The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-03-29
GheGtteltfQetlrer.
What / Know Of Farming.
ny HORACE GREELEY.
Tho Possibilities OF Irrigation.

The Possibilities of Irrigation.
l have given IN account of my poor, lit.
Tie experiment In Irrigation, because It Is
one which almost every farmer can tmi'
tate and improve upon, however narrow
his domain and slender Misfortune. SLpre'
sumo there arc half q million hOmesteads
in the United States which have natural
facilities for Irrigation at least equal to
mine; many Of them fir greater. Along
either slope Of the AlleghCnies, through.
out district ut least thousand miles long
by three hundred wide, nearly every farm
might be ut least partially irrigated by
means of n dam costing from twenty-five
70 one hundred dollars; so might ut least
half the fiIrms In New England and our
own Suite On the prairiCs, the plans
must DO different, ind the expense proba.
bly, greater, but the results obtained would
bounteOusly reward tho outlay. | shall
not sec the day, but there aIc those now
living who sOil see II, when ArteSian wells
will be dug ut points where many acres
may be flowed from gentle swell in the
midst ora vast plain, or ut the head 9! u
fertile valley, expressly, or, at least main
", tint It's waters Ill1y be l@t across tllAt
plain, adown that valley, in irrfgating
streams and bitches, until they have been
wholly drank up by the soil. have seen
singlCIwelIs In California tint might he
made TO irrigatc sufficiently hundreds Of
acres, by the ail Of a reservoir into which
their waters could be discharged when the
soil did not require them, and there re.
tanned until the thirsty earth demanded
them. t'
An old and successful farmer in my
nCigIlhOrhOod ,AiEirrns that Water Is the
cheapest and hest fertilizer ever applied 10
tho soil. Ifthis were understood to mean
that no other IS needed or can be pr0iitA.
bly applicil, il would le erroneous. Still,
| think it clearly true that the annual pro
duct Of most farms can he increased, and
the danger Of Il failure avCrtcd, more
chcaply 6yth skilllul application of water
than by that Of any other fertilizer what
ever, Plaster (GypSum) possibly excepted.
l took run through Virginia lAA SUM
lner, not far from the lsL Of August. That
State was then suffering intensely from
lrouLll, rs she continued to do some weeks
thereafter. am quito sure that saw ON
her thirsty plains and hillsidcs not less
lIan three hundred thousand acres plant
ell with Indian Corn, whereof the average
product could not exceed ten bushels per
acre, while most Of Il would fall FIR be-
low that yield, and there were thousands
Of acres that would not produce one
sound car! Every one deplOrcd tho fall
ure, correctly attributing It to the pre-;
vailing dr0ltll. And YET ! lElSscl
huIHt9ls If not thousands OF places
where y very moleHte outlay would
have SIfllccd TO dam stream or
brOOklCt issuing from between TWO spurs
Of the Blue Ridge, or the AIlcghcnieS, so
Tint IL refreshing current Of the c0plousS
and iGrtilizing floods Of Winter and
Spring, warmed l,y the fcrvid suns Of
June and July, could have been Icd over
broad fields lying below, so ~ to vanQIisll
lroutli and insure generous larvcsts. Nay:
| feel confident that could III many
places have constructed rude works
In week, alter that drUutlI began
10 bc felt, that would have saved
and made tho Corn On Ut least portion
Of the planted acres through which tho
now shrumkcn brooks danced and laughed
idly down to the larger streams IN the
wilder and equally thirsty valleys VI
course, know that this would have been
imperfect irrigatiOn-A mere stOp-gAp-.
that tile cold spring.watcr Of /! parchel
Summer cannot Gcrtilizc us Inc hlll-wnsIl
Of Winter and Spring, il Lhritlily garner
ell aud warmed through and through for
sultry weeks would do; yet believe that
very many farmers might, even then, have
secured partial crops by such irrigation us
was still possible, had they, cvcIt at the
eleventh hour, done their best to retrieve
the errors Of the past. ....-
For the present, ] would only counsel
every farmer 10 give his land careful
scrutiny with view to irrigation IN the
future. No one is obliged 10 do any iNstcr
than his means will Justify; and yet II
my be well tO'fHve a clear compTcllcn'
sion Ofall TINT mny ultimately be done to
profit, even though much OF 1t must long
remain uninterrupted In many cqSSes, II
stfedinAnS7 lie dabmCd for the lpWcr
(which It, will afford l9r 1.-Two gOrs uEee
months of each year, II IL shall appear that
this use is quite consistent with ltS chi
plOymcnt IN irrigation, when the former
alone would not justify the requisite out
lay. It's by thus making one expense
subservc two quite independent but not
inconsistent purposes that success Is at
tanned IN other pursuits; and so 1t may he
IN farming. ,nuiJDN ,i,lIgLY'. +
As yet, each ihfm6r'lhtIst ktudyhis own
resources with intent 70 make the most OI
~ l.Nsh plRn