From the collection of the n m o Prelinger i a JJibrary p San Francisco, California 2006 time is for £ USE ONLY THE IRRIGATION AGE (ILLUSTRATED) JANUARY-JUNE, 1896 VOL. IX PUBLISHED BY COPYKIGHTED 1896 CHICAGO INDEX TO THE IRRIGATION AGE. JANUARY-JUNE, 1896. Boim<) VOL. DC 17 CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. ALKALI E. M. Skeats. 124 ART OP IRRIGATION, THE — METHODS — PREPARING THE GROUND T. S. Van Dyke. 8 IRRIGATING WITH FURROWS 74 IRRIGATION BY FURROWS 115 IRRIGATION WITH FURROWS AND UNDER- GROUND WATER FLOODING 153 IRRIGATING BY FLOODING 192 FLOODING IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.. 227 AUSTRALIA, IRRIGATION IN VICTORIA 221 BROADER SIDE OF THE IRRIGATION MOVE- MENT Thomas Knight. 69 CASE WHERE AN INJUNCTION DID NOT LIE "... Clesson S. Kinney. 199 CENTRAL KANSAS A. C. Romig. 250 CODY CANAL IN WYOMING. . .Elwood Mead. 12 ILLINOIS LEADS THE WAY. IRRIGATION NECESSARY IN THE MOST FERTILE STATES 1 IMPOUNDING STORM WATERS. .A. C. Romig. 79 IRRIGATION BECOMING GENERAL THROUGH- OUT THE COUNTRY 22 IRRIGATION LEGISLATION. Clesson S. Kinney. 80,164 IRRIGATION LEGISLATION L. H. Taylor 127 MINERAL WEALTH OP WYOMING, THE Arthur S. Phillips 15 NEBRASKA, PROGRESS IN /. A. Fort. 204 NEBRASKA, HISTORY OF IRRIGATION IN ..I. A. Fort. 201 NEW PRINCIPLE RELATIVE TO SUBTER- RANEAN WATERS Clesson S. Kinney. 18 NORTH DAKOTA, IRRIGATION IN W. W. Barrett. 231 OREGON AS A FRUIT GROWING COUNTRY. . . H. T. W. 161 PIONEER IN THE CALIFORNIA RAISIN IN- DUSTY Frank S. Chapin. 234 PRACTICAL IRRIGATION IN KANSAS C. D. Perry. 120 PUMP IRRIGATION ON THE PLAINS //. V. Hinckley. 185, 224 RECENT DECISIONS ON WATER RIGHTS Clesson S. Kinney. 239 SAN FRANCISCO, CHEAPER POWER FOR W. C. Fitzsimmons. 240 SOUTH D AKOTA,!RRIGATION IN, J. M. Greene. 125 SOUTH PLATTE, IRRIGATION ON. , 250 SUGAR BEETS IN THE PECOS VALLEY Geo. S. Buckman . 20 THINGS THAT RETARD IRRIGATION Wm. Reece. 78 WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION F.C. Finkle, C. E. 4 RAINFALL AND STREAM DISCHARGE 71 MEASUREMENT OF STREAMS. GAUGING THE UNDERFLOW Ill DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERFLOW 157 STORAGE RESERVOIRS AND DAM SITES. . . 197 WATER RIGHTS, A SOUTHERN IDAHO SYS- TEM OF. . . .L. H. Lowell. 39 THE PROGRESS OF THE WEST. AN AGRICULTURAL, REVOLUTION 96 BANNER COUNTY 213 CANADA, IRRIGATION IN A. H. Ford. 210 CENTRAL WEST CONVINCED 44 COLONY FOR NEW MEXICO 92 CORRECTION, A 99 DEFRAUDING THE SETTLERS 99 DR. RUSK ON THE MORMONS 176 EAST AND SOUTH CATCH THE IRRIGATION FEVER 176 EMIGRATION BUREAU IN CHICAGO, AN 41 ENGINEER, A PROMINENT CALIFORNIA 53 FOURTH NATIONAL IRRIGATION CONGRESS REPORT 211 GOOD ROADS 140 GREAT STRIDES BEING MADE 40 GREAT LAKES, IRRIGATIION FROM THE 139 GOLD AND SILVER WEST 24 GOLD IN COLORADO, A FLOOD OF 47 How ONE WOMAN FIGHTS THE DROUGHT. . 212 How TO IRRIGATE IN ILLINOIS '. 43 INDIANA IRRIGATOR, AN 213 Gov. JOHN E. JONES, THE DEATH OF 211 KANSAS 141 KANSAS PUSHING AHEAD 44 LAND GRANTS, ANNULLING 97 LEGISLATION THAT is URGENTLY DEMANDED 89 LIVE STOCK INTERESTS 139 LUMBER TRUST, A 141 MANUFACTURES IN THE WEST 94 MANUFACTURES AND TRADE 90, 136 MICHIGAN EMBRACES IT 130 MINERAL WAX 143 MINNESOTA CONVERTED . . . 131 MONTANA CONVENTION 210 MINES AND MINING OUTPUT 100, 137, 174, 212, 257 MINING BOARD IN CHICAGO, OPENING OF 59 MINING PIONEERS AIR THEIR VIEWS 101 NATIONAL IRRIGATION LEGISLATION 97 NEBRASKA STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION 43 NEBRASKA 142 NEBRASKA CANALS 179 NEW ENGLAND, IRRIGATION IN 130 NEW ENTERPRISE, A 99 NEW IRRIGATION ENTERPRISES 95 NEW MEXICO OFFERS HOMES TO ARMENIANS 97 NEVADA 142 NORTHWEST FRUIT GROWERS 53 OIL FLOW IN KANSAS, BIG 96 POSSIBILITIES OF BEET SUGAR 96 PRACTICAL CO-OPERATION 209 PRODUCTION OF GARDEN SEEDS 96 PROGRESS OF INVENTION 249 PROSPEROUS TIMES FOR 1896 93 IRRIGATION REPORTS 141 REPORTS FROM ALL THE STATES 45 to 54 RUSH OF EVENTS 44 SOUTH DAKOTA 142 TEXAS 99 TEXAS STATE CONVENTION AT SAN ANTONIO 36 TORREN'S LAND TITLE SYSTEM 178 TRANS-MISSISSIPPI CONGRESS 41 VALUABLE STATISTICS 177 WASHINGTON IMMIGRATION ASSOCIATION... 