THE AGE wants to brighten the pages of its Diversified Farm department, and w ith- 

 thi s object in view it requests its readers everywhere to send in photographs and 

 pictures of fields, orchards and farm homes; prize-taking horses, cattle, sheep or hogs. 

 Also sketches or plans of convenient and commodious barns, hen houses, corn cribs, 

 etc. Sketches of labor-saving devices, suce as ditch cleaners and watering troughs. 

 A good illustration of a windmill irrigation plant is always interesting. Will you help- 

 us to improve the appearance of THE AGE ? 



THE EAST AND THE WEST. 



The normal condition of the average 

 farmer throughout the East is one of in- 

 quiry as to weather conditions. His face 

 is upturned to the sky, he watches the ap- 

 pearance of the clouds and asks anxiously: 

 " Will this rain hold off for a day more? " 

 or, ''I am afraid these are only wind 

 clouds," as the case may be. He must 

 wait for rain in order to plow or to plant, 

 or he cannot plow or plant because of rain. 

 The greatest proof of the value of irriga- 

 tion lies in the fact that no farmer who 

 has practiced it, is ever willing to change 

 to farming under conditions where he is 

 dependent upon natural and unevenly 

 distributed rainfall. The farmer who has 

 his moisture supply under his control, 

 knows what he can do, and goes ahead 

 and does it with almost as much certainty 

 of results as the contractor projects and 

 builds his house. The satisfaction to the 

 farmer of knowing that the labors of a 

 half a season will not be rendered void be- 

 cause of a week. of untimely drouth, is one 

 that cannot be fully appreciated except by 

 those who have tried both systems. 



The ordinary farmer is looked upon 

 largely as a man who plods along without 

 responsibility, worry or thought. As a 



matter of fact, his worries, where he is de- 

 pendent upon the elements, are constant, 

 and far in excess of those of many business 

 men. Never a season goes by that he does 

 not hope and pray for rain at some time to 

 save some partially matured crop, or fidget 

 and stew about in impatience and fear lest 

 his crop already made should be ruined 

 before it can be harvested or cured. The 

 brow of the irrigator is sure to have many 

 less lines and furrows across it than that 

 of the farmer who does not know the con- 

 trol of water in his agricultural operations. 



A VALUABLE FORAGE PLANT. 

 A plant of great value to the West, and 

 particularly on alkali lands, is the Aus- 

 tralian salt bush. On the poorest and 

 most arid and stubborn soil and that 

 strongly impregnated with alkali, this 

 plant makes a vigorous and excellent for- 

 age growth. The California -Experiment 

 Station has made extended investigations of 

 salt bushes for many years and is now co- 

 operating with the United States Depart- 

 ment of Argiculture to introduce the plant 

 throughout the West without cost to the 

 farmers. The best species artiplex semi- 

 baccanta, imported from Australia- - thrives 

 under a great variety of conditions, from. 



