THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



300 



ton, and with modern machinery it is cut and stacked 

 at not to exceed $1.00 a ton, leaving a net profit of 

 $4.00 a ton, or $20 an acre per annum. 



"When the fact is considered that alfalfa once set 

 will endure indefinitely without reseeding, the raising 

 of alfalfa as a business proposition presents a most 

 enticing field for investment. It should not be forgot- 

 ten that after the removal of the third crop, the alfalfa 

 fields furnish luxuriant fall and winter pasturage. The 

 foregoing calculation is upon the basis of a sale by the 

 grower to a third party who desires to feed it to sheep or 

 cattle. For the farmer who raises the hay and feeds it 

 out to stock there is, upon a modest estimate, according 

 to the reports of experienced men, from 30 to 50 per 

 cent additional profit. In other words, this alfalfa 

 is worth from $7.50 to $10 a ton to the farmer prepared 

 to feed it to his own stock. 



SIXTY BUSHELS OF WHEAT IS COMMON. 



"Wheat is grown in Montana most successfully. 

 While the census reports the average yield to be about 

 thirty bushels to the acre, contact with farmers who actu- 

 ally raise wheat leads me to believe that less than forty 

 bushels per acre is regarded as a short crop, and sixty 

 bushels per acre is not uncommon. The development of 

 an Oriental demand for flour in recent years provides a 

 market on the west coast within an average of 1,000 

 miles railroad haul for Montana wheat, hence it occurs 

 that the average price paid for wheat in this State equals 

 the price in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois. 



"The Montana oat crop has up to a recent time 

 been wholly consumed within the State, but the demand 

 for the crop has within a few years come from oat mills 

 established East, owing to the unusual development of 

 the grain and its especial adaptability to oatmeal manu- 

 facture. Formerly one cent per pound was the going 

 price, but within the last two years the demand from 

 the oatmeal manufacturers has been such as to increase 

 the price to 1V 2 cents per pound. The average yield 

 of oats ranges from 70 to 120 bushels per acre. 



"What has been said of the development of the oat 

 crop is equally true of the barley product. The far 

 famed Gallatin valley has become a factor in the barley 

 production of the country and the superior quality of 

 the barley is attested by the demand for the entire crop 

 coming from Berlin, Germany, Stockholm and Liver- 

 pool, where it is used for the brewing of high class 

 beer and the various malt extracts. All is shipped by 

 boat from Duluth and the crop is moved early in the 

 season, before the close of navigation. 



"All cereals of commercial importance produced in 

 the United States are successfully grown in Montana, 

 save and except Indian corn, which is, however, suc- 

 cessfully produced in the Yellowstone valley. All kinds 

 of vegetables are raised in quantities amazing to the 

 outsider. Formerly the growth of fruit was not at- 

 tempted. Some ten to fifteen years ago orchards were 

 planted in the western part of the State and there great 

 supplies of apples, pears, plums and cherries arc now 

 produced. From one small valley, known as the Bitter 

 Root, 160 carloads of apples were shipped to the Illi- 

 nois market. The success attained in fruit growing in 

 the western part of the State led to experiments east 

 of the main range of the mountains and it is now ap- 

 parent that apples of the hardier varieties can be pro- 

 duced in any part of the State successfully. Vine 

 fruits are especially adapted to eastern Montana and 

 berries are everywhere raised." 



WASTING WATER IN IRRIGATION. 



E. L. Koethen in Field and Farm. 



At one time it was considered desirable to make 

 just as many furrows as could be crowded into the 

 space between the trees. Now the best practice is to use 

 but four or five furrows, or at the utmost, where trees 

 are planted unusually far apart, six to the row. They 

 should be made just as deep as possible for a great 

 saving in water is effected by deep furrows. Of course, 

 this implies deep cultivation, as among older trees 

 the soil below the surface mulch is usually so dry when 

 furrowing time comes that but little impression can be 

 made in it with an ordinary furrowing plow. With young 

 trees it may be necessary to irrigate before the subsoil 

 is so much dried out. The drain on moisture is tre- 

 mendous among large trees, but they also draw from 

 deep-feeding roots that make them less susceptible to the 

 influence of drouth. 



The amount of water to irrigate a given tract is so 

 variable and elastic that it is difficult to give exact cal- 

 culations. Certain it is that with modern methods of 

 cultivation and general care of orchards the required 

 amount has been gradually reduced. When we first be- 

 gan irrigating for a five-acre orchard we used fifteen 

 inches of water for three days of twenty-four hours, 

 every thirty days during the summer months. Now we 

 use fifteen and ten inches, a two days' run every six 

 weeks on the same land and the orchard is kept in bet- 

 ter moisture supply than it was then, with the trees 

 thirteen years older. The scarcity of water in many sec- 

 tions during the intervening years has taught us all 

 lessons that we do well to heed, the most important of 

 which was that we were wasteful with our water supply 

 when we had an abundance from which to draw. 



In regulating the water it is convenient to have 

 the rows numbered at the head and the lower ends. 

 This will facilitate checking up in regulating the water. 

 For this we use a very simple method, which might be 

 called the plus and minus system. If in row one the first 

 row is running too fast, it is marked plus. The second 

 furrow may be too slow and must be marked minus. The 

 third and fourth may have been running too fast and 

 cut down too low and should be marked nought. It 

 would then read thus: Row No. 1 one plus; two 

 minus ; three and four nought. This would mean to cut 

 the first furrow down a little, increase the second and re- 

 move the trash from three and four so as to start them 

 running again. Thus we go through the orchard, check- 

 ing up at the lower end and then regulating at the 

 funnels. 



For the first few hours after the water has been started 

 the gates are simply regulated by guess and occasional 

 trips are made across the rows at increasing distances 

 from the head ditch in order to see that there are no 

 breaks in the furrows and to keep the stream in each 

 within its own channel. By evening of the first day 

 all furrows should be so regulated that the night may 

 be passed without the water wasting. We usually be- 

 gin at the upper end and regulate the water unless there 

 is enough to furnish all the furrows at the same time, 

 in which case we arrange the lower end with an overflow 

 ditch so that if the gates should become clogged during 

 the night no damage can be done. Otherwise the upper 

 rows are finished first and the water gradually worked 

 down to the lower end. 



