The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-09-29

for that of the stock men. The stool
men lease the land along the creek
In such a way as to make the ada
cent bench land worthless to anyon,
else, and in this way get the fire,
use of the bench land by paying {
or 10 cents per acre. There are nj
such privileges enjoyed by the mar
who tills the soil and pays high rate.
OF rental. Mr.. Mitchell has 100 acres
in his farm and is raising 20 acres
of potatoes, which are his best crop
He raised 1900 bushels of grain this
year and the crop was later than thai
of 1915.
John Mitchell lives north of Shell,
ley on a 40 acre farm. He has
3 acres of beets and is working tc
get the farm graded so that it will
water perfectly. Mr.. Mitchell reports
considerable rust in the second hay
crop this year.
G. B. Hurst, who lives north of
Shelley, is looking for location and
thinks of settling up in the hills
where he can develop stock ranch.
James Mitchell is one of the men
who is studying the preparation of
the soil for the beet crop, so he can
raise long beets. For this years crop
he ploWed about 10 inches deep. but
did not use subsoiler. Mr.. Mitchell
does not water his beets until he
is obliged, to This year he watered
them for the first time, the twenty
second OF August. He has been study
ing the different ways to Apply fer
tilizer to the soil and has planned to
fill an irrigation ditch with it, this
month. as an experiment. He will
then turn water on it and wash the
liquid manure onto a beet patch to
fertilize it for next years crop. Mr..
Mitchell is doing a great deal of grad
ing and considers it worth $25 per
day to have fresno scraper and
four horses leveling in a field. He
raises soma potatoes and has made
quite a study of that crop. He has
concluded that the Eureka planter
puts them in too thin, and he pre-
fers the Ironage planter. He wants
potatoes planted inches apart and
says that any of the picker planters
he has ever seen do not plant them
so one can get good regular stand.
Mr.. Mitchell has been thinning his
beets to a distance of from IA to
lS inches apart, and he thinks that
the beets of the future may be still
further apart than that in order to
get good results. He will plant IS
acres of beets and 25 acres of pota-
toes in 1917, and he will study and
plan the best way to do with them
in order to get the best results pos
sible. He is convinced that merely
working hard with crops is not what
brings results and profits. Mr.. Mitch
I'll has been reading the bulletins is
sued by the agricultural department
and applies the information to his
crops. He thinks that three rows of
beets are better than four rows on
l given amount of space, and that
thinning beets to distance of about
20 inches is more likely to produce
/ heavier tonnage than having them
thicker than that.
George Thompson has 10 acres of
'ery fine potatoes on his farm, north
If Shelley. He also has some grain
hat produced As bushels per acre.
Mr.. Thompson has some sheep and
Keeps them in the hills during the
ummer. Mr.. Thompson's observa-
ion of what the dry farmers are
Icing in the hills, leads him to be- !
ieve that they are nursing a for
orn hope. He says some of them
axe up the wrong kind of land and
pend their time on it. They seem
o think that because some farmers |
7ho have chosen the northern slopes
re successful, that any land in that
art of the county would be as good.
hey take up and cultivate hot sun
y slopes that do not collect snow
4 winter, but are swept clean by the
yinds. Mr.. Thompson says he knows
( dry farmers who have taken their
amalies onto such claims as these.
[e says it reminds him of the old
who think that because
hey have a hole in the mountain
there must necessarily be
lineral ahead and they waste their
yes trying to find what is not there. I
James Mitchell, ST., came to Shell
" with a family of six boys and two
aughters in 1885. He has been en-
aged in agriculture and stock rails
lg in that locality ever since. All
I the sons are located on farms near
i'm and are all very successful t
lrmers. 6
Walter Mitchell has a good farm {
I'd breeds some very fine heavy |
orses. He raises mixed crops and {
seps the crops rotated in order to |
lid up the soil and keep it in the
,st condition possible. He says there
a great need of studying agricuI- t
lral methods and that too many I
rmers are content to go along I
orking blindly, as hard as ever they t
IN. Mr.. Mitchell mentioned that
hen the valley was first settled he 1
ice had a chance to make some i
oney with his team, hauling lime L
ON the Jones lime kiln. in VOL '
,rine canyon, to Idaho Falls. The a
,aler at Idaho Falls had a fixed p
ice that he paid for hauling and t
!ggested to Mr.. Mitchell that he \
Jul load or two. Mr.. Mitchell t
AIDE trip using a span of heavy o
,rses and a good wagon. Another o
an with team of cayuses and a s
yht wagon was on the road at the q
me time, and he made good wages a
en- tho he took but light load. t.