He will be told that unimproved land, with a water right sufficient for its irrigation, 

 can be purchased on the instalment plan for from $30 to $75 per acre, depending on 

 the location and the value of the land when reclaimed. For $50 per acre to the higher 

 price he should get level sagebrush land within close proximity to a railroad and to some 

 settled community. Eighty acres of such land, under ordinary cultivation, and forty acres 

 under the best farming methods, will support a family. 



Possibilities of a Sixty-acre Tract. 



Let us assume that the hypothetical settler possesses $2,500 cash capital; has some 

 farming experience but none in irrigation; has disposed of all his horses, wagons and 

 farming implements and has retained only his domestic and household effects. That 

 he exercises good judgment in selecting a sixty-acre tract of level sagebrush land with a 

 good water right, for which he contracts to pay $65 per acre, one-tenth in cash and 

 the balance in nine equal annual instalments, with interest at six per cent. That he brings 

 his family and household effects with him and takes possession of the tract in the early 

 fall. He will need a house to live in and this will have to be primitive. If he is at 

 all skilful he can build it himself. A three-room house, 14x35 feet ground plan, 

 with tongue and groove floor, rough board walls, lined on the outside with building or 

 roofing paper and battened, with windows, doors, etc., will cost for the materials about 

 $300. Such a house cloth and papered on the inside will be reasonably comfortable 

 and inviting. He will need to buy a wagon, a span of good work-horses, harnesses and 

 a cow. These three items will cost him about $500. A shed, stable and corral will 

 cost him for the materials about $75 more. He will need about eight months* supply 

 of hay to feed his stock, unless there is a convenient pasture near which he can rent. This 

 will require about ten tons which, hauling it himself, will cost him about $75. He must 

 purchase groceries and supplies for himself and family during the ensuing twelve months, 

 which at $30 per month will cost $360. Allowing $50 more for clothing and incidentals, 

 these several items foot up to $1,750. He will need to buy a plow, mowing machine, 

 rake, and various farming implements before he can harvest his crop, costing altogether 

 about $1 75. And he will need to buy seed. 



During the fall, winter and early spring he will be able to clear his land and do 

 what leveling is necessary. The sagebrush stumps he can use for domestic fuel. He 

 will have to dig his service ditch from the source of water-supply, possibly half a mile in 

 length. He had best employ a surveyor for a day, costing $ 1 0, to give his grade 

 lines and those of the principal diverting ditches on his tract. He will plow his ditches 

 and afterwards shovel them out. He will require a few dollars' worth of lumber to make 

 his distributing boxes. 



By planting-time he will have decided as to the best crops to put in. During the fall 

 and winter he has gathered all the information possible from local farmers, corresponded 

 with the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station at Reno, and supplied himself with 

 government and experiment station bulletins regarding irrigation methods and the 

 culture of the crops he has selected. He has finally decided, let us say, to grow twenty 

 acres of alfalfa, five acres of potatoes, and put the balance of his ground in wheat. 

 Reserving one acre for house yard and corrals, this leaves him thirty-four acres for grain. 

 His soil being the ordinary gravel loam which underlies the black sagebrush will not 

 require plowing before seeding for either alfalfa or wheat* He will follow competent 

 advice as to the time of planting, as also the furrowing of the land for irrigation. The 

 spring moisture in the soil will start the crop. The alfalfa this first year will have to be 

 watched with the greatest care, not to give it too much water or too little. From the 

 middle of April until his crops are harvested he will employ an experienced irrigator 

 whom he will pay about $40 per month and found for four months and a half, at 

 a total expense for labor and keep of about $200. His alfalfa, wheat, and potato seed 

 will cost him another $200. He will have to hire a custom reaper or header to cut 

 his grain and a machine to thresh it. All the other work will be done by himself and 



* Not every soil can be planted in alfalfa or grain without plowing, but it has been found satisfactory 

 on much of the black sagebrush land where the surface is even, and resulted in excellent stands. 



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