Agriculture for Beginners Part 33

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 282. THE HAIRY WOODp.e.c.k.e.r]

If the birds felt that man were a friend and not a foe, they would often turn to him for protection. During times of severe storm, extreme drought, or scarcity of food, if the birds were sufficiently tamed to come to man as their friend, as they do in rare cases now, a little food and shelter might tide them over the hard time and their service afterwards would repay the outlay a thousandfold. If the boys in your families would build bird-houses about the house and barn and in shade trees, they might save yearly a great number of birds. In building these places of shelter and comfort, due care must be taken to keep them clear of English sparrows and out of the reach of cats and bird-dogs.

Whatever we do to attract the birds to make homes on the premises must be done at the right time and in the right way. Think out carefully what materials to provide for them. Bits of string, linen, cotton, yarn, tow and other waste material, all help to induce a pair to build in the garden.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 283. PROTECTING OUR FRIENDS]

It is an interesting study--the preparation of homes for the birds.

Trees may be pruned to make inviting crotches. A tangled, overgrown corner in the garden will invite some birds to nest.

Wrens, bluebirds, chickadees, martins, and some other varieties are all glad to set up housekeeping in man-made houses. The proper size for a bird-room is easily remembered. Give each room six square inches of floor s.p.a.ce and make it eight inches high. Old, weathered boards should be used; or, if paint is employed, a dull color to resemble an old tree-trunk will be most inviting. A single opening near the top should be made two inches in diameter for the larger birds; but if the house is to be headquarters for the wren, a one-inch opening is quite large enough, and the small door serves all the better to keep out English sparrows.

The barn attic should be turned over to the swallows. Small holes may be cut high up in the gables and left open during the time that the swallows remain with us. They will more than pay for shelter by the good work they do in ridding the barn of flies, gnats, and mosquitoes.

SECTION LXVIII. FARMING ON DRY LANDS

Almost in the center of the western half of our continent there is a vast area in which very little rain falls. This section includes nearly three hundred million acres of land. It stretches from Canada on the north into Texas on the south, and from the Missouri River (including the Dakotas and western Minnesota) on the east to the Rocky Mountains on the west. In this great area farming has to be done with little water.

This sort of farming is therefore called "dry-farming."

The soil in this section is as a rule very fertile. Therefore the difference between farming in this dry belt and farming in most of the other sections of our country is a difference mainly due to a lack of moisture.

As water is so scarce in this region two things are of the utmost importance: first, to save all the rain as it falls; second, to save all the water after it has fallen. To save the falling rain it is necessary for the ground to be in such a condition that none of the much-needed rain may run off. Every drop should go into the soil. Hence the farmer should never allow his top soil to harden into a crust. Such a crust will keep the rain from sinking into the thirsty soil. Moreover the soil should be deeply plowed. The deeper the soil the more water it can hold.

The land should also be kept as porous as possible, for water enters a porous soil freely. The addition of humus in the form of vegetable manures will keep the soil in the porous condition needed. Second, after the water has entered the soil it is important to hold it there so that it may supply the growing crops. If the land is allowed to remain untilled after a rain or during a hot spell, the water in it will evaporate too rapidly and thus the soil, like a well, will go dry too soon. To prevent this the top soil should be stirred frequently with a disk or smoothing harrow. This stirring will form a mulch of dry soil on the surface, and this will hold the water. Other forms of mulch have been suggested, but the soil mulch is the only practical one. It must be borne in mind that this surface cultivation must be regularly kept up if the moisture is to be retained.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 284. THE DISK HARROW]

Some experiments in wheat-growing have shown how readily water might be saved if plowing were done at the right time. Wheat sowed on land that was plowed as soon as the summer crops were taken off yielded a very much larger return than wheat sowed on land that remained untilled for some time after the summer crops were gathered. This difference in yield on lands of the same fertility was due to the fact that the early plowing enabled the land to take up a sufficient quant.i.ty of moisture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 285. RED KAFIR CORN IN SHOCK]

In addition to a vigilant catching and saving of water, the farmer in these dry climates must give his land the same careful attention that lands in other regions need. The seed-bed should be most carefully prepared. It should be deep, porous, and excellent in tilth. During the growing season all crops should be frequently cultivated. The harrow, the cultivator, and the plow should be kept busy. The soil should be kept abundantly supplied with humus.

Some crops need a little different management in dry-farming. Corn, for example, does best when it is listed; that is, planted so that it will come up three or four inches beneath the surface. If planted in this way, it roots better, stands up better, and requires less work.

Just as breeders study what animals are best for their climates, so farmers in the dry belt should study what crops are best suited to their lands. Some crops, like the sorghums and Kafir corn, are peculiarly at home in scantily watered lands. Others do not thrive. Experience is the only sure guide to the proper selection.

