THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



and the annual maintenance expense 

 reaches 1100.00 an acre. An established 

 yard can be grown, harvested and mark- 

 eted for eight cents a pound, and as the 

 selling price this year averages 15 cents, 

 the profits are good. Hops are used so 

 extensively throughout the world, for man- 

 ufacturing and medicinal purposes, that 

 the demand is constantly increasing, and 

 the supply in the United States is limited. 



American grown hops sell readily in 

 foreign markets, and are sought by experts 

 because of superior qualities. The hop in- 

 dustry when fully established in a locality, 

 is an important money producing business, 

 as many people are employed in caring for 

 and picking the crop. The three thousand 

 acres in Yakima Valley, this year furnished 

 one month's work to six thonsand persons 

 engaged as pickers, besides indirectly em- 

 ploying many others to supply those with 

 food and clothing. There are many farm- 

 ing districts in the United States, where 

 hops could be introduced as a special crop 

 and the people made more independent by 

 engaging in hop growing. 



Hop roots are grown by nurserymen, 

 plant and bulb dealers and most of the 

 prominent seedmen quote pricos in their 

 annual catalogues. An acre will require 

 about 3,000 roots, which should be set deep 

 in the ground, covering the crowns with 

 about four inches of dirt. If the soil can- 

 not be plowed deep, it is well to run a sub- 

 soil plow to stir the surface as deep as pos- 

 sible. The roots may be set in furrows, 

 marked out either way, the proper distance 

 apart, or by making holes with the shovel, 

 the same as in transplanting trees. 



JOEL SHOMAKER. 



MONEY IN SWEET CORN. 

 The growing of sweet corn for market 

 is a profitable industry, which many far- 

 mers do not observe. An acre will produce 

 from 2,000 to 3,000 dozen ears, that sell at 

 from 6 to 15 cents a dozen, wherever the 

 demand is created by large centers of pop- 

 ulation. I have a neighbor who this sea- 

 son, produced over 2,000 dozen per acre, 



and sold the most of his crop at 18 cents- 

 a do/en. If the entire yield cannot be 

 sold as roasting ears, the remnant may be 

 dried, and placed on the market at sa i i > \ a 

 tory prices. The dried corn sells r < ; i 

 at 12 i cents a pound, and so far as I have 

 noticed, in the prominent cities, tne supply 

 is never equal to the demand. 



Corn may be grown on any good tillable 

 land, in almost every State, but the larger 

 crops are obtained from rich, alluvial soil, 

 which has been liberally top dressed with 

 barnyard manure, or contains plenty of 

 leaf mould. Corn requires nitrogen for 

 forming the kernels and the phosphates 

 and potash for making strong stalks. As 

 a general rule the land that has been pre- 

 viously cultivated to miscellaneous crops, 

 is deficient in potash, and repeated exper- 

 iments, made in various sections have de- 

 monstrated that a fertilizer containing 

 about 10 per cent potash 8 per cent phos- 

 phoric acid and 3 per cent notrogen is 

 necessary. This should be applied in the 

 spring, at the rate of 500 pounds per acre. 



Fall or winter plowi ng is the best for suc- 

 cessful corn growing. Stubble or sod land 

 should be turned under early, to allow the 

 plowed field to get thoroughly frozen dur- 

 ing the winter. The surface covering of 

 grass and weeds, if turned under, rots and 

 forms a fertilizer for the corn roots, and 

 holds moisture for some time during the 

 early spring and summer growing month. 

 The lanl should be harrowed and well 

 pulverized in the spring before planting. 

 Early corn is that most brofitable, but for 

 drying purposes the late varieties are pre- 

 ferable. Among the choice varieties may 

 be mentioned the White Cob Coiy for 

 early, the Early Minnesota for medium and 

 Stowell's Evergreen for late planting. 



The farmer who depends upon purchas- 

 ing seed corn from corner groceries will not 

 find the growing of sweet corn frofitable. 

 Seed should be purchased fresh every 

 year from reliable seed growers, who make 

 a direct business of supplying nothing but 

 first class, true to name seed that will. 

 germinate and produce the best possible 



