THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



97 



The blades (hh) should be 6 or 7 feet long and wide 

 enough to bolt firmly to the under side of the 4 by 4 

 pieces (aa) and still extend the cutting surface l^ inches 

 outside the wood. They should be of well-tempered steel. 

 Old cross-cut saws with the smooth edge filed to sufficient 

 sharpness make excellent blades when securely bolted on. 



When the side pieces (aa) and the base (b) are bolted 

 together with ^-inch bolts, the clevis attachment should 

 also be bolted in place. Additional bolts back of the clevis 

 will add to the rigidity of the cutter. The 3-foot piece of 

 2 by 6 cypress (C) should next be bolted to the side piece 

 (aa) and the 5j4-foot piece (ee) bolted to it and mortised 

 into the base (b), as indicated in figures 2 and 3. These 

 are the rudder timbers and should contain openings about 

 a foot in front of the base (b) of suitable size to receive 

 the 16-inch rudder arms (ff). Two bolts through each 

 rudder and rudder timber should hold the rudders in place. 

 When in addition to these steps the blades (hh) have 

 been securely bolted to the under sides of the side pieces 

 the machine is completed. The blades should project IJ/z 

 inches and extend to the rear corners of the machine. If 

 the blades are curved because made from cross-cut saws, 

 or from any other reason, they should be so set as not to 

 project more than 1% inches to 1J4 inches at the centers. 

 In any case plenty of bolts should be used and absolute 

 rigidity secured. 



The stalk cutter is sometimes constructed with but 

 one rudder and rudder timber. In this case the rudder 

 is in the center of the machine, and runs half way between 

 the rows where the ground is usually hard. It does not 

 go deep enough to hold the machine steady and the lack 

 of weight also contributes to unsteadiness. The two- 

 rudder machine with the rudders running in the soft dirt 

 at the sides of the rows go in deep enough to prevent skid- 

 ding. 



In using the cutter it is necessary to keep the blades 

 very sharp by filing or other means. They should be so 

 adjusted as to cut the cotton stalks at or just beneath the 

 surface of the earth. Their depth is regulated by raising 

 or lowering the chain by which the singletree is attached. 

 If the machine runs too shallow the attachment should 

 be raised to a higher notch in the attachment clevis 

 (], Fig. 4). The rudders should be set deep enough to pre- 

 vent skidding, but not deep enough to make the machine 

 pull too heavily. 



Where no fence surrounds the field two horses or 

 mules should be hitched tandem to the stalk cutter in 

 order that both may walk in the middle and pull steadily. 

 If the field is fenced this arrangement will prevent cut- 

 ting of the stalks at the ends of the rows and the two 

 horses must be driven abreast. It is absolutely necessary 

 that not a single green cotton stalk be left uncut in the 

 field or at its edge if the weevils are to be starved. For 

 this reason the field should be carefully gone over and 

 every stalk that the machine has missed should be cut 

 with a sharp cane knife. 



SHOWS GREAT INTEREST IN IRRIGATION. 



Professor S. Mclntosh, commissioner of agriculture 

 for South Australia, has passed two weeks in Chicago, 

 conferring with other irrigation leaders, and incidentally 

 buying considerable machinery. 



His long trip began last spring, when he went to 

 Europe. Since coming to this continent he has traveled 

 the whole length of Canada, going directly from Montreal 

 to Edmonton. Then he came across to Colorado, and east 

 to Washington and New York. His main objects have 

 been to study farm conditions in various sections, and 

 secure a large outfit of machinery for use in carrying on 

 his irrigation projects in Australia. He found the 

 machinery which he desired in Chicago and placed with 

 dealers and manufacturers here one of the largest indi- 

 vidual orders on record. 



Prof. Mclntosh timed his visit to this country for the 

 big irrigation conventions and farm expositions, where 

 he has been able to gain the information he sought regard- 

 ing American methods of agriculture. He has met many 

 of the leading men of America. It is hardly sufficient to 

 say that he is an expert on the subject of irrigation, for 

 he is an acknowledged authority on agricultural subjects 

 generally and one of the brightest men heard at the recent 

 big meetings in this country. He is an enthusiast on the 

 question of intensive and diversified farming. 



Since becoming director of irrigation for South 

 Australia, several years ago, he has conducted an extended 

 series of experiments to prove the value of an artificial 

 water supply, and to establish a theory that men ought 

 to accomplish as much on forty or fifty acres as they 

 ordinarily do on 160 acres. He keeps several practical 

 farmers at work on government land to demonstrate his 

 views and the results fully have justified the efforts. 



Regarding our American condition Mr. Mclntosh ex- 

 pressed himself as follows: 



"You have many practical irrigationists in the west, 



S. Mclntosh, Director of Irrigation for South Australia. 



and the principle of providing a water supply as an adjunct 

 of farming is well established in certain localities. It is 

 surprising to me that it is not more generally recognized 

 as an essential. I am informed that in the spring wheat 

 states, where they have been having successive droughts, 

 irrigation received a good start twenty years ago, but has 

 been abandoned since then, either from a false idea of 

 security or in fear of the expense. 



"In the middle west there is little irrigation sentiment, 

 although there have been three successive droughts in 

 this section which have caused untold loss among the 

 farmers. Much of that loss would have been avoided 

 had there been a simple and inexpensive irrigation system. 

 In a wheat country a sufficient and regular water supply 

 insures crops in excess of twenty bushels per acre. 

 Twenty-five to thirty bushels is no uncommon thing. 



"It is much the same with corn, although that is a 

 crop which stands drought better than wheat. Our tests 

 year after year in south Australia, made on large farms 

 where the general conditions were similar, show that for 

 wheat, fruit and vegetables the irrigated land yields about 

 double as much as the unirrigated. Now, in Minnesota 

 and the Dakotas a ten-year average for wheat is fourteen 

 bushels. That is just about cost at the prices that are paid 

 there; but suppose they had been. getting twenty bushels 

 as the minimum, with a range up to thirty, there would 

 be a very different degree of prosperity. 



"But that is not all of the argument. Your official 

 reports show an average yield of wheat in South Dakota 

 this season of only five bushels per acre. A year ago 

 there was the same condition in North Dakota. Of 

 course, if the farmers there have considerable live stock 

 they can pull through, but to the exclusive grain raiser it 

 is ruinous. 



