

THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



115 



necessary to get another tractor to prepare the 

 ground for the crop. A 25-tractive, 45-brake h. p. 

 oil-pull tractor was put to work in the same field. 

 This engine hauled four Spaulding deep-tilling 

 machines, a heavy clod crusher and a part of the 

 time a harrow. With this equipment clods were 

 broken up as soon as the furrow was turned, and 

 the soil was left in an excellent condition for seed- 

 ing. An average of eight acres was plowed each 

 day. 



It was necessary to load each tillage machine 

 with several hundred pounds of weight in order 

 to make the discs penetrate to the desired depth. 

 This added very considerably to the draft of the 

 whole outfit. 



The cactus and other growth were completely 

 buried by the deep-tillage machines and the soil 

 was left in such a condition that it readily absorbed 

 the rainfall. In order to show the results of deep 

 tillage, a heavy rainstorm came up during the 

 demonstration. All the rain that fell on the plowed 

 ground was retained. On the unplowed ground 

 practically all of it ran off into the gullies and 

 streams, doing considerable damage. 



The cost of plowing with mechanical, com- 



CURRENT COMMENT ON THE U. S. RECLA- 

 MATION PROJECTS. 



15 H. P. Rumely Oil-Pull Tractor pulling 3 Spaulding deep Tilling 

 machines. 



pared with animal power, is very interesting indeed. 

 The fuel and water expenses for the tractors 

 amounted to $1.52 per acre each. The total cost, 

 including interest on the investment, depreciation, 

 labor, etc., added to the above expenses, amounted 

 to $2.63 per acre. While this is much less than 

 the cost would have been with horses, it is higher 

 than it would have been if good weather conditions 

 had prevailed. It rained almost every day for two 

 weeks while the work was progressing, conse- 

 quently this added considerably to the expense of 

 performing the work. 



In spite of the unfavorable weather conditions, 

 the cost was much less than if horses had been 

 used. One man who has plowed three or four hun- 

 dred acres with deep-tilling machines hauled by 

 mules or horses states that the cost on an average 

 is $6 per acre more than twice as much as for 

 (Continued on Page 122) 



The enterprising young city of Rupert on the 

 Minidoka project in Idaho is claiming the unique 

 distinction of having more houses, both business 

 and residence, heated by electricity than any other 

 city in the United States. Electric ranges for the 

 kitchen are also being installed in many homes. All 

 of this has been made possible by reason of the fact 

 that the electricity as a by-product of the Govern- 

 ment work is supplied at a very low rate to the 

 consumer. In 1904 the Minidoka project was a sage 

 brush desert uninhabited and remote from trans- 

 portation. Today its 1,500 farms are practically all 

 occupied; it has three growing towns and a rail- 

 road. 



The farmers on the Huntley project, Montana, 

 have filed articles of incorporation for a farmers' 

 telephone company. The capital stock of the com- 

 pany is $10,000 divided into 1,000 shares. It is 

 understood that three private lines will be taken 

 over and consolidated with one central exchange. 

 Branches will radiate all over the project with 

 Worden as the central point. 



Elmer Eiker, whose remarkable success as a 

 farmer on the Huntley project has been the subject 

 of comment from his first year on a homestead, 

 continues to add to his laurels as the prize winning 

 farmer of the Yellowstone Valley. During the past 

 two years Mr. Eiker, who was formerly a locomo- 

 tive engineer, has won a total in prizes of $1,045, 

 of which $730 was won this year at the State and 

 County fairs. His specialty is corn, but he has ob- 

 tained a prize for sugar beets also. 



The encouraging prospect that Yuma is to be 

 on the ocean-to-ocean highway for automobiles has 

 aroused much civic pride on the part of its citizens. 

 There is talk of a fine bridge across the Gila River 

 and another across the Colorado, and the country 

 and towns are awakening to the importance of 

 building a first class system of roads through the 

 valley. 



Settlers on all the projects of the Northwest 

 and on several projects in other sections are awak- 

 ening to the fact that more live stock should be 

 kept on the farm and fed on the forage grown there, 

 and that more attention should be given to dairying. 

 The purchase and feeding of sheep this winter on 

 the Belle Fourche and Minidoka projects and the 

 introduction on the Shoshone and Boise projects 

 of a number of grade Holstein cows are indications 

 of this fact. 



The average market value of sugar beets on 

 the Huntley project this year is $6 per ton. This 

 means very profitable returns to the growers and 

 it is not surprising that each year shows an in- 

 creasing acreage in this crop. Diversification of 

 crops and the growth of dairying are encouraging^ 

 signs throughout this project. 



