Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1918-06-26
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IL CAROLINIAN IN IDAHO, =.
Observation-Disclosures.

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hdgby, Idaho, June 15.-Editor
keoWee Courier: l thought I have
been living IN Idaho for more than
5 years. it would be interesting to
you and the readers of your paper to
get letter from an old South Caro-
ma man In Rigby, Idaho, telling you
something Of the country and what
we raise out here. Rigby is on the
branch line running from the O.S.L.
main line to the great Yellowstone
Park, 1T being about 70 miles south
west from there.
This part of tho State is devoted
largely to farming and stock raising.
The principal crops are alfalfa,
wheat, oats, sugar beets, Irish pota-
toes and English peas. The alfalfa
seed is drilled in with the wheat to
get stand. This is done to shade
1t when it Is small, to keep the sun
from killing it for the first year.
have seen a small cutting made the
hrst year; when it is at It's best they
cut all the way from three to four
tons per acre, and this makes the
best Of feed without anything else
given. The water is turned on it in
the beginning of summer about two
or three times, then 1t is ready for
cutting. This Is done with mower,
and it is raked up with a one-horse
rake and piled up with a fork, ready
for the barn or stack.
The ground for wheat and oats
is prepared in the fall and is har-
rowed in spring. These two crops
arc planted with drill. When it is
up and gets fairly we'll stooled the
water Is turned on 1T. This Is done
three or four times, or until it be-
gins to ripen, then they let up. These
two crops are harvested with ma
chine, tying it up in bundles all at
the same time. The average crop of
wheat is 40 bushels per acre, but
some get as high as SO bushels. Oats
is raised the same way, harvested
alike, the only difference being in
the number Of bushels to acre, which
is much larger.
Sugar beets are planted on we'll
prepared seed bed, drilled In with a
one-horse drill in rows about 1S
inches apart. When they are up
good the work begins, and YOU will
see men with hoes chopping the
bects to spaces about eight inches
apart (about like the first hoeing of
cotton), and boys following. crawl
ing on their knees pulling the beets
out to one in a hill. After this is all
done YOU will see man driving
horse with turnover attached, 60
ing up and down the rows, furrow-
ing out the rows for the water to
run down to irrigate them. This wa
tering Is kept up until about the
first of October, when digging is be-
Su1. This is done with a puller at
tached to horse, going down the
rows pulling the beets out Of the
ground, and men and boys with
knives cutting the tops off and piling
them up ready for the wagons.
Irish potatoes are also planted with
a drill drawn by horse, in rows
about three feet apart. Opening the
arrow. dropping the potato, covering
and furroWing them out Is all done
at the same time. After the potato
is up about eight inches the water Is
turned on, and this Is done about
three times, about ten days between
each watering. When the time
comes to dig, this Is done with a one
horse potato digger driving down the
rows. plowing them up on top the
ground, when the potatoes are pick
ed up in buckets and sacked for
shipping.
The English peas are drilled in
rows eight inches apart on a we'll
prepared seed bed, with a one-horse
drill. After the peas are up to
good stand and good size the water
is turned on them without any fur
rowing as in the other crops. It does
not take the work and watering for
this crop it does for the others be-
cause Of its quick growth. When the
peas get in full bloom they run over
the fields and pull out the half-breed