98 WESTERN MEASURES IN CONGRESS 99 WESTERN PUSH 143 WRIGHT LAW, COMING DECISION ON THE. .. 42 FEATURES FOR FARMERS AND FRUIT GROWERS. ADVANTAGES OF THE IRRIGATION FARMER. 171 ALL THIS AND MORE Too 172 APPLE WORM, THE 134 BROOM CORN CROP 29 BUREAU OF LIVE STOCK INFORMATION, A. . 97 BUTTER AND EGGS 170 CATTLE RAISERS, WHY, NEED PROTECTION. 98 CHEAPER IRRIGATION PLANTS FOR CEN- TRAL WEST 65 CHERRY CULTURE 28 CORN AND ITS CULTIVATION, . .H. If. Hilton. 202 CORN AND SOME OF ITS ASSISTANTS G. E. Morrow. 82 CORN, COST OF RAISING IN KANSAS 206 CORN STALKS, FORTUNES IN 133 CORN, HOLDING THEIR 80 CORNERING THE CORN AND THE CATTLE ... 81 CRANBERRIES 133 DAIRY Cows RATIONS 170 DAIRYMEN MUST ORGANIZE 27 DITCH BUILDING, POINTS ON 133 Do YOUR HENS LAY 28 DUCKS FOR PROFIT 30 EASTERN STOCK FARMER SHOULD Go TO THE IRRIGATED WEST,. . .F. C. Barker. 169 ELECTRIC PLOW IN GERMANY, THE W. C. Fitzsimmom. 204 FARMERS, GENERAL POINTS FOR 58 FARMER, THE IRRIGATION 28 FARMING, ADVANCED METHODS IN 65 FRUIT AND VEGETABLE IRRIGATION John TannaMll. 244 FRUIT TREES IN WINTER, CARE OF 88 FUTURE OF PRICES \ 34 GARDEN, PROFITS OF THE 27 GENTLEMAN FARMER, THE.. .F. C. Barker. 205 GRAIN WEIGHING 30 GRAIN, IRRIGATING 132 HAS ITS LIMITATIONS 170 How AND WHEN TO IRRIGATE F. C. Barker. 26 How LARGE SHOULD THE IRRIGATED FARM BE? 163 How TO PREVENT INJURY FROM FROST F. G. Barker 167 IRRIGATION AND FERTILIZERS . E. M. Skeats. 84 KAFFIR CORN 29 KAFFIR CORN J. W. Gregory. 129 KANSAS CORN CROP 29 KANSAS FRUIT 170 LECTURING THE OLD STYLE FARMER 171 LEMON GROWING, CALIFORNIA 206 LIVE STOCK 170 MAXIMS FOR THE IRRIGATED FARM. . . .208, 248 MORE VENTILATION 170 NEW INSECTICIDE 29 No CURE AS YET 133 OATS x. 134 ONE ACRE WITH IRRIGATION 88 ORANGE ORCHARDS, FERTILIZING ...W. C. Fitzsimmons. 168 ORANGE WINE, MAKING 97 OVERCROWDING 30 POTATOES, FERTILIZERS FOR 26 POTATOES, Low PRICED 26 POULTRY POPULATION, OUR 88 REFRIGERATORS 134 SUBIRRIGATION 170 SUBSOILING 170 SUGAR BEETS 179 SALMON PACK, THE COAST 98 SOILS AND PLANT FOOD It. It. Hilton. 86 SORGHUM FEEDING 134 SORGHUM FOR SYRUP AND FEED. . Mary Best. 85 SOMETHING FOR MARKET 27 SUGAR TO REPLACE WHEAT AND COTTON. . . W. C. Fitzsimmons. 243 TIME TO IRRIGATE 87 TRENCHING IRRIGATED LAND . F. C. Barker. 83 WARM WATER 30 WESTERN FRUIT .INDUSTRY, THE 99 WHAT TO GROW ON THE IRRIGATED FARM. .-. P.O. Barker. 242 WINDMILLS AND PUMPS, CAPACITIES 245 WINTER WATER RESERVOIRS 87 WOOLLY APHIS, THE ; 88 YIELDS OF CORN AND KAFFIR CORN . . 131 TOPICS OF THE TIME. AMERICA FOR AMERICANS 104 AN EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN 182 AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE 217 ARMIES OF IMMIGRANTS 61 'CHANCES FOR POOR MEN 217 CHANGING SENTIMENT 219 CHICAGO A MINING CENTER 59 CONFIDENCE RETURNING 63 CONGRESS, THE BILLS IN 182 COUNTRY IN MINIATURE 264 DEPEW, CHAUNCEY, CONVERTED 219 DOWN THE BEEF COMBINE 63 DEFRAUDING THE SETTLER 104 DELAYED DECISION. 263 EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES ; 262 EMIGRATION MOVEMENT 29 FALSE ECONOMY 218 FARMERS' INSTITUTES 219 FARMERS MUST ORGANIZE 62 FENCING IN OR OUT 218 FOREST PRESERVES 217 FOREIGN CRITIC, A " 146 GARDEN LUXURIES 219 GOLD AND SILVER — No RATIO 62 GOOD ROADS 218 GRADUALLY IMPROVING 219 IMPORTANT DECISION 263 INVESTIGATING THE DEPARTMENT 105 IRRIGATION AND MINING 105 LANDS ARE TAXABLE 262 MINING BOOM — ITS EFFECTS ON OTHER IN- TERESTS 145 MOST BITTER EXPERIENCE 105 MUTUAL INTERESTS 262 OFFICIAL REPORTS 262 PATRONIZE HOME INDUSTRY 183 PROSPERITY AND ADVANCE 105 PROTECTION FOR WOOL AND LUMBER 62 ROBBING GRAIN GROWERS 63 REVIVAL IN THE NORTHWEST 183 SALESROOMS CONSOLIDATED 263 SOUTHWEST REPUDIATED 145 SPREAD OF IRRIGATION 61 SUGAR INDUSTRY, THE 218 TIRED OF THE TREATMENT 217 TIDING THEM OVER. 61 THE COMING DISCOVERY 104 TREE PLANTING 264 WATER POWER AND ELECTRICITY 182 WESTERN AGRICULTURAL LANDS 62 WEST, THE, is WAITING 104 WHAT KANSAS is DOING 146 WEST, THE, MUST WORK OUT ITS OWN SALVATION 182 WHAT WILL THE NEXT IRRIGATION CON- GRESS Do . . .... 