THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



229 



One year I divided a ten-acre cornfield 

 into small plats and planted the Crops 

 suitable to the soil and climate. Peanuts 

 yielded 8U bushels, white navy beans, 50 

 bushels; sweet potatoes, 250 bushels; 

 bunch lima beans, 40 bushels; pop corn, 

 40 bushels; and field corn, 60 bushels to 

 the acre. The several crops were all sale- 

 able every day in the year and kept safely 

 until the market was demanding my pro- 

 ducts, when I sold at a good ca?h price. I 

 made ten times the money from that acre- 

 age I could have gotten from corn alone, 

 besides having an abundance of each for 

 family use without purchasing. This was 

 in a warm valley where root crops, Kaffir 

 corn, melons, pumpkins, fruits and veg- 

 etables grew profusely, while the poultry, 

 hogs, cattle, bees and horses could be added 

 to the farm dividend payers. In a cold 

 valley or special wheat country, a friend 

 grows oats, barley, corn, wheat, potatoes, 

 fruits and vegetables, with farm animals 

 and poultry, and makes a profit from each. 

 He kills from 20 to 40 hogs every year, 

 smokes the meat and sells for cash the fol- 

 lowing season. The surplus from other 

 sources is sold when the market is right, 

 and this man gets about $5,000 every year 

 from 40 acres. 



If I were planting a farm in the South 

 or Southwest this spring, and was con- 

 fronted with the question of how to make 

 it profitable, I would study the markets 

 and diversify the products. I would plow 

 the land as early as possible, and if it did 

 not contain much sand, would turn it at 

 least eight inches in depth; if sandy soil, 

 four inches would be better. After plowing 

 I would thoroughly pulverize with a disc 

 harrow, and level by dragging a log over 

 the field, if I had no better tool. On good 

 corn land 1 would plant some corn, an acre 

 or more of beans, white navy or Lima, a 

 similar acre in peanuts or sweet potatoes, 

 a good patch of popcorn, an acre in carrots, 

 turnips, rutabagas and mangels, and what- 

 ever the market demanded in cabbage, 

 onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. If I 



had hogs and cattle T would plant an abun- 

 dance of pumpkins and squashes, and 

 Kaffir or Jerusalem corn for the chickens 

 ducks, geese and turkeys. I would plant 

 as close as the soil would justify and fur- 

 row out both ways so that every thing could 

 be cross cultivated with small shovels or 

 tooth cultivators, and keep stirring the soil, 

 especially after every rain. If necessary 

 to hire help I would pay the highest wages 

 and employ the best and most experienced 

 persons. 



Irrigation may seem unnecessary, and 

 some Southern farmers no doubt think it 

 an attempt to substitute the power of man 

 for the natural rainfall, but I should most 

 certainly prepare for irrigating every culti- 

 vated acre, so that moisture could be sup- 

 plied when required for growing or ma- 

 turing crops. The expense of an irriga- 

 tion system is very small where springs, 

 creeks, ponds and wells can be utilized, 

 and the income from mixed farming can 

 surely be made more certain, and in many 

 instances doubled, by irrigating at the 

 proper time. In the hot, dry months of 

 July and August a small stream of water 

 divided into furrows and distributed over 

 a field for even one night would save 

 enough to pay for the land in one season. 

 The small fruits, if within 12 hours' ex- 

 press delivery of a large city, are worth 

 several hundred dollars an acre when the 

 plants and the trees produce to the full 

 capacity; and this cannot be done without 

 an abundance of natural rain or artificial 

 irrigation. Trees and plants may be 

 sprayed or sprinkled after sunset with per- 

 fect safety in any climate and the fruits 

 saved from destruction by drouth. My 

 plan, then, for making the farm more profit- 

 able, when fully condensed is: properly 

 prepare the land; plant all the crops suit- 

 able to the soil and climate, that can be 

 marketed; cultivate thoroughly and, if 

 necessary, supply the requisite moisture 

 by syetematic irrigation. 



JOEL SIIOMAKER. 



