THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



171 



food, and put on about 450 pounds of a 

 fertilizer, containing 6 per cent each of 

 potash and phosphoric acid and 3 per cent 

 nitrogen, to each acre. In some instances 

 the sowing of three bushels of Inpin seeds 

 per acre will supply the necessary nitrogen, 

 through the decaying of these seed. In 

 any case the rice requires a perfect plant 

 food having proper component of potash, 

 phosphoric acid and nitrogen. 



When the plants are six inches high the 

 first irrigation is given, by allowing the 

 water to partly cover the plants. Some 

 growers wait until the plants are about one 

 foot high before putting on the water, and 

 then keep the ground covered, taking care 

 however to draw off the old water occasion- 

 ally, to prevent spoiling the crop. Canals 

 are the best methods of supplying water 

 for rice fields. These may be filled by 

 gravity flow from the creeks or rivers, or 

 the water lifted from wells by windmills or 

 other power. When the grain is in the 

 dough the water should be drawn off and 

 the fields left to dry while the seed ripens. 

 Cutting should be done while the straw is 

 greeh, as it gives better seed and more val- 

 uable straw for feeding purposes. 



Harvesting may be done by any of the 

 grain machines. The straw should be 

 bound in small bundles and shocked very 

 carefully to insure the shocks to stand and 

 keep out rain and storm. Thrashing 

 should be done by good machines that do 

 not break too much graih. There are im- 

 proved machines for milling, which may be 

 hauled about from place to place, and used 

 for hulling and cleaning several fields in 

 one neighborhood. The rice must be graded 

 into at least six or eight classes. The 

 prices obtained range from one cent to six 

 cents per pound, depending on the grading. 

 American grown rice, when properly 

 sacked, always takes the lead in the mar- 

 kets. It is important that growers pre- 

 pare it for the market so that there be no 

 red rice, chalky or sun cracked grains. If 

 farmers residing in the rice growing belt 

 will investigate this crop they will find it 



offers an excellent field for profits, on land 

 that has heretofore been considered 

 worthless. 



JOEL SHOMAKER. 



FARM LOANS AND FARM LANDS. 



The demand for loans on Western farm 

 property shows signs of becoming active 

 again after a period of remarkable dull- 

 ness. The inquiry for gilt-edged farm 

 mortgages is brisk, especially as they still 

 net the investor at least 1 per cent, more 

 than the municipal and railway bonds. 



Few securities are to-day better under- 

 stood or more appreciated by the indi- 

 vidual investor than the Western farm 

 loan in a good agricultural section. This 

 is particularly true of people of moderate 

 means, acustomed to manage their own 

 affairs, but who of necessity are forced to 

 obtain a maximum return for their money 

 consistent with absolute safety. 



They have profited by the experience of 

 others and eagerly covet the farm loan 

 securities of the central Western States. 

 They do not indulge in any old-time 

 imprudence nor are their investments 

 made in any superficial way. They rea- 

 lize the fact that the true and best way to 

 place their funds is to get as close as 

 possible to the borrower and to deal with 

 a representative in the West whose 

 integrity, experience and knowledge of 

 farm mortgages offer ample protection 

 and the highest guarantee. 



While the decline in the values of farm 

 lands in the last 30 years in the State of 

 New York alone has reached the enormous 

 sum of $1,000,000,000, with a manifest 

 decline in the productivity of the farm 

 and the pride and ambition of the farmer, 

 values in the reliable agricultural sections 

 of the West are steadily enhancing and 

 safe for a generation to come. 



As fast as the amateur farmer of the 

 boom days abandoned the farm there has 

 eome in a farmer from Germany or other 

 European .countries, severely trained by 



