

PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



THE WORK OF THE YEAR. 

 Through the courtesy of TV". A. Hemr, 

 Director of the Agricultural Experiment 

 Statioa. University of Wisconsin, at Mad- 

 ison, we are in receipt of the fifteenth 

 annual report of the station. It is a -well 

 gotten up volume and the reports contain 

 valuable information for all interested in 

 agriculture. The director's report shows 

 a gratifying advancement in the work of 

 the station, and increased interest in its 

 work by farmers throughout the state is 

 attested by the heavy correspondence and 

 the large number of visitors. The new 

 barn, erected during the past year is one 

 of the many improvements made, and the 

 director hopes during the coming year to 

 receive a sufficient appropriation to make 

 the remodeling of the dairy building pos- 

 sible. The new dairy barn is so well ar- 

 ranged and equipped that it may be'taken 

 as a model of its kind and at some future 

 date we hope to give a detailed account of 

 it. A few words will suffice at present. 

 "The barn is a frame structure, consisting 

 of the barn proper. 86 feet long by 50 feet 

 wide, with two wings each 70 feet long, 

 projecting at right angles from each end 

 of the main building. A large class-room 

 is conveniently located between the two 

 wings. '" From this may be gained an idea 

 of the dimensions of the- building, the cost 

 of which was $16.000. with $2,000 more 

 for equipment. The illustration of the 

 stalls and mangers, reminded me of noth- 

 ing so much as a hospital ward, the stalls, 

 constructed of gas pipe posts with frame- 

 work of gates and panels of channel-iron 

 supporting woven steel wire, correspond- 

 ing to the rows of iron beds in a hospital. 

 The students have every facility for study- 

 ing dairying that the importance of the 



dairy interest in the state warrants. Ex- 

 tensive experiments were made regarding 

 milk and its products cheese and butter. 

 It was demonstrated that, contrary to the 

 popular, belief warm milk absorbs impur- 

 ities even more readily than cold, which im 

 an added reason why the cow stable should 

 be kept clean. The results of the investi- 

 gations in this line are very interesting. 



Sugar beets received considerable at- 

 tention at the station during the year, as 

 the director has maintained for years that 

 it was possible for this country to produce 

 its own sugar 



The physicist. F. H. King, under the 

 subject of the "Importance of the Right 

 Amount and the Right Distribution of 

 Water in Crop Production," says that the 

 past year is the first since 1888 which has 

 had sufficient rainfall, and so well dis- 

 tributed as to allow nearly maximum yields 

 to be produced. From the first of April 

 to the last of September there was but one 

 interval of fifteen days when no rain fell. 

 Despite the unusual amount of rain fall, 

 irrigation was used, and was amply jus- 

 tified by the results. Three crops of hay 

 were raised during the season ; the third 

 crop/which was harvested Oct.5. was made 

 possible by irrigation. Two crops could 

 have been obtained without it The first 

 crop yielded over two tons per acre, the 

 second crop over one ton per acre, and the 

 third. 950 pounds per acre. 



Experiments were, of course, made with 

 other products. In the potato crop the 

 yield from the irrigated plots showed a 

 decided increase over those not irrigated, 

 there being a mean difference of 8.65 per 

 cent between the two. 



These results, taken with those of 1896 

 and 1897. "appears to establish the fact," 