To sum up, then, farmers can grow good crops in these lands only when four things are done: first, the land must be thoroughly tilled so that water can freely enter the soil; second, the land must be frequently cultivated so that the water will be kept in the soil; third, the crops must be properly rotated so as to use to best advantage the food and water supply; fourth, humus must be freely supplied so as to keep the soil in the best possible condition.

SECTION LXIX. IRRIGATION

Irrigation is the name given to the plan of supplying water in large quant.i.ties to growing crops. Since the dawn of history this practice has been more or less followed in Asia, in Africa, and in Europe. The Spanish settlers in the southwestern part of America were probably the first to introduce this custom into our country. In New Mexico there is an irrigating trench that has been in constant use for three hundred years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 286. PUMPING WATER FOR IRRIGATION]

The most common source of water for irrigating purposes is a river or a smaller stream. Artesian wells are used in some parts of the country.

Windmills are sometimes used when only a small supply of water is needed. Engines, hydraulic rams, and water-wheels are also employed. The water-wheel is one of the oldest and one of the most useful methods of raising water from streams. There are thousands of these in use in the dry regions of the West. Small buckets are fastened to a large wheel, which is turned by the current of a stream. As the wheel turns, the buckets are filled, raised, and then emptied into a trough called a flume. The water flows through the flume into the irrigating ditches, which distribute it as it is needed in the fields. In some parts of California and other comparatively dry sections, wells are sunk in or near the beds of underground streams, and then the water is pumped into ditches which convey it to the fields to be irrigated.

Engines are often used for pumping water from streams and transferring it to ditches or ca.n.a.ls. The ca.n.a.ls distribute the water over the land or over the growing crops.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 287. THE MAIN DITCH OF AN IRRIGATION PLANT]

None of these methods, however, can be used for watering very large areas of land. Hence, as the value of farm lands increased other methods were sought. Shrewd men began to turn longing eyes on the wide stretches of barren land in the West. They knew that these waste lands, seemingly so unfertile, would become most fruitful as soon as water was turned on them. Could water enough be found? New plans to pen up floods of water were prepared, and immense sums were spent in carrying out these plans.

Enormous dams of cemented stone were thrown across the gorges in the foothills of the mountains. Behind these solid dams the water from the rains and the melting snow of the mountains was backed for miles, and was at once ready to change barrenness into fruitfulness. The stored water is led by means of main ca.n.a.ls and cross ditches wherever it is needed, and countless acres have been brought under cultivation.

Water is generally applied either by making furrows for its pa.s.sage through the fields or by flooding the land. The latter plan is the cheaper, but it can be used only on level lands. Where the land is somewhat irregular a checking system, as it is called, is used to distribute the water. It is taken from check to check until the entire field has been irrigated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 288. THE PROCESS OF IRRIGATING CORN]

The furrow method is usually employed for fruits and for farm and garden crops. In many places the gra.s.s and grain crops are now supplied with water by furrows instead of by flooding.

Irrigated lands should be carefully and thoroughly tilled. The water for irrigation is costly, and should be made to go as far as possible. Good tillage saves the water. Moreover, all cultivated crops like corn, potatoes, and orchard and truck crops ought to be cultivated frequently to save the moisture, to keep the soil in fit condition, and to aid the bacteria in the soil. It was a wise farmer who said, "One does not need to grow crops many years in order to learn that nothing can take the place of stirring the soil."

METHODS OF IRRIGATING CROPS

_Tree fruits._ Water is conducted through very narrow furrows from three to five feet apart, and allowed to sink about four feet deep, and to spread under the ground. Then the supply is cut off. The object is to wet the soil deeply, and then by tillage to hold the moisture in the soil.

_Small fruits._ The common practice is to run water on each side of the row until the rows are soaked.

_Potatoes._ A thorough soaking is given the land before planting-time, and then no more than is absolutely necessary until blossoming-time.

After the blossoms appear keep the soil moist until the crop ripens.

_Garden crops._ Any method may be employed, but the vital point is to cultivate the ground as early as it can be worked after it has been irrigated.

_Meadows and alfalfa._ Flooding is the most common method in use. The first irrigation comes early in the spring before growth has advanced much, and the successive waterings after the harvesting of each crop.

SECTION LXX. LIFE IN THE COUNTRY

As ours is a country in which the people rule, every boy and every girl ought to be trained to take a wide-awake interest in public affairs.

This training cannot begin too early in life. A wise old man once said, "In a republic you ought to begin to train a child for good citizenship on the day of its birth."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 289. BEAUTY FROM FLOWERS AND GRa.s.s]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 290. A COUNTRY ROAD IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA]

Happy would it be for our nation if all the young people who live in the country could begin their training in good citizenship by becoming workers for these four things:

First, attractive country homes.

Second, attractive country schoolhouses and school grounds.

Third, good country schools.

Fourth, good roads.