The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-09-02
THE IRRIGATED FARM.

What is the best thing to grow on
an irrigated farm? is question often
asked but very seldom satisfactorily
answered. The usual advice is to
grow what there is the most money in.
Sometimes there is q rage for peaches,
at other times for alfalfa, with the
usual result that Whatever crop is
popularity believed to be the most
profitable is usually overdone and the
markets glutted with an over supply.
If man is a working farmer and un.
derstands his business, says writer
in the Irrigation Age, I believe there
is always most money in raising what
is consumed in the family, and herein
lies the first advantage of having
farm under irrigation. 1t will always
insure iood for the farmers family,
however small the farm be. The first
consideration, therefore, should be
to see that the family is sup.
piled with -four, fruit and vegetables.
Wheat may not be profitable as y mar.
ket crop if grown on a small scale, but
better raise it yourself than pay some
one else to do it for you. Besides.
you probably save freight or hauling
and the profits of two or three mer.
chants. The same may be said Of
corn, which has the advantage of be-
ing raised the same year after wheat
in many irrigated counties OF the
South. The fodder will also make
very useful feed for stock if CORE
spending proportion of alfalfa is fec
with it. Alfalfa is crop that should
never be omitted on On irrigated farm
1t will supply more food for hogs,
COWS, horses and poultry to the acre
than anything I know of, and is sure
cropper with plenty of water. With
the crops already mentioned farmer
should insure regular supply of eggs.
milk, butter poultry and bacon, and
have something left over to sell. But
I am aware that this advice, although
perfectly sound, will not satisfy the
average farmer, who is always banker.
ing after something that there il
money in. Well, on this point I think
it good policy to grow that which can
not be successfully grown without irri'
CATION. In my experience those are
the crops which usually pay the best
in the long run. This is what makes
alfalfa such a paying crop. On no
food can bacon and milk be 80 cheaply
raised, and if were not for the fact
that it cannot be grown without irri'
cation, no farm in the world would be
without it's alfalfa field. Celery and
strawberries are two other cheap
crops which, except in few favored
localities, do much better with irriga'
tion than without. Several strawberry
growers in the East have made up
their minds that, even where the rain
fall is excessive, artificial irrigation ia
necessary to insure regular crops and
they are putting up wlndmills and
other devices for pumping water. ]
believe the day is not distant when
very few strawberry growers will risk
the loss of their crops by droughts,
and they must necessarily 60 to great
expense if they have to pump the
water. This expense is saved on the
farm furnished with water from
canal. A good principle to follow in
business is always to stick to some
line in which you have special advan'
tages. Don't do what every fool can
do. Do not be led away with the ides
that there is fortune in lemons, or il
almonds, or in olives. The natura;
law OF supply and demand tends to re
duce the profits on all crops to level,
and what to-day looks the most profit
able will tomorrow be the most un'
profitable. But grow what you are
best situated and fitted for and yor
will hardly ever make mistake.