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Show IRRIGATION. Would you know some of the advantages which irrigation brings the agriculturist and horticulturist? horti-culturist? Listen! It saves his crops from drought and floods. Water is the life of the poll. By irrigation that life can be supplied exactly when needed and in exactly the proper measure. It makes the farmer the master of his business. busi-ness. He does not have to delay plowing" and planting until the soil dries or until it rains. It is his obedient agent. When a crop begins to suffer for rain, he applies the remedy without with-out waiting for the whims of clouds and winds. Through it he plants early, keeps the crop growing all the time, harvests early, and of several sev-eral varieties of plants he can raise two or three crops from tho same land in a single seasom In the arid belt he is able to harvest his whole crop; leaving it in the field without danger or loss, before housing or stacking iV Where more moisture is needed for a certain soil and less for another, he oan exactly supply the wants of sach. It is the same when one crop requires much H moisture and another but little. B Suppose fifty acres of land are required to B pasture fifty animals. The eastern farmer turns B his stock In the field and leaves them to rustle. B If the season is a dry ono the pasture is soon fl eaten off and the animals suffer. On an irrigated ' B farm a fence would divide the field in halves. B On Monday morning the stock would be turned B into ono field, tho other would be irrigated. On H tho ono side there would be good pasture for a B week, on the other there would be given a fresh H start to the grass; the water would be turned B off, the surface would have five days to harden. B On the second Monday the animals would be B turned into tho other field amid luxurant vege- B tation and the first pasture would be irrigated. B Thus they would alternate and in the autumn B after a dry summer the animals would be ready B for market. B The crops on irrigated soil are perfect for H they are not affected by droughts or floods. H It is cheaper, better, safer than rain. U When the ground is prepared, the cost of ir- flfl rigatlon is but a small factor. M Irrigation is a science easily acquired. The M man who sees his harvest ruined by drought M while a stream runs by his fields, is half a bar- M barlan, lacking the knowledge or the industry to M utilize the gifts within his reach. M Ten acres of land and ten' inches of vater H under the farmer's hand is worth more than B twenty acres without the water, even where men M depend upon rains for needed moisture. fl Most American farmers ore but bunglers. H They were beaten by the poor wretches who, in B the valleys around Babylon, 4,000 years ago, by B irrigation were able from a small area of land to B supply millions of men and animals with food. B The vital principle in the soil to bring forth B food is moisture, where it is either lacking or lr- B regular, it is man's province and duty to supply B it by irrigation. B |