183 ILLUSTRATIONS. ALFALFA STACKS 226 AUSTRALIA, MAP OF IRRIGATION DISTRICTS IN VICTORIA 222 BLOWERS. DR. R. B 235 CORN ROOTS ON SUBSOILED AND NOT SUB- SOILED LAND 203 CHAMBERLAIN, EDWIN M 37 DEFENDER WINDMILL 188 DOTY'S CABBAGE FIELD 225 EDGEMONT CANAL IN SOUTH DAKOTA 165 EGYPTIAN TYMPANUM 187 FLOODING WITH TEMPORARY CHECKS . . 196 FINKLE, F. C., C. E 35 FRIZELL'S RESERVOIR 168, 226 FROST'S, D. M , RESERVOIR 191 FRUIT AUCTION ROOM 287 FURROW IRRIGATION, SPECIMEN OF 9 GAPEN, DR. CLARKE 4 GOODLAND PUMPING STATION, THE 189 GRAND BOULEVARD ON K. 8. D. FARM 162 GRANGER, A. L 6 ILLINOIS EASTERN HOSPITAL . . 1 IRRIGATED LAWNS, GARDENS AND OR- CHARDS OF THE I. E. H 2 JONES, Gov. JOHN E 211 KINNEY, CLESSON S 177 MCLEARY, GEN. J. H 36 MOGUL WINDMILL 188 NEWELL, F. H 36 ORCHARD IN CALIFORNIA 163 ORR, J. W 6 OWYHEE CANAL IN OREGON, THE , 209 PERSIAN WHEEL 187 PHILLIPS, ARTHUR W 39 PRUNE ORCHARD AT ONTARIO, ORE 257 PUMPING PLANT IN KANSAS 23 PUMPING PLANT OF PRESTON WYCKOFF, THE 191 RADEKE, F. D 6 RICHTER'S, F. W., PLANT 189 SILL, EDMUND 6 SOME FINE FLOODING WORK 194 WAYMIRE'S, N. O., RESERVOIR 190 VISIT THE IRRIGATION AGE. VOL. IX. CHICAGO, JANUARY, 1896. NO. 1, ILLINOIS LEADS THE WAY. IRRIGATION NECESSARY IN THE MOST FERTILE STATES. IRRIGATION in Illinois is an estab- 1 lished fact, and the advantages of this safe, sure method of farming are demon- strated in a most substantial way. Fer- tile as is the soil of this State and beautiful as are the crops when there is sufficient rain, it is conclusively shown that crops on irrigated land are fourfold greater; and when there are seasons of drought, and the crops on the old-fashioned farms prove partial or total failure, there is of course no longer any comparison at all between the two systems of farming, for irrigated crops never fail. The drought of the past season, with its disastrous effects for the farmers of this and other central Western States, to- gether with meager reports of most won- derful results on an irrigated farm near Kankakee, 111., have combined to create a perfect furore among the agricultural classes. Farm-owners and working farm- ers from long distances visit this irrigated farm, and letters and inquiries from points in this and other States are so numerous that they can not be answered. One day recently a representative of THE IRRIGATION AGE made a flying visit to Kankakee, and drove out to the irri- gated farm. It is a State institution, and thus Illinois has officially adopted irri- gation, and points out the way of salvation to all her sister States of the central West, the East and South. It is evident that the age of prayers for rain is a period of the past. In 1894 the crops on the 1,000-acre farm of the Eastern Illinois Hospital for the Insane were ruined by drought, and the hospital management paid out $15,000 for vegetables, fruit, etc. The past season of 1895 was again dry, but there was such an abundant yield that not a dollar will have to be expended, and 2,000 bushels of tur- nips alone have been fed to the cattle. Irrigation of 150 acres, used for garden and orchard, brought about the change, and the expenditure for the irrigating plant, making watering possible, was only $1,500. The innovation was suggested