THE IREIGATION AGE. 



909 



try. The very air they breathe and the sunshine that fills the 

 western days make them that, and will so maintain them. 

 Why should they take meekly the ruthless mauling of New 

 Vork of non-producers whose business is confined solely 

 to shaving other people's money? 



I shall not undertake here to elaborate details in this 

 suggestion, but I do move here and now that the thing be 

 started. Until someone else better fitted for such work can 

 be found, I will assume the center, and invite those most 

 directly interested to communicate with me. Let us get a 

 committee together for the purpose of creating such an 

 organization as I have indicated, and go to it. The occasion 

 is serious and calls for action, more than for words. 

 Who will come forward and join me in the necessary pre- 

 liminaries now? J. C. O. N. 



How to Raise Oats on Irrigated Land. 



Salmon, Idaho, April 2, 1911. 

 Editor IRRIGATION AGE : 



There seems to be general interest in the subject of the 

 irrigation of oats. This is perhaps the simplest of all crops 

 to grow to a high degree of perfection by the use of arti- 

 ficial water. In the arid belt the conditions of soil prepa- 

 ration, sowing and the first stages of growth are identical 

 year after year. There seems to be no element of risk in 

 the oats crop by irrigation, when the rudiments of science 

 are applied. 



Scientific farming is the grandest study of the age. 

 Scientific farming eliminates every element of risk in the 

 production of maximum yields. There is no justification for 

 fhe production of less than 100 bushels of oats to the acre 

 by scientific methods. The only climate which never varies 

 is the practically perpetual sunshine of the arid regions. 

 Scientific farming is possible only where the sunshine is 

 perpetual and the supply of moisture is under the absolute 

 control of the scientific farmer. 



To produce a perfect crop the seed must be properly 

 planted in the correct degree of moisture in the right season. 

 The question of fertility is determined with certainty only 

 when the degree of moisture is regulated. It is not nec- 

 essary to try to illustrate the degree of moisture required 

 for the seed bed to the practical farmer. The degree of 

 moisture necessary to promote the rankest possible growth 

 of straw is readily determined by the experienced farmer 

 either in the humid or the arid regions. If there is not 

 an exce.ss of fertility in the soil farming by irrigation is a 

 simple process. The application of water in response to the 

 demands as indicated by the changing color of the plants 

 is a very simple matter. The impossibility of definite de- 

 termination of the correct degree and quality of fertility 

 complicates the principle of irrigation of the oats crop. The 

 moisture regulates the feeding of the fertility of the soil 

 to the plant even when there is an excess in the soil. There- 

 for the scientific irrigator can regulate the growth of straw 

 by limiting the moisture, and be sure of the height that 

 will not lodge and at the same time support the very largest 

 heads. With the moisture under control it is just as much 

 faulty farming to have lodged straw as to have a poor yield. 



The trench system of water applications is the best for 

 oats crop. The trenches are generally made by a marker 

 which will make two trenches about twenty inches apart, 

 two inches deep and three inches wide. This work is gerT* 

 erally done after seeding and before the grain comes up. 

 It greatly simplifies the irrigation by being certain of the 

 correct degree of moisture in the soil before the seed is 

 sown. This moisture will make a growth of about four 

 inches and coyer the surface with a dense green mass. The 

 green oats will shade the surface so that the wet ground 

 will not bake. Successive applications of irrigating water 

 will be called for by the unmistakable changes of color of 

 the growing crop. A growth too rank may be readily checked 

 and a retarded growth may be stimulated by frequency and 

 extent of the applications of irrigation water. 



NEWTON HIBBS. 



* 



the Primer of Irritation, SW-page finely illustrated 

 work for new beginner* in irrigation. 



FROM A BEGINNER. 



Mr. D. H. Anderson : 



As I am a subscriber to your IRRIGATION AGE would like 

 to ask a few questions. Have been railroading for twelve 

 years and am now going to try farming. Have taken up 

 a homestead, built house and stable. Have a spring on 

 place with big ditch. Am going to clear off about ten acres 

 ot sagebrush and want to put it in alfalfa, barley oats 

 and some wheat. I thought of putting the oats and alfalfa 

 together and barley and wheat separate. I want the wheat 

 for chickens and barley for horses and hogs. Oats and 

 alfalfa for hay. Don't expect to get much under cultivation 

 the first year, as I want to get land and ditches to running 

 right. Where I am the soil is black loam, deep soil and 

 sloping land, sloping toward the northwest. What I would 

 like to know is what is your advice in planting the grain 

 and whether to irrigate in flooding or make light furrows 

 with cultivator and put the alfalfa and oats on the highest 

 ground and wheat and barley below it. Let me know when 

 my subscription expires and I will renew same for IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE. 



C. H. A. GERDING, JK. 

 Carlm, Neb. 



WANTS INFORMATION REGARDING MONTANA. 

 Mr. D. H. Anderson. 



Chicago, 111. 



It gave me much pleasure to learn that you have opened 

 an information bureau regarding the reclamation projects 

 and I take the opportunity to avail myself, as a reader, of 

 such information you may have regarding the projects con- 

 templated in or about Helena, Montana, or controlled from 

 that office. I would like to know how much is to be ex- 

 pended the coming year, and how soon the work, if any, 

 is to begin. 



Thanking you in advance for this kindness, I remain, 

 Very truly yours, 



JAMES H. O'CONNOR. 



We are glad to hear from Mr. O'Connor that he ap- 

 proves of our correspondence department. Regarding his 

 questions as to projects near Helena, Mont, we refer to 

 our Irrigation and Reclamation Notes in this and former is- 

 sues, where the state of Montana has been given an especial 

 heading. Editor. 



PERSONAL. 



Mr. Richard A. Ballinger announces that he will re-enter 

 the practice of the law, with offices in the Alaska Building, 

 Suite 1006-1009, Seattle, Wash., April 20th, 1911. Mr. Bruce 

 C. Shorts will be associated with him. 



David R. Francis, of St. Louis; D. B. Chapin, of Edwin- 

 burg, Texas, and other large land owners of that state, are 

 working out a plan to construct a large irrigation system and 

 install hydro-electric plants on the Devils and Pecos Rivers, 

 in the western part of Texas. The estimated cost is over 

 $5,000,000, which will provide irrigation facilities for nearly 

 400,000 acres. 



The Hawaiian Island of Lanai, which has been practi- 

 cally barren for several years, will be reclaimed by a water 

 conservation system and devoted to sugar beet culture. 



Residents along Bad River in Stanley County, South 

 Dakota, are preparing to use the water of that stream for 

 irrigation this year by the use of pumps. While they may not 

 need the water, they are preparing for another season when 

 it might be needed and are installing pump outfits at several 

 places to raise the water and place it on their gardens in case 

 they should need it this year. 



Hale County, a country in the lower Panhandle of Texas, 

 this year enters the list of irrigation sections. Heretofore 

 the people have been satisfied with windmill irrigation. An 

 experiment was tried of carrying a well down to a depth of 

 130 feet, 50 feet of which was in what is now known as the 

 gumbo strata. A 7-inch centrifugal pump run for several days 

 at its highest speed could not lower the water in the well. 

 The estimated discharge was 1,700 gallons per minute. 



