Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1911-08-10
Nothing Can Beat Ii
WENDELL, IDAHO,
July 10, 1911.

Slue tract ana nave plenty oil water 10
irrigate it, 1t costs $500 an acre for
perpetual right plus So cents an acre
annually for maintaining OF the general
system. Now let us stop and see what
this means to the farmer and to his
property, and so on to the end of time ;
no drouths, no loss of crops, no failure
from any source if you carry out your
part and simply reduce farming to Il
science. One man can irrigate after it
is prepared and seeded down to hay,
grain orchard and other crops from 50
TO POO acres, according to how he has il
all arranged.
have this year in cultivation about
Ill acres and am handling it with one
man besides myself, except in haying
then having two men extra. From the
first cutting OF alfalfa. part from this
years seeding and part the year before,
cut and put up 90 tons and this from
80 acres, with two more cuttings for the
season. The hay was cut about 20 days
ago and the second crop is now over two
feet high all because we can give it the
required moisture at the right time and
at very little expense as compared to
the results. No wonder an irrigated
farm is worth and brings bigger price
than in the rain belts where it rains
very often when you don't want it, and
faoular hAt,Sa x.-ha,,
need it worst. This year has shown us
more plainly than ever the value of our
water right, for while the middle west
was scorching hot and not drop OF
rain, with their corn, hay, pasture, gar
den, grain, cotton and tobacco burning
up, We are watering our crops, and they
never looked better. What does this
mean to the farmer? Simply every
thing. What would you think OF cut
ting seven hundred tons OF hay before
you stacked load, yet | have done ex-
actly that thing in this state and never
got a pound of it wet, and that is the
case six times out of seven.
l have been twenty-nine years in Ida
no and that after farming in Nebraska,
Kansas, Michigan and Illinois. Was
also about four years in Colorado, and
l consider the Snake River Valley
ahead OF any place was ever in for gen.
eral farming, fruit raising, live stock
and dairying. l have about u acres in
fruit that looks good and out OF 500
trees planted this spring, but five have
died. From Grapes and berries planted
last spring, or year ago, we are get
ting quite a display OF fruit, especially
the grapes. Also have locust grove OF
about 1000 trees that last year made a
growth of from to 10 feet.
This is the home OF the hog as he will
live and do well on alfalfa pasture in the
summer and then winter at the hay stack
along with the other stock; therefore he
is one OF the good paying animals here
as bacon and ham are worth from Is to
% cents per pound, and fresh pork dress
ed from 10 cents to 1913.
lllo 10 SOONi ali diOullu SlDth tOuIllTl
on account OF the abundance of hay and
pasture that can be raised to the acre,
our hay going from to s tons to the
acre. This is also the home OF the alfal-
ia seed, which often pays from $500 to
Sl25.0O per acre.
The water was turned into the canals
Two years ago last April; therefore this
part Of the country is little over two
years old, and the healthiest two-year-
old you ever heard tell OF, and that with
only partial supply OF water for the first
two years on account of the system be-
ing so large that it took considerable time
to work it all out to the perfection we
have it now. Another strong point in
our favor is that it is in the heart of the
largest irrigated belt in the United States.
The winters are mild and seldom more
than 4 to inches of snow, therefore
shorter winter feeding than in many To-
calities. took my stock up from the pas
lures and began feeding last winter on
the 18th day OF January and this means
considerable to the farmer and stock
raisers.
While driving across the country yester-
day, l saw several well improved farms
with hay waist high and oats that will
easily go 70 bushels to the acre and wheat
40 bushels, and this on new ground that
had never been in crop before These
farms are as well developed as the aver
age farm in the middle states after ten or
fifteen years, and the whole reason is our
climate and irrigation.
Our well is 212 feet deep with plenty
OF the best water on earth, and pumped
by electricity at an average cost of about
$500 per month. This part OF Idaho
has more water power than any other
dozen states in the Union, and it is being
put to use, not only by the cities and
towns, but by the farmer at a very light
expense, and the day is not far distant
when almost every farmer will light his
house, pump the water grind the food |