carefully nicked the bark on one 

 side of the joint and buried the whole joint, leaving 

 nothing above ground but the few little leaves, and 

 over-this turned a glass that fitted tightly about it. 

 The sand was kept moist, and in a short time she 

 was rewarded for her care by seeing new, tender 

 leaves springing up from a young, healthy shoot. 



The proper time to propagate any plant from cut- 

 tings is when the stem is growing, as evidenced by 

 the putting out of fresh shoots. If propagation is 

 attempted during the dormant season, the cuttings 

 will remain dormant likewise until the new growth 

 starts, or may die while waiting. 



AI1 th e Year Around. Professor Craig 

 ot the Ottawa experiment station says of the cold 

 storage system: "Before long you will see a revo- 

 lution in the apple trade. Winter apples will not be 

 a necessity. Cold storage will solve the difficulty. 

 .Probably before two years are over you will see in 

 every fruit-growing district cold storage houses on the 

 cooperative plan, based on the cold storage building 

 at the World's Fair. Fall apples put into cold 

 storage buildings where the temperature is 34 degrees 

 may be kept an indefinite length of time. Thus 

 winter apples will not be necessary. When I was at 

 the World s Fair in the middle of the hot season I 

 saw in good condition Duchess of Oldenburg apples 

 which had been ripened early the previous summer 

 and kept in cold storage. While in Montreal recently 

 I noticed in the new cold storage building beautiful 

 California pears.' Perhaps; But, professor, how 



about the superior quality, to the taste of many peo- 

 ple, of some varieties of winter apples? 



Switch Grass. F. Lamsom Scribner, the grass 

 expert of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, contributes this interesting note on the native 

 grass known as Western Red Top, False Red 

 Top, Tall Prairie grass and Black Bent, in different 

 localities: 



"Panicum yirgatutn,L.,Svritch grass.is a tall growing 

 leafy perennial, with strong creeping rootstocks and 

 widely-spreading bushy panicles, bearing small grains 

 somewhat larger than pin heads. The panicles and 

 often the leaves and stems are inclined to be some- 

 what purplish in color. This grass is a native, rang- 

 ing from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky mountains, 

 and grows commonly upon somewhat moist, rocky 

 or sandy soil, although it may be found on rich 

 heavy land ; and in some parts of the West and in 

 Kansas it has been successfully cultivated for hay. 

 The chemical analyses made of it do not show it to 

 possess high nutritive qualities; still it is considered 

 a very valuable species in the western hay meadows. 

 It furnishes a large bulk of the "native'' hay of these 

 meadows and is well spoken of by stockmen. It 

 should be cut when young, for, if allowed to stand too 

 long, it becomes harsh, woody and unpalatable. From 

 its strong, creeping rootstock it would doubtless be a 

 good plant for binding drifting sands, for preventing 

 the breaking down, or washing of railroad embank- 

 ments, etc.' 1 



Drouth-Proof Fodder Plants. The Idaho 

 experiment station recommends the following: ''Of the 

 true grasses, Hungarian brome grass, Italian 

 rye grasses, English rye grasses, meadow oat 

 grass, Sheep's Fescue. These all grow well and are 

 not affected by drouth. How they will stand a pas- 

 ture test is a question not yet solved. Alfalfa does 

 well. Red clover sown in the fall has a fair 

 growth, but is not equal to half the growth 

 of spring sown alfalfa. Sanfoin is a promising plant 

 and grows rapidly throughout the dryest weather. 

 Its nutritive value is not yet determined. Lupine, 

 the great German forage plant for sheep, is not a 

 success, not producing as much forage as our wild 

 lupine." The Idaho station is, unfortunately, situated 

 in the hill country where little irrigation is practiced 

 and where they have eighteen to twenty-four inches 

 of rainfall. 



Irrigation Experiments deeded. Although 

 irrigation is so old an art, there is great need of more 

 accurate knowledge of the proper use of water. 

 Where water is scarce, the proper times for applica- 

 tion, and the minimum amounts necessary for the 

 different crops, should be known to a nicety. Where 

 it is plentiful, as in the Yakima valley, Washington, 

 you want to know the amounts and times for applica- 

 tion to produce the greatest crops of finest quality. 

 Is a fall and winter soaking of the soil a really ad- 

 vantageous system, as some of the Utah irrigators 

 claim? Where the canals are supplied with cold 

 mountain water, what is the proper course to pursue 

 in the first applications of the season? Does an ex- 

 cess of water cause a softening of texture in fruits? 

 What varieties are best for these peculiar conditions? 

 These and many other strictly agricultural questions, 

 exclusive of the engineering problems, afford a rich 

 and important field for the experimenters at the 

 western agricultural colleges, especially those in the 