and urged by Dr. Clarke Gapen, the sup- erintendent of the asylum, who is a reader of THE IRRIGATION AGE, and through the co-operation of the board it was carried out. Numerous questions were asked by the visitors, all of which were cheerfully an- swered by Superintendent Gapen and his assistants as they showed the people around. In 1894, of forty acres planted to potatoes, the crop did not return suffi- cient to make good the seed. The cab- bages were dried up, vegetables of all kinds were little better than stalks, and small fruit withered, all because of the lack of water. It was this condition of things that prompted the resort to irriga- tion, and the great success achieved com- mends the decisive step taken. The work of preparing for irrigation was commenced late in the spring of this year. The plan was to extend the regular water works of the institution so as to ir- rigate 150 acres of land for garden and orchard. Pipes were laid from the Kan- kakee river, and ditches dug in the tract. THE IRRIGATION AGE. The pumps lift the water about twenty- five feet. A Blake pump, with a capacity of 3,000, 000 gallons per day, and a Worth- ington pump, with a capacity of 2,500,000 gallons per day, now furnish the supply of water for 3,000 patients and the entire institution, and also the water for irrigat- ing 150 acres of land, 100 acres for garden and 50 acres for orchard. A 10-inch pipe that carries water to the hospital was utilized for a distance. Then 1,200 feet of 6-inch main was laid to the highest point on the grounds of the asylum, about half a mile west of the buildings. This point is twenty-five feet above the average level of the river. From the summit, 2,000 feet of 4-inch and 800 feet of 3-inch pipe were run to various parts of the garden. At intervals hydrants were put in. A ditch- ing plow was used to make the furrows where water was to be turned on, and these furrows were connected with the hy- drants by short sections of hose. The pumps are only run to their full capacity when the irrigation work is being carried on. They consume from twelve to fifteen tons of coal per day when running at full capacity. It was about the first of June before the mains and ditches were ready. Superintendent Gapen is confident that if they had been finished a couple of weeks earlier, the results would have been still more remarkable. The land was given but one thorough irrigation during the season. After being pumped to the highest point, the water is run in open ditches over the greater area of the tract. About a month was required to cover the 150 acres. Certain sections of the garden, such as the onion bed, were flooded in- stead of being ditched. By a system of sheet-iron dams, the streams in the ditches are kept under control and the water is sent just where it is wanted. The ditches are small, and when the pumps are work- ing at full force, the depth of the water in most of them is but two or three inches. The superintendent estimates that 100,000 gallons of water to the acre are necessary for the season. The visitors were astonished to learn that seven crops of peas were raised. Of radishes and other vegetables there were also tremendous crops. Raspberry and blackberry bushes which were set out in the spring bore fruit. Of 1,000 cherry trees planted this season not one died. " Our potato patch," continued Superin- tendent Gapen, ''was the finest in Illi- nois. In one patch we had 120,000 heads of cabbage, every one of them huge, hard and perfect. Last year we had to buy 100 carloads of vegetables; this year, through irrigation, we have such a quantity that we can hardly get rid of it." The superintendent added that he was ably assisted in the practical irrigation work by Mr. W. F. Harris, formerly of