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Show if AR.il AND GARDEN. MATTERS : OF INTEREST TO AGRICULTURISTS. AGRI-CULTURISTS. gome rjp-to-D:ite Hints About Cultivation Culti-vation of the Soil and Yields Thereof Horticulture, Viticulture and Floriculture. Notes oo 'Wisconsin Experiments. The writer recently had -the pleasure of looking over some of the experimental experi-mental work in the fields at the Wisconsin Wis-consin station. It was noted that irri gation is still being carried on, but it is ail of a surface nature. For a number num-ber of years Professor King carried on experiments in sub-irrigation, and the reports of the work done were duly published. After that the matter was dropped so far as the sub-earth wort was concerned. We notice that this is the usual result. The fact is, sub-irrigation for large fields Is impracticable, impractica-ble, for the reason that it requires E vast outlay in the way of labor in trench digging and pipes to convey water, to say nothing of the attendant factors of expense. It is evident that in a country where fros penetrates the ground to the depth o! two and three feet, the pipes mast be K laid that they can be emptied ol water before freezing up. This would require the work of an engineer. Ii has been found, too, that the pipe; have to be numerous and be laid quite closely together to insure a watering of the ground, as the lateral movement o! watern compact soils is slight. Surface Sur-face Irrigation Is by all odds the least expensive. The land has merely to be laid off in a way that will permit thr water to run in furrows, and it wil. take care of itself. It will move laterally lat-erally i.s easily as in any other direction, direc-tion, when it has only air above it Irrigation from below is a method thaft catcher the fancy, but it is not prac ticable outside of the green-house. At the present time some very inter esting experiments are being carrieo on in the irrigation of corn. A considerable consid-erable area is devoted to this kind o. experimentation. On one field the corn has been grown for seven years with no fertilizer, but with alternate trips with and without irrigation. The desire has been to see just wha. would happen to a field under the two treatments, with and without water. The object lesson is a good one, and we only wish it could be viewed by myriads of farmers thai have access to water for irrigating purposes, yet do not use it. Where irrigation ir-rigation has been applied the con stands seven or more feet high anc! Is heavily eared. Where water has noi been applied the corn is stunted anc has not made a half growth. The ears are small and not too numerous. I', fairly represents a good many field: that can be seen in the drouth-stricken region this year. The cost of applying water to the irrigated portion has beei small, and in this year of high prices for corn the returns for money thus expended will be great. Mr. H. F Whiteson, who accompaned the writer said that investigation had shown that the water applied to this com field had sunk down directly into the soil Under the corn plants themselves the ground was generally found to be very dry, even though the soil between the rows was saturated. He also called attention to the fact that the use of the land for seven years without the application of any fertilizer had re suited in the apparent decrease of nitrogen ni-trogen to a point where the further successful growing of such crops would be a problem unless nitrogen were applied. ap-plied. The lack of nitrogen was noticeable no-ticeable In the yellowing of the leaves along the mid-veins at a time wheD the lower leaves still remaineu green. e In spite of all that has been said against alfalfa by the professors at the Wisconsin station, alfalla is being successfully suc-cessfully grown there this year. Professor Pro-fessor Moore says that he is becoming quite enthusiastic as to its possibilities In some parts of the state. Of course the amount of sunshine this year has been great and the lack of sunshine has been perhaps the most potent cause In the non-success with alfalfa in Wisconsin Wis-consin In past years. One field has this year already yielded two and one-half one-half tons of alfalfa hay per acre. The experiments at the stations are not the only ones that are to be employed in demonstrating whether or not alfalfa can be successsfully grown in Wisconsin. Wiscon-sin. The students that have graduated at the short course have formed an experiment associations for the object of further elucidating the problems that are being solved by the station. . This association comprises betveen 300 and 400 students, and at this time over 100 are carrying on experiment? in the raising of alfalfa. When the reports from these different sources come in they will give very valuable data as to that plant In Wisconsin. |