Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-20
ARTIFICIAL RAIN
INSTALLED On
ALLAN IA FARM
viii thinner, C. S. Witham and
Loring Brown Protect Crops
With Pipe System,

These dry nights, when my crops
are burning up, can smell that artl-
fetal rain a mile off" said a farmer
in the suburbs of Atlanta.
The artificial rain" Of which he
spoke is produced on three fancy"
farms within a short distance Of Five
Points, and, according to the unanl-
nous verdict of Win thinner. c. S.
Witham and Loring Brown, who own
overhead irrigation" plants. it
means salvation in dry years.
Stories are told of the wonderful
crops these farmers grow-two yields
from 200 to 300 bushels an acre-slx
| cuttings of alfalfa, crops of beans
when the market is bare and beans
are worth 50 a bushel.
Yet the system is simple enough.
Pipes Supply Rain.
On posts eight feet high rest pipes
about two inches in diameter. These
pipes run the whole length of the
fields, and the lines of pipe are TWEEN
" feet apart About two feet apart
in the pipes are tiny holes. A gasO-
| line engine, q pump which It oper-
ates, an abundant supply Of water
and the thing is done.
Six hours each evening, when there
is no rain, the pump is run and fine
streams of water squirt from the holes
J in the pipes. At high pressure, these
| streams are thrown almost from one
| line of pipe to the next. Handles nj
convenient intervals make it posi-
IL . hH
streams are detected in any direction
and the ground thoroughly soaked
with the spray.
This system exCels ditch irrigation
! for Georgia soil for the reason that
Georgia clay does not soak up water
/ from a ditch in sufficient quantities
Besides, the soil cakes when water is
applied in this way Artificial rain
| however, coming down like a mist,
I permeates the whole soil and brings
results.
OF course, an overhead pipe system
| is expensive. The cost is estimated
at $3.50 per acre. This might be re-
| duced somewhat if the farmer Dec-
formed all the labor himself. or II
might easily cost more if conditions
were not entirely favorable. The in
| creased yield, however, more than
| overbalances this initial outlay.
! Loring Brown tells of getting IN
81, 100 crop of Irish potatoes from
an acre, under his pipe system. In
reality, there were two crops, a spring
planting and a fall planting, and the
! potatoes brought a high price be-
cause they were sold for seed.
Fail to Realize Work.
81 have only one objection to see
ing Belmont farm described in the
newspapers" said Mr. Brown, as h
sat in a swing on his front galle~
and sorted a thick packet Of letters
my objection is that people read o
big Yields and good profits, then arr
anxious to try the same methods
They want to spend a lot Of money e
emulate Belmont, and fail to take &C.
count of the hard work that must q
with It.
"a farmer, whether he has a fancy
farm or one Of the old-fashioned kind
must work eighteen hours day. He
must be on the job S65 days a year
| That Is what many people forget
| Five years ago. drouth killed the
entire crop of potatoes on Belmont.
| Mr. Brown estimates that dry season
cost him $4,000. That winter he went
! to Greeley Colo, where overhead ir-
| rigation is in use, to see II he coui1
work out a solution Of the problem
some sort of insurance against
drouth. The pipe lines were the an
swer Farms around Atlanta can not
grow the same Yields produced around
Greeley, but the difference in price
caused by being closer to a good
| market overcomes the lesser yield,
and more.
thinner lnstaIls System.
Mr.. thinner. on his Klmballville
Farm, installed an identical system
though on a smaller scale, and since
he installed it, never has had occa-
sion to use it. BY some streak Of
fate, his farm has been blessed with
abundant rains.
But rain is freakish in choosing its
| itinerary. In Atlanta itself and out
as far as thu Chattahoochee River
rains have been sufficient this year
But beyond the river there Is serious
| drouth. Crops are drying up. Irri-
| cation would have been the salvation
| of the farmers.
! And as thew sit in front Of their
| homes at night, they can smell the
| sweet odor Of refreshed fields at Bel
mont-"that darn artificial rain"