Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-12-24
i. u. Farrell, Director OF southern
Idaho Extension of University,
Tells of Conditions.

/ .
Southern Idaho Is the home Of the
scientific farmer; the tillers OF the soil.
there, are mostly young men. come OF
them college graduates, who. because OF
ciseiy the instruction given by agrlcul-
tural colleges. The result is little short
! of the marvellous. Such Is the opinion
| OF f. y. Farrell, director OF the south
ern Idaho extension OF the University Of
| idaho. When seen IN Salt Lake City
| this morning he said concerning con-
ditions there:
The University Of Idaho concluded
on Friday four two-weeks agricultural
schools at the towns of Weiser. Wen
dell. Meridian, and Idaho Falls. Dairy
Ing. fruit growing. live stock. irrigu-
ton and general farming as well as
domestic science were the subjects
treated. sixty students Ia all were
enrolled. The work Will prove valu-
able in southern Idaho on account OF
the large number OF settlers who have
little or no knowledge of farming under
irrigated conditions. At Wendell, we
had students from more than 20 states.
ana the most of them had never farmcd
before this year. Over 30 women reg
istercd among the students at Wendell.
The farmers on some OF the newer
irrigated tracts in Idaho have had a
difficult year on account of new cond-
tons and difficulties due to the ncom-
ipictencss of some OF the irrigation sy:-
TENS especially the building OF the
storage reservoirs on the Twin Falls
North Side tract. These, however,
have been In course of construction this
summer
HUGE RESERVOIR.
y reservoir with a capacity of 17o,-
600 acre feet will be completed near
Jerome by Jan. /. 1t will nave u shore
line of over 40 miles and will supple
ment the natural flow of the Snake
river to such an extent that an album
dance OF irrigation water for the North
Side, which is approximately 100000
acres in extent, is assured.
The farmers on all Of the. new
Carey act tracts of southern Idaho are
mostly young people, many of them
being college graduates. They are be-
ginning to rarin scientifically and with
the excellent soil and climate OF Ida
no are developing one OF the greatest
farming districts in the world, the
Snake River valley. They plan to
avoid the mistakes of the farmers of
the older irrigation systems of the
west. and to follow only improved
methods, such as systematic rotation
OF crops and the raising OF live stock
l
sures good profit and increases as
we'll as maintains the fertility of the
soil.
BIG PROFITS.
Although 1910 has been the dryest
year In the history of Idaho agricul-
ture. the results on the dry farming
land have been extremely profitable.
The firm of Woodmanse, & Webster on
the dry farms east OF Rcxburs pro-
M nf ,rtrn $40,
which averaged 80 bushels an acre.
The firm cleared more than $40, 900 from
this crop.
"a company of dry farmers on the
so-cnllcd desert near American Falls
produced 1000 acres Of Turkey wheat,
and, while their yield wus not SO high
as the above, they made Al great profit,
lis they reduced the cost of production
to S5.25 per acre. They used horses,
oxen, steam and gasoline engines.
over IN upper Washington county.
dry farming is just being recognized
as profitable industry. Tho farms
there are smaller than those of eastern
Idaho. Ono farm near Midvalc produce
cd I50 acres OF Turkey wheat average
ing 81 bushels to tho acre. Another
produced so bushels OF corn per acre
without irrigation. The production of
corn Is profitable, however, in only the
southwestern part of the state, where
the altitude IL in no case in excess of
5000 feet. The dry farmers seem to
be successful in accordance with tho
degree In which thoy follow the dry
farming methods taught by the agri- .
cultural schools.
In Idaho these methods arc being
followed more closely than probably
anywhere else. MS the work Is new and
the farmers are proftinE by the cy-
perence of the farmers Of the older IT.
rigatod sections.
FRUIT CROPS.
"'rho fruit crop has been good in
southern Idaho this year; and while
prices have not been high the profits
have been satisfactory, a large acre
age OF orchards win be planted in 1911
and a big :ncroasa In the total output
of southern Idaho Is expected
''rlr two industries receiving the
most attention in southern idaho at
present are dairying ANA hog raising
The now irrigation tracts have been
shown tn be especially productive Of
alfalfa and corn Silagc, II combination
Of these two feeds making the ideal
ration for dairy cattle.
'''rhc yield nf alfalfa on most of the
tracts has exceeded five tons per acre
and in some cases has produced as
high as 10 tons. The Twin Falls South
Side tract produced 100000 tons of al
falfu this year, tho farmers utilizing
the feed for live stock In fact, the
farmers are getting into dairying, beef
production. and hog raising rs rapidly
as possible