52 



THE IBRIGATION AGE. 



CORN. 



Corn is a deep-rooted plant and hence the soil 

 should be plowed deep and care taken that there is 

 moisture in the subsoil. There is no need of surface 

 moisture, wherefore deep furrow irrigation, with after- 

 liberal cultivation and soil pulverization, will produce 

 a fine crop. 



A side hill where there is seepage water is most 

 favorable for all the varieties of corn. In some in- 

 stances small fields of corn on a side hill have pro- 

 duced marvelously by merely filling a ditch at the 

 top of the slope and allowing it to seep down into the 

 root zone. On flat land, with subsoil moisture, one 

 watering when the plant is tasseling will be ample. 



In the arid and semi-arid regions corn is plowed 

 under dry, as is the case with wheat and other cereals. 

 Five or six grains are dropped in every third furrow 

 a good step of the plowman apart and left to itself 

 with a good deep cultivation when about a foot high, 

 the earth being thrown over against the stalks. 



Corn does remarkably well in deep, rich soil, but 

 will grow very well in any soil provided the roots can 

 reach moisture. The manufacture of starch in the 

 plant ecomony demands great drafts upon the chemical 

 laboratory of the soil. The bottom of the stalk of 

 a young shoot of corn is as sweet as sugar cane, whicli 

 is proof that the plant is drawing its food far belo\v 

 the surface, and that it is preparing to manufacture 

 the starch which is afterward found in the ripened 

 grain. 



Corn grows better in ridges than in hills, even 

 when not irrigated. In all cases the earth must be 

 pulled up around and close to the stalks, not only for 

 the purpose of mulching against evaporation of the 

 moisture, but to shield the process of converting sugar 

 into starch, a process quickly stopped by exposure to 

 the elements or to desiccating atmospheric air. 



All of the foregoing cereals may be grown for 

 forage, and if cut when in the milk they are productive 

 of good flesh on cattle and will grow at the rate of 

 from four to six tons to the acre. Where dry farming 

 is practiced, and the season is unfavorable for the per- 

 fection of the grain, the plant is cut for fodder or 

 hay and fed to the cattle, and in the case of corn it is 

 fed green to milch cows; 



RICE. 



This is an amphibious plant; some call it aquatic. 

 However that may be, the ground is prepared for it 

 as for wheat, by thorough tilling and pulverizing. The 

 rice is sown about eighty pounds to the acre and then 

 harrowed and rolled. Left to itself, it sprouts and 

 grows up to about five inches without showing any 

 aquatic properties. But the farmer then puts about 

 an inch of water, perhaps two inches that is, covers 

 the field under one or two inches of water and as the 

 plant grows he adds more water until the field is buried 

 six to ten incheg deep. The plant grows, vigorously, 

 and when the grain is in the milk the water is run 

 off, and by the time the rice is ripe the ground is dry 

 enough to harvest. It is harvested very much the same 

 as wheat put into bundles and piled up to be cured 

 and ready for the separator or thresher. 



In its wild state rice is essentially aquatic; the 

 plant roots never find themselves in anything hut mud. 

 From time immemorial the Chinese have treated it 

 as a semi-aquatic plant, and if any one has ever tried 

 to raise it like wheat the author has not been able to 



learn. Perhaps^ it might be so grown and produce a 

 new variety and be an addition to our valuable list of 

 cereals. 



COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS. 



OISER WILLOW. 



The oiser willow is used in the manufacture of 

 baskets and its culture may be made very profitable 

 if near the market of a large city or basket manu- 

 factory. 



Some years ago Mr. G. Groezinger, a vineyardist 

 near Yountville, Napa County> Cal., sent to Germany 

 for some cuttings. He received about fifty and planted 

 them along one of his lateral ditches, which always 

 contained water, more or less of a good supply. The 

 cuttings took root and grew beautifully, and the next 

 year he pruned the plants down to stumps and planted 

 .the cuttings all along the ditch for several hundred 

 feet. They grew bunchy, with thick clumps of long, 

 slender branches drooping over the ditch and made a 

 delightful shade. Calling the attention of a San 

 Francisco basketmaker to them, the latter bought the 

 supply on the ground and sent men out to prune the 

 plants. They cut off the long branches and cast them 

 into the ditch t6 soak in the water, and in a week or 

 so came out again and stripped off the bark, leaving 

 slender, white, pliable branches, which were speedily 

 made into fine, marketable baskets of all sizes and 

 shapes. After the fourth year of his planting the 

 original cuttings Mr. Groezinger received more than 

 $1,500 per year income from the cuttings, the pur- 

 chaser doing all the work of harvesting them. 



The plant will grow in any climate, provided it 

 has abundant water during the growing season. Along 

 a ditch is its habitat. 



FLAX AND HEMP. 



These two textile fabric plants, so to speak, may 

 be- raised to perfection by irrigation. They require, 

 however, a moist soil, and for that sub-irrigation 

 would be the proper system of irrigating them. They 

 are deep-rooted plants and may be planted in drills or 

 beds. Both plants are profitable for their fiber and 

 for their seeds, the latter yielding up to twenty bush- 

 els per acre about a ton or two tons of fiber. The lat- 

 ter must be soaked in a ditch or other receptacle to 

 separate the fiber from its hard envelope. 

 HOPS. 



This plant should find a place in every garden 

 and on every farm, if not for market purposes at least 

 for household uses. It is very -easily grown, being a 

 deep-rooted perennial which needs a moist subsoil. 

 The plant is propagated from cuttings, three eyes to 

 each piece planted. At least four inches is the proper 

 depth to plant the cuttings, and they will speedily 

 come up and spread runners out in every direction. 

 They should be pruned down to a few and then poled. 



COTTON AND TOBACCO. 



These two valuable products belong to field cul- 

 ture on an immense scale. Cotton may well be said to 

 be 'Tdng" and tobacco its "heir apparent." There 

 are no two plants in the world so necessary that is, 

 cotton for its economical uses and tobacco as an article 

 of luxury. Cotton is a deep-rooted plant requiring a 

 moist soil. Where irrigation is necessary the soil is 

 irrigated preparatory to planting the seed and once 

 again when the balls begin to form. The plant needs 

 very little care, and in that respect it is the very oppo- 

 site of tobacco. (To be continued.) 



