"ACRE CLUBS." A GOOD THING. From Oklahoma comes the report that farmers are forming "Acre Clubs" with the object of each member experimenting with some particular crop each year on one acre of his farm. It is claimed that this extension of the regular experiment station work is proving very serviceable and enlightening to the parties engaged in it. The farmers give most careful attention to their experimental plats, and the educational effect of their work is said to be most excellent, as indeed, could hardly fail to be the case. A LIVING FROM ONE ACRE. Workers on Nebraska lands under irrigation will be interested in the experience of Joseph Lipe, living in Clarkson, Washington, who has given a splendid demonstration of what can be done on one acre of land properly irrigated. He was formerly an engineer, but broke down through overwork, when he purchased a one acre lot with a house on it and a few fruit trees. He was in receipt of a small pension, on which he lived while experimenting for a few months. He read and observed, and he saw the results obtained through the practical operation of scientific methods, and that intelligent effort and careful supervision were what counted, not the amount of land one possessed. So he went to work upon his one acre. He pruned the trees and set out thirty others of different varieties; he plowed out the old vegetables and vines and planted new ones; he sold the half dozen sick chickens and replaced them by a thoroughbred black Spanish rooster and three hens, and built them a chicken yard, sowing it to wheat. From the main lateral running past his house, he extended a small flume across the west end of the tract. In this flume he placed a series of stops and plugs by which a small rivulet of water was made to flow between a certain row of trees. When the thirsty roots had been refreshed he replaced the plug, turned the stop, and the next row received a watering. A few moments with the hoe and the rivulet was made to wind in and out among the plants and vegetables to any part of the tiny ranch. A turn of the hand and the "rain" was over. He soon learned in just what quantities each tree and vegetable required the life-giving moisture, with the result that his crops have never famished for want of water or drowned from excess of it. At the end of his first year, his pension went into the bank. The sale of fruits, vegetables and chickens had not only paid all living expenses, but left a surplus as well. This was returned to the land for improvements. The house was painted, new chicken houses were built and the old fence was replaced by a neat wire one. People hearing of Lipe's great success, came to see for themselves if so much could be grown on one acre, thus augmenting the owners' pride and interest in their venture. While the husband experimented with every variety of fruit and vegetable, and found which were the best growers and sellers, the wife experimented with her preserves until they became as famous as her husband's crops. Winter and summer spring and autumn, they were raising something, until flour and beef were virtually all they had to buy. Each year there are more improvements, better crops and larger yields, and each year more money goes into the bank with the pension. |