Orange, Cal., who is familiar with irriga- tion from a long experience in his native State. The party were then escorted to the office of Dr. Gapen, where they were shown a tabulated list of the products grown on these 100 acres of irrigated land in 1895, and there was not only astonishment but the greatest enthusiasm for irrigation. The figures were : Acres. Barrels. Beets 4 1,960 Cabbage 15 1,498 Cauliflower 3 81 Cucumber (bu.) % 184 Lettuce v% 101 Watermelons (No.) 7 13,055 Muskmelons (No.) 7 2,940 Onions 3 255 Peas 5 259 lladishes 3 304 Tomatoes (bu.) 6 1,360 Turnips (bu.) , 15 3,035 Potatoes (bu.) 25 3,714 Greens 2^ 500 Rhubarb i| 261 The value of these vegetables was generally $15,000, and as the gardens elsewhere were failui-es, on account of the extended drought, it is practically a gain of $150 an acre for the small outlay for the irrigating plant. SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE. When asked for his opinion as to the future of irrigation, Superintendent Ga- pen said it was bound to become general; that the large number of letters that come to him show that the irrigation movement is spreading in the east like a prairie fire. He believed that "THE IRRIGATION AGE, the pioneer in this new field of an old science, is destined to have a much larger circulation east of the 100th meridian than west of it, as there will be a larger number of farms irrigated east of that line." He added, "I can see no reason why farmers should sit idly by and see their crops ruined by droughts. In this climate I should say that two irrigations during the season would be necessary, VIEW OF PORTION OF IRRIGATED LAWNS, GARDENS AND ORCHARDS, ILLINOIS EASTERN HOSPITAL. of course, this would depend on int of rain. I call my system dental irrigation, ' as it is intended sment the rainfall. I don't know, but ' supplemental rain ' would ;he situation better, for the irriga- ire and the rain is not. Almost ler who possesses a well or spring a small cost, comparatively, insure i against a dry season. Water will a. hill, and the chief thing to take sideration is to get the water to est point on the land. I estimate e cost of a plant — engine, mains, i, etc. — to be about $15 to $20 per yated. This is the first year's ex- e. After that the expense would be fuel and labor. I believe the in- crops the first season would more ay the entire cost of the plant. be possible in some cases to use is for pumping, but small steam or 168 are not expensive. In the case ylum, we have a pumping capacity 6,000,000 gallons of water per he institution, so we did not find ary to put in additional engines, ual maintenance of an irrigation lilarly situated to ours, including used to run the engine, and an for the same, would not cost more per acre. " iperintendent believes that the in- wakened in Illinois in regard to this , on account of the severe 3 during the past few years and ess met with on the asylum farm, rigation is demonstrated to be a ccess, will lead to an immediate great advance in this line of work, and that within a few years every farmer will have an irrigation system, or will irrigate his orchards and gardens from wells. In many places a few farmers can join to- gether and take water out of a stream, as was formerly done in Utah and other sec- tions of the arid region. CHEAPER PUMPS — INCREASED VALUE OF FARM LANDS. The superintendent predicts such a de- mand for cheap pumping plants, able to deliver water at a relatively small cost, that it will lead some inventive genius to make a pump at far less cost than any- thing on the market at the present time. He would not advise any farmer, however, to wait for cheaper machinery, as the value of one crop, lost for the want of ir- rigation, will more than pay the cost of