THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 



133 



stirring up the soil as deep as you can. If 

 you desire you can go over the field and 

 cross plow. When this has been done 

 plant the wheat or other grain and you 

 may depend upon it you will reap a goodly 

 harvest with the assistance of even the 

 minimum rainfall which is certain to come. 



POINTS ON DITCH BUILDING. 



JN laying out your system of ditches use 

 care and time. 



See to it that the water can get off your 

 land as well as on to it. 



Run your ditch lines on the high parts 

 of your farm as far as possible. 



Make the grade as light as possible and 

 avoid "silting up" or setting. 



About four feet to the mile is what ordi- 

 nary soils will stand. 



It is better to have to clean the silt out 

 of your ditches than to have them cutting 

 away the sides or bottoms. 



Cutting might be called "perpetual 

 motion." If once begun it seems never 

 to stop and the ditch gets lower and lower 

 until you canuot get the water out of it. 



A ditch should always be much larger 

 than is apparently necessary. 



When the ditch is completed let very 

 little water in for the first few days and 

 shut it off every afternoon. Watch it 

 closely, for even with the greatest care in 

 construction you will find that the ways of 

 water in a new ditch ' ' passeth all under- 

 standing. " 



Build the ditches broad and the banks 

 broad and the cows can wander across the 

 ditch without miring in its banks and 

 starting out a little stream of water which 

 in a few hours will cut away bank and 

 ditch and perhaps wash a deep gash across 

 the upper half of your field and bury an 

 acre of wheat in the lower half. 



3To Cure as yet. The Illinois Live 

 Stock Association met at Springfield, 

 during the session of the Illinois Farmers' 

 Institute. A. J. Lovejoy, of Roscoe, mem- 

 ber of the State Board of Agriculture and 

 president of the Winnebago County Insti- 

 tute, read a paper on ' ' Our Hog Interests. ' ' 

 He claimed that the hog is the most import- 

 ant of all farm products, and gave many in- 

 teresting figures. Regarding hog cholera, 

 he said that as yet there is no cure for it. 



His best suggestion was to take the well 

 ones away from the sick ones, when the 

 first symptoms appear. Place them at 

 least sixty rods away, change the location 

 often, use aconite to reduce fever; sprinkle 

 the pen with carbolic acid; clean pen and 

 burn bedding daily. 



Fortunes in Cornstalks. The possi- 

 bility of making good syrup from corn- 

 cobs has been established. Still another 

 discovery is made. The Foos Manufactur- 

 ing Company of Springfield, Ohio, has 

 just completed special machinery to be 

 used in the manufacture of cellulose from 

 the pith of cornstalks. The product is 

 the invention of Mark W. Marsden, of 

 Philadelphia, and is to be used in the con- 

 struction of United States men-of-war to 

 prevent the inflow of water after the 

 piercing of unarmored portions of vessels 

 near the water line. Mr. Marsden states 

 that a company with $1,000,000 capital has 

 been organized at Philadelphia to manu- 

 facture the product, and that a large 

 factory is now in course of erection at 

 Owensboro, Ky. 



Cranberries. There is no one more 

 interested in the subject of irrigation 

 than those who raise, or rather are trying 

 to raise cranberries. For the past ten 

 years it has been uphill work. Fire has 

 destroyed most of our vines, and in many 

 instances the land also. Last fall I put 

 down three wells, and erected three wind- 

 mills, which are doing good work, and it 

 is my intention to keep them running all 

 winter. It is too early to tell what there- 

 suit will be, but it looks promising. My 

 greatest trouble is in confining the water. 

 During the winter and until about the first 

 of June it is absolutely necessary to keep 

 the vines under water. I have my ground 

 surrounded with a strong embankment, 

 but the water seeps through in spite of me. 

 The soil is peat and sand. Ordinarily the 

 water is about to the surface, but latterly 

 it is an} r where from four to six feet 

 below. When I put down my wells in 

 October and November, 1895, I first sank 

 a curb, made of two-inch plank, down to 

 water, then put down a six- inch pipe to 

 rock, about fourteen feet, and drilled into 

 that some fifty feet. To the top of the 

 pipe I attached an eight-inch iron cylinder 



