38 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



PRACTICAL SUPERVISION BY RECLAMATION 



AGENTS 



A Strong Appeal for Continuous Expert Advice on Reclamation Project Lands. Written for the Irrigation Age 



by Newton Hibbs, Salmon, Idaho 



A practical supervision of the reclamation 

 projects by the government should be maintained 

 until the business of farming on the small tracts is 

 established on a profitable basis. The farm adviser 

 is necessary on every project- in the irrigated re- 

 gions, especially. This adviser should be a cred- 

 ited agent of the government, and then the estab- 

 lishment of a rural loan system would be very 

 simple. 



The reclaimed lands are universally fertile. 

 The production of good crops can be assured for 

 every season is assured by advice and instruction. 

 The question of profitable markets is one to be 

 mastered under the prevailing conditions which 

 bring special features to every project. 



There is no section of the country in which a 

 crop that will return at least $50 an acre cannot be 

 grown by irrigation under practical direction. Meat 

 and dairy products have a universal market value, 

 regardless of geographical location. This branch of 

 farming is cited only as one example. In it is a so- 

 lution of one of the high-cost-of-living problems for 

 the whole country as well as one feature of success 

 for the reclamation settlers. 



It would not be practical to outline in this let- 

 ter more than one of a dozen systems of farming 

 that are available for the settlers of almost every 

 project of the great Northwest. The writer has 

 acted as an instructor for the new settlers on pri- 

 vate irrigation projects with the result that general 

 success became a fact apparent to every observer. 



The secret of success on those private proposi- 

 tions was largely due to the fact that loans were 

 secured for the purchase of stock for every farmer 

 who had grown feed to carry the stock to an in- 

 crease of value in the fattening pen or the breeding 

 yard. This class of security of loans to the full 

 value of the stock is recognized as the very best 

 by all bankers who have had experience in that line. 



If the government would establish a system of 

 superintending and advising for the new settlers 

 ample rural loans would at once become available, 

 which would enable all the farmers to secure stock 

 to consume their hay, grain and roots. On the 

 private enterprises the advice of the agents who 

 have filled this position has never failed to secure 

 rural loans sufficient to make the settlers prosper- 

 ous. Such a source of information from a govern- 

 ment agent would make an effective rural loan sys- 

 tem very simple and safe. 



On a private project where the writer had un- 

 dertaken to guide every purchaser of a tract to a 

 degree of success there were an old man and a 

 worthless son. They were on a ten-acre tract which 

 had been cleared of the sage brush and plowed late 

 the previous year. On this sod the former owner 

 had planted a half-acre of peas of an improved early 

 garden variety. These had been allowed to ripen, 



and they were stacked under an improvised shed. 



The shiftless son had abandoned the old father 

 and the little farm before the spring work season 

 opened. The father was a discouraged subject 

 when it became the duty of yours truly to guide 

 him to success as a small-tract farmer. An old 

 horse, this stack of peas and a limited credit at the 

 store were the sum of this old man's assets when 

 the planting season opened. 



The advice to the old man was to thresh these 

 peas out during the dry days of the early spring and 

 to sow the whole ten acres broadcast with the seed 

 obtained. This he did early in April. The field 

 was harrowed corrugated for irrigation, which taxed 

 the old man and his poor horse to the limit of 

 strength. The land was new and free from weeds. 

 The peas grew to a very big crop and they were ripe 

 early in July. They were valuable only for feed, 

 as the market was overstocked 'for green peas. The 

 local bank, on advice, furnished the money to buy 

 100 pigs, which were turned into this field of peas 

 in July. The average cost of the pigs was $3 each. 

 On the first of October these pigs were sold at a 

 net profit of over $1,000. 



This old man's success was due entirely to the 

 rural loan which he was enabled to secure by the 

 presentation of the conditions of his security to the 

 banker by the field agent who directed the farming 

 operations. This instance is given only as an ex- 

 ample to emphasize the importance of the superin- 

 tendence of the farm operations on the reclamation 

 projects, and the provision of rural loans for the 

 settlers as well as other farmers. Safe rural loans 

 can be provided by making advisers agents of the 

 government to determine the safety of the invest- 

 ment of the borrowed capital. These farm advisers 

 are seriously needed in every farming community. 

 It would be well if the government had such an 

 agent in every county of the United States. A safe 

 rural loan system would be assured if practical facts 

 were available from official sources to pass upon the 

 security offered to protect rural loans. Capital 

 would flow to such safe channels whenever the 

 security was made certain by official certificate. 



WASHINGTON 



Over 50 cases will soon be begun in the Federal 

 court, Washington, against parties holding water 

 rights under the Sunnyside canal, Yakima county, 

 for delinquency in the payment of maintenance 

 charges. Authority has just been given F. A. Gar- 

 recht, Federal attorney for the district, to begin 

 these actions for the Reclamation Service. The 

 water rights on which these actions are to be 

 brought are rights originating under contracts with 

 the Washington Irrigation Company, taken over by 

 the Reclamation Service. 



