The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-07-21
Constantly va king l on
Sensible Plans for
Better Results
in Crops
EXPERTS ADVISE
City Keeping Pace With
Surrounding Country
in Advancement
PART II.
(By the Editor)

(By the Editor)
When | went down to Twin Falls
last week observed that the crops
on the Minidoka project bordering
the railroad were not good. They
were a poor stand and spotted in
every way. Part of the Minidoka
tract is a government pumping prof.
ect and the rest is government
gravity system. There are several
of these pumping stations and one
station pumps water for 180 farms
in single tract. Crops on that unit
looked good.
| stated in the preceding chapter
that l wanted to find out why things
were more prosperous at Twin Falls
and on that tract than at my
home town and in my home county
where the lands are better and the
water more plentiful, and that
found a man who ought to be able
to give me the key to the situa-
ton.
Get Information Right
When | go out getting informa-
ton for my readers I like to get it
from men whose record for relabili-
ty is we'll known, and on this occa
sion l picked man | had known
since the first burrows were turned
on the Twin Falls tract; a man who
had been thru it all and helped to
make it all what it is man who
was active in the plans and the work,
who has operated farms and han
died real estate: man who has TAX
en- time to make thorO studies Of no
less than a dozen of the different
irrigation projects in the western
states, taking as much as year at
time to learn all he could about
them. He has made a study of why
they fail and why they succeed;
what it is that makes them sue
ceed after being failures for a while,
and there seems to be no phase of
handling big irrigation projects that
he does not analyze and weigh in
its relation to the whole thing. He
has studied the conditions in the
fruit tracts of a dozen areas on the
Pacific coast and he outlined to me
their separate histories for ten years
showing the rise and fall of the
prices of land in connection with
each one, and what caused it.
When got him to talking about
the Twin Falls tract he said 1t was
settled by people who did not know
how to farm in Idaho under irriga-
ton. Most Of them were strangers
to irrigation and they were willing
to learn. The project management
furnished agriculturists to teach
them how to farm in every resnect.
He taught them carefully in the
field and in the Institutes. He was
their adviser all the time and they
did not have to take his advice
unless they wanted to. But he had
such supervision that he could al
ways know what was being done,
and he could tell, so could the farm
er tell, from year to year, whether
his advice was good or not. The re-
suits bore evidence Of it all, and by
the time the farms were cleared up
and needing to be put under ro-
tation of crops to preserve and de-
velop the soil, they were nearly all
glad to adopt the rotation recon-
mended by the experts. Those that
did not get in line at first soon saw
the sacrifice they were making by
it. and they got into line and ro-
tated.
Standardizing the Farms =.
At first there were as many DIFF
ferent results in farming as there
were kinds of farmers, but under
their system, the yield Of different
farms came closer and closer to-
gether till nearly all showed nearly
the same general results. The long
er they farm the more nearly the
work and the results come to being
uniform.
The prosperity of the whole coun-
try depends on the farms. If the
farmers succeed, the people prosper;
If the farmers fail to make crops,
the rest all go down. Bankers are
apt to feel that they are very i'm
portant in financing the operations,
but they could be sunk in the face
Of good crops and it would only
make it inconvenient for a while.
No irrigation project becomes a real
success until the farmers are sue
cessful and actually making money.
When farmers quit broke and move
AWAY and nthers ha Nn To he inducad