156 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The Irrigation Farmer. Irrigated 

 farms have a tendency to induce their 

 owners to cultivate crops that will pay the 

 largest profits, and the irrigation farmer 

 is in a vast majority of cases, a man of 

 high intelligence who studies to make his 

 land as profitable as possible. He has 

 broken loose from the traditions of his fore- 

 fathers because he is surrounded by diff- 

 erent conditions. 



Save the Winter Rains and Snows. 



The winter raius and snows are a con- 

 stant source of waste of water that might 

 be held in natural basins or easily con- 

 structed reservoirs for use in irrigating 

 during the coming season . There is no 

 better time than the present for irrigators 

 to investigate the subject of securing an 

 independent water supply. 



If the soil is of a character to admit of 

 constructing catchment reservoirs every 

 available location should be used. In the 

 foothills of the mountain valleys are base- 

 ments covering from one to fifty acres 

 where with a little work a large body of 

 winter water may be held. Small chan- 

 nels made with an ordinary plow will be 

 sufficient to lead the water into the re- 

 servoirs. In this manner the rains that 

 would otherwise swell the mountain 

 streams and run away causing frequent 

 floods and damage can be utilized to fur- 

 nish moisture for the next season. 



The Government Seedshop. By or- 

 der of congress $130,000 worth of seeds 

 will be distributed in 1897. This equals 

 $288.89 for each representative, senator 

 and delegate in congress, or enough to 

 allow 30,000 packets of seeds to each 

 member, including field seeds in quart 

 packets. In buying this seed bids were 

 invited from all firms, and to insure seed 

 adapted to the various sections the con- 

 tracts were awarded to a responsible firm 

 in each section eastern, south Atlantic, 

 middle western, northwestern and south- 

 western states, contracts for the Pacific 

 states not yet being awarded. 



Selling to Consumers. A writer in 

 Detroit Tribune says that when in England 

 last winter, he noticed the farmers were 

 trying to cut the middleman and deal 

 directly with the consumer. One method 

 was to advertise freely in the newspapers. 



An advertisement read thus: "Provisions 

 from a Suffolk farm Twelve new laid 

 eggs, one pound of butter (silver ' medal), 

 jar of cream, two plump fowls or one 

 fowl and a loin of pork, one pound of 

 sausages, jar of potted meat; carriage paid, 

 London or suburbs, cash on delivery, 10s. 

 9d. M. Suffolk." Another was as fol- 

 lows: "Welsh mutton, direct from the 

 farmer, 8|d. for the whole, sheep averag- 

 ing 40 pounds, delivered free to any ad- 

 dress in London. Send postal order 30s. ,- 

 balance, if any, returned in stamps Re- 

 ference, etc." Why cannot the idea be 

 carried out in this country ? Possibly it 

 is in some places, and if any of our readers 

 know about it we shall be glad to hear 

 with what success it is attended. 



Carnjiny Stock. A. stock run from 

 Pueblo to Kansas City, a distance of 635 

 miles, was made in twenty-one hours and 

 twenty-seven minutes, on the Atchison 

 recently. No other line has as yet come 

 within that limit of speed between these 

 points, in hauling a stock train of similar 

 tonnage, that is a speed of thirty miles 

 an hour including all stops and delays in 

 transit. Such time is possible because 

 there is a system and discipline built up 

 on the Atchison that is as near perfect as 

 may be. The humblest employee as well 

 as the highest official, seems to be at all 

 times enlivened with a sense of importance 

 in maintaining a routine that carries with 

 it safety and dispatch. 



Some of the soils in the irrigated dis- 

 tricts which were formerly hard and diffi- 

 cult to work have changed and become 

 mellow. The water has undoubtedly caused 

 a chemical and mechanical decomposition 

 of the components of the soil which has 

 caused it to continually improve. Even 

 certain kinds of hard-pan have been 

 known to dissolve when irrigated. 



A farmer sent a dollar for a lightning 

 potato bug killer which he saw advertised 

 in a paper and received by return mail 

 two blocks of wood with directions printed 

 as follows: "Take this block No. 1 in the 

 right hand, place the bug on Block No. 2 

 and press them together. Remove the 

 bug and proceed as before." 



A patch of sweet corn makes one of the 

 best crops to grow to commence feeding 

 hogs intended for fall market. 



