Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1918-06-20
Why An Irrigated Farm?

rlgated farm, when can get lauu III Yves
tern Canada that will grow good crops
without irrigation"
The question demands an answer If
rigated lands cost more than non-irrigat-
ed lands in the same districts although
irrigated lands in Southern Alberta are
sold for less money than lands without
irrigation in older settled districts.)
1t is our purpose to answer the above
question, and all who are sincerely inter
ested in an opportunity to farm under the
most favorable conditions will find every
word worth reading The reasons you
should buy an irrigated farm in prefer
ence to any other kind of farm cannot be
told in sentence or an advertisement
but here are some points which help to
answer the question:
l. The irrigation farmer is not at the
mercy of weather. You wouldn't live in
house without some kind of heating
plant, trusting to the moderation of the
weather, would you? Then why should
you live on farm with no watering plant
risking your crops and your prosperity
upon the uncertainty of rainfall? By
means of his irrigation system the irriga-
ton farmer controls the moisture on his
farm just as accurately as you, by means
of stoves or furnace, control the tempera-
ture in your house.
g The irrigation farmer gets bigger
crops Now and again the farmer on non
irrigated land gets bumper crop. What
causes bumper crop in Western Canada?
Simply this, the right amount of moisture
at the right time. Given these conditions
bumper crop on the fertile land of Wes-
tern Canada is assured. But the most
perfect climate is subject to variations;
these conditions do not come every year.
To the irrigation farmer they do come
every year. His personal experience, the
advice which the Company's experts
stand ready to give him, and the expert
ments of the Dominion Government are
at his command to show just when he
should use moisture, and how much He
may make mistakes at first, just as the
man with the new furnace will not get the
best results until he learns how to use it.
But the man with the new furnace does
not sit and freeze because he does not I'M
derstand it at first; he studies the plant
and soon masters it. So the irrigation
farmer studies his soil, his crops, the eli
matte conditions of his district and learns
to treat his land in such way that when
he plants a crop he knows he is going to
reap harvest. So while the farmer on
non-irrgated land gets a bumper crop
now and again, the irrigtion farmer gets
one every season.
8. The irrigation farmer can grow a
greater varity of crops Not only does he's
grow more to the acre, but he grows more
kinds thus permitting him to employ more
scientific crop rotation, and supply more
of his needs. In the Canadian Pacific
Railway Company's Irrigation Districts,
for instance, he can grow alfalfa, "the
"king of fodders'', with great success
Alfalfa on irrigated land is the foundation
of the live stock and dairy industry He
can grow vegetables with greater success,
by applying just the right amount Of wat
er at the right time; the same is true of
small fruits, and, as the country develop
es, will doubtless prove true of larger
fruits, which are already grown in the
older irrigated districts of Alberta
f. The irrigation farmer has better
climate. As there is less wet weather, he
has more bright sunshine than in districts
which depend on rainfall for moisture
His plans are not so often interrupted by
unfavorable weather. If there is any
thing more eXasperating to a dry farmer
than drouth in the growing season, it is
rain in harvest The irrigation farmer
never suffers from the first and rarely
from the second. He does not have the
same loss of time of himself his men, and
his equipment on account of rain. His
livestock thrive better. He has better
roads, and in Alberta he has the finest eli
mate of any agricultural section of the
American continent.
5. The irrigation farmer has greater
community advantages. The very nature
of irrigation tends to close settlement
The farms are comparatively small, be-
cause they produce more to the acre, and
less acres are necessary to support the far
mer. The settlement is confined to GER
tain definite areas, instead of scattered
over whole country. Consequently
there are neighbors close at hand; schools,
churches, telephones, mail deliveries and
all community organizations flourish as
is not possible under other conditions.
6. The irrigation farmers land never
wears out As soon as it shows any dis
position to lose its fertility, he plants it
to alfalfa which restores the nitrogen to
the soil, and makes it richer than it was
in the days before it ever knew a pillow.
The alfalfa he feeds to his livestock, and