THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



239 



WINTER IRRIGATION . 



BY J. W. GREGORY. 



IT is an excellent practice to irrigate some ground 

 thoroughly in the winter season, if you have the 

 water, so as to have the help of the frost in mel- 

 lowing and subduing the soil. 



It is a good thing to flood new ground that you have 

 just prepared, if you have the water. It will show 

 you where you need to put the finishing touches in 

 the leveling process. Unless the ground is very 

 moist, it is well to irrigate your ground before plant- 

 ing any small seed or grain. The plants come up 

 quickly and get a good start; the seeds sprout evenly 

 and fewer fail to come. 



Having your crop once well started and kept thor- 

 oughly cultivated, further directions may be con- 

 densed in the simple admonition, water whenever it 

 is needful. It would take columns of details to at- 

 tempt to specify all the minutse as to time, stages and 

 conditions of growth of different crops with refer- 

 ence to putting on the water. Any husbandman of 

 experience can tell when his crops need rain. Hav- 

 ing his reservoir always full, he simply proceeds to 

 bring on a shower whenever it is needed, and just 

 where it is needed. 



Some crops may safely be flooded, as alfalfa, the 

 small grains, onions, etc., but with others, notably 

 maize and Irish potatoes, it is very important that the 

 water be kept well down in the furrows between the 

 rows, and not allowed in any case to rise about the 

 plants. 



Most important of all, it should be borne in mind 

 that, important as is irrigation, thorough cultivation is 

 still more so. To soak up the ground time after time, 

 only to let it stand and dry out as hard as a brick, is 

 to waste seed, water, time and labor. A thorough irri- 

 gation tends to compact the soil. Unless the surface 

 is thoroughly stirred at the proper time the ground, 

 unless it is very sandy, becomes very hard, evapora- 

 tion is rapid and plant growth is retarded, or even 

 smothered out. 



It takes prompt work, and a great, deal of it, to till 

 the ground at the right stage after each irrigation, 

 but it pays to do it, and the farmer cannot afford not 

 to do it. It will lead to his handling less ground, but 

 he will get enough more off the area tilled to amply 

 compensate for the extra labor. After all, is it not 

 better to thoroughly fertilize, irrigate and cultivate an 

 acre of ground and get a whopping big crop off it, 

 than to spread out a great deal more of labor, time 

 and seed on ten acres and get only as much of a har- 

 vest as off the intensively tilled one acre? 



If the ground to be irrigated is rolling, the water 

 will necessarily be conveyed in ditches which curve 

 about to suit the necessities of the case, and often- 

 times the crops will need to be planted in rows which 

 follow the windings of the surface. 



If the surface to be irrigated is steeply sloping, the 

 water must be applied along lines which run 

 across the slope not down it to prevent washing 

 out ditches and crops, and to retain the water in place 

 long enough to allow it to sufficiently moisten the 

 soil. 



lation, and it just so happens, that the first State Leg- 

 islature will be called upon to deal largely with the 

 farming interests. Do the farmers know what is best 

 to be done and what is best not to be done in regard 

 to the following topics? First, the confirmation of 

 water-rights that have accrued; second, the establish- 

 ing of new water-rights; third, the proper protection 

 of forests; fourth, the disposition of school fands; 

 fifth, the rights of the settlers already on the school 

 lands; sixth, location and disposition of the lands that 

 will come to the public institutions; seventh, lands that 

 will come to this State through the Carey act; eighth 

 the sheep and general stock inspection laws; ninth, 

 the bee inspection law; tenth, the fruit-tree spraying 

 and inspection laws; eleventh, filled and skim-milk 

 cheese; twelfth, the oleomargarine and its effects on 

 the butter trade; thirteenth, the State fair; fourteenth, 

 the state of our agriculture and the general super- 

 vision of all agricultural interests. Let all agricultur- 

 ists in Utah look this list over and see if they under- 

 stand the different topics, remembering that, whatever 

 is done or whatever is neglected in these matters, 

 the farmer will have to pay for in the end. It is de- 

 signed that every county throughout the Territory 

 shall organize an agricultural society which shall be 

 a branch of the State society. And inasmuch as it is 

 the intention of the committee to call a meeting of 

 the State association during the holidays, when low 

 rates are in vogue, we would suggest and earnestly 

 solicit the agriculturists of each county to organize 

 these branch societies immediately and arrange to 

 send as many representatives as possible to our State 

 meeting in December. We desire at that meeting to 

 have a very large attendance and a general represen- 

 tation throughout the Territory, as matters of very 

 great importance will come up for discussion and de- 

 termination. Among others, we want to appoint and 

 organize a strong legislative committee, whose duty it 

 will be to go before the Legislature and work for 

 such measures as will best serve all agricultural in- 

 terests. For further information address any of the 

 undersigned, A. A. Mills, president, Logan, Utah; 

 Heber Bennion, vice-president, Taylorsville; Philip A. 

 Dix, secretary and treasurer, Salt Lake, Executive 

 Committee. 



PREPARING LAND FOR SUGAR BEETS. 



UTAH FARMERS STRONGLY ORGANIZING. 



THE Utah State Agricultural Society has issued a 

 lengthy address to the farmers of the State 

 which contains the following: The matter of 

 most pressing importance at the present time is legis- 



THE full preparation of the land for sugar beets is 

 a very important part of the culture. Fall 

 plowing is one of the best ways of giving 

 the plants an early start in the spring, and most lands 

 should be prepared immediately in the fall after the 

 last crop is harvested. Corn land that is to be planted 

 with sugar beets needs to be cleared of the cornstalks 

 just as soon as possible. In the fall our weather is 

 generally very dry, and the soil is frequently parched 

 also. If any crop is taken off, and the soil left ex- 

 posed for a few weeks to the hot sun, it will become 

 dry. The great thing necessary in the fall then is to 

 get the land plowed over, the weeds killed, and the 

 soil so pulverized that the moisture will sink into it 

 and not run off. 



Subsoiling and surface plowing in the fall should 

 be attended to, no matter what crop has been raised, 

 and the sooner this can be done after the corn is har- 

 vested, the better conditions will prevail in the spring 

 for the sugar beets. On most lands manure should 

 be spread over the soil after the crop is harvested. 

 Unless the land is exceptionally rich, well-rotted 

 manure should be spread over the land immediately 



