Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-04-16

Feeding standards are the condensed
results of many experiments and
much practical experience. Although
not to be regarded as mathematically
exact, they are of value as aids to
farmers.
! Irrigation in Eastern States.
! The rise in prices Of agricultural
lands in the last few years has made
it necessary that farmers should get
the largest possible return from their
lands, and has created a general in
terest in whatever will help to that
end. One of the aids now being con-
sidered- is irrigation. In the east it
is not, as in the west, absolutely
necessary for the raising if any crops,
but, like fertilizing or thorough
cultivation, is means Of increasing
the returns from land. The whole
question is whether it will pay. The
report of the irrigation Investigations
of the department of agriculture for
the year 1901, carried on under the
direction of EIwood Mead. gives some
valuable data on this question. The
report covers experiments in Missouri
Wisconsin and New Jersey. A series
of experiments extending over several
years at the Wisconsin experiment
station at Madison show a marked i'll
crease in yields of farm crops. The
average increase in the yields of
clover hay on irrigated land over
that from unirrigated land has been
2.5 tons per acre; the average in
crease in yield of corn has been
1886 bushels per acre, and potatoes
show a gain of 83.9 bushels per acre.
The annual cost of irrigation at Madl-
son has been $6.6S per acre, not in
Guiding any interest on the invest
ment, but including all extra labor.
At current prices this leaves net
profit from irrigation of about $40 per
acre on hay, 81 per acre on corn, and
$73 per acre on potatoes. The COL
ditions Of soil and climate at Madison
do not differ from those Of the middle
west generally, and the results given
above show that where water can be
obtained without too large an outlay
irrigation as part Of intensive farm
ing is very profitable. Another series
of experiments was begun for testing
the effect of irrigation and fertiliza-
ton on sandy soils, such as are COM
mon in large sections of Michigan,
Wisconsin and Minnesota. These
lands are poor in plant food, and re-
tain so little moisture that all at
tempts to farm them have failed.
The experiments included the supply
ing of both manure and water
Manure alone was of little use, as
there was not water enough to make
the plant food available. Water alone
produced good results, but the ap
plicatiOn Of both gave the best re-
suits. The cost of irrigation was
$3.50 per acre, and the net gain from
irrigation was as follows: Potatoes,
$50 per acre; corn, 81 per acre;
watermelons, $58 per acre; musk
MELONS, $40 per acre. From these
experiments it seems that with
special crops irrigation of the sandy
lands is profitable, but the increase in
yield of corn it not enough to justify
the expense of securing a water
supply. In New Jersey water has
been used on small fruits and
vegetables, and the added returns due
to irrigation vary a great deal with
the seasons. Some years no irriga-
ton is needed, in others all crops
need it, but in most years some crops
are helped by it. Prof. Voorhees, who
has charge of this work, reports that
in his opinion irrigation where tried
has paid well. Pumping from
streams or wells is the most common
way of getting water for fruit and
garden irrigation. Small plants fur
nishing water enough for from to
10 acres, including pump and engine,
cost from 5000 to $500.
"Gassing" trees has become Sc
large a business in California that a
Los Angeles man has an outfit for it
which cost $4,000. Tents are used
to confine the gas to the trees and
to protect the operators from the
deadly prussic acid which is liberated
from a saucer at the trees root.
The great peach farms of J. H.
Hale, part in Connecticut, but mostly
in Georgia, comprise $500 acres, and
in the hight Of the season as many
as 125 carloads are shipped daily.