THE IREIGATION AGE. 



443 



ful and thorough investigation from the turning of the 

 sod to the sale of the products. Let us follow A first. He 

 collected all his forms, those needed in the work and 

 many not needed, including his commission and his cer- 

 tificate of graduation. These latter were to impress and 

 humble the farmer with the high position to which he had 

 become eligible by his superior fitness, and were carefully 

 placed in a legal envelope and carried in his handy pocket. 



Arriving in the territory he was to canvass A called 

 upon Farmer Jones and introduced himself something 



as follows: "I am a graduate of the Agricultural 



College. I graduated with honors and know all there is 

 to know on the subject of agriculture, and because of my 

 general fitness I have been selected to assist in preparing 

 a report on potato culture. Now we wish to include in 

 this report the methods of the ordinary farmer so that 

 we can point out to him his errors and thus help him to 

 improve his humble condition. I, therefore, request you 

 to describe your method of raising potatoes, giving all 

 details." 



With pencil in hand and note book open, A is ready 



He concluded that the farmer must have had an unpleasant 

 experience with some of the other boys and that he (B) 

 would have to overcome that impression in the valley 

 before he could proceed with his work. He was blest 

 with a fair amount of common sense and tact and had 

 Jones listened to him he would not have classed his sec- 

 ond caller with the one of a month before. 



On his arrival at the Brown ranch he tactfully waived 

 the personal introduction and casually asked if he might 

 water his horse. Permission was granted and while wait- 

 ing for the horse to drink and rest he made the acquaint- 

 ance of the farmer's eight-year-old daughter and two-year- 

 old dog, and by his diplomacy finally won the farmer's 

 attention. First the weather was discussed, then high 

 prices in living, good prices for crops, and finally the 

 subject of farm management was reached. Brown was at 

 home on this topic and B was a good listener. 



No Theory, Only Facts. 



The conversation, with an illustrative tramp around a 

 portion of the farm, continued until noon, and by that time 



Cement Construction Work on Main Canal, Patterson Ranch, California. 



for business. How much information do you suppose he 

 obtained from Jones? We will make it brief by saying 

 that he departed with his note book as blank as when he 

 arrived. His next visit was to Farmer Brown and was a 

 repetition of the Jones' interview, and then our student 

 began to wonder why he, with his ability and newly 

 acquired authority, should be so uncivilly treated. 



It did not take Jones and Brown long to report "the 

 little upstart" to the other valley settlers, and, as a result 

 A left his first field of labor with no definite knowledge 

 of how potatoes were raised in that section. He resented 

 the attitude toward him, and in his report to his superior 

 officer he stated that he found the farmers, as a class, rude 

 and unwilling to be interviewed. 



Perhaps a month later B entered this same valley 

 to canvass for data on alfalfa, and called on Farmer Jones, 

 but he got no further in his introduction than "I am a 



graduate of the - Agricultural College" before 



Jones told him that was sufficient, that he knew all about 

 him and his kind and advised him to move on before he 

 loosened the dog. B took the hint and departed, but 

 when he had gotten out of sight he stopped his horse by 

 the road side and tried to solve the reception he had had. 



B knew how the land had been prepared for the alfalfa, 

 the cultivation it had been given, the number of irrigations 

 and the amount of water applied during the season, num- 

 ber of cuttings with yield in tons for each cutting, and why 

 the yield was greater at one cutting than at another, in 

 fact all he wanted ta know, and much he had never known 

 before which he took note of carefully for his own refer- 

 ence as well as for his report. 



His previous reading on alfalfa had been to the effect 

 that it was a crop that could be as profitably grown with- 

 out irrigation as with, owing to the long roots that fed 

 on the subsoil moisture for nourishment. But when he 

 left Brown it was with the following entry in his note- 

 book, under "Remarks:" "Alfalfa requires irrigation and 

 the water should be plenteously applied as the principal 

 feeders or rootlets that nourish the plant are near the 

 surface. The roots that penetrate deeply are not im- 

 portant feeders." 



By his tact and good judgment B was successful in 

 the valley, and when he left he felt he had taken a post 

 graduate course in agriculture which would benefit him 

 fully as much as his previous training in college, and it is 

 a pleasing fact, well worth notice, that he impressed every 