pumps and windmills at the price they are now sold. Asked what would be a fair statement of the increase in the value of farm land on account of the irrigation system, Super- intendent Gapen replied that the increase in products is four fold, and, estimating on this basis, land which was valued at $100 an acre without irrigation would be worth $500 an acre with it. That the people of the State of Illinois will feel proud, of the sagacity and enter- prise of the superintendent and board of trustees at Kankakee goes without the say- ing. They have set an example which will be followed. Illinois leads the way. The farmers of the whole country will fall into line. I SSl! Ss "Si- 4 *ll WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION.* BY F. C. FINKLE, C. E. THE first duty of an irrigation engineer •who is intrusted with the work of designing an irrigation system for a tract of land requiring irrigation is the exami- nation of the proposed water supply, if one has already been proposed, or an ex- amination for the purpose of finding an adequate and reliable water supply, if this point still remains unsettled at the time of his taking charge. The choosing of a water supply for an irrigation system is a matter which requires the greatest skill and care, as upon it de- ' pends the success or failure of a system, no matter how Well and carefully all other things may be provided for in the con- struction of the plant. Mistakes in the lo- cation of waterways and conduits and errors in designing structures, while they are sometimes serious on a'ccount of the expense necessarily incurred in correcting * them, are not per se a complete cause for the absolute failure of an irrigation sys- tem in which they occur. But a real mis- take in the choice of a supply of water for a system is invariably a sufficient cause for the total failure of the enterprise. There are of course exceptions to this rule in a few cases, where, in the event of the fail- ure partially or totally of the water sup- ply already planned, another supply can be obtained by adding to and extending the works already constructed. But these exceptions are so rare that a mistake in the choice of a water supply can be said to be fatal to the success of an irrigation enterprise, and the greatest care should al- ways be exercised by the person having these things in charge to avoid anything in the line of a water supply that partakes of the doubtful. The total quantity of water required is the first thing to be accurately determined. As the amount of water to be carried de- termines the size and character of the conduits and other necessary works, it is the first thing we must have finally settled before beginning the preparation of plans and specifications or the preliminaries of construction. The amount of water needed at the head *A11 rights reserved by the author. 4 of the canal or other conduit is really the point to be kept in sight, as there is gen- erally a considerable loss in carrying the water. After the quantity of water re- quired to be delivered at the land to be irrigated has been settled it is necessary to determine how much will be the loss in transmission from the point where the water is taken into the conduit to the point where it is to be applied to the land. A survey of the line — a preliminary or re- connoissance survey is usually sufficient — should be made to determine as nearly as possible the character of conduit to be adopted. When this has been done the loss of water by percolation, evaporation or from other causes can be determined and added to the supply which it has been de- cided it will be sufficient to deliver for the proper irrigation of the lands to be served by the proposed system. The amount of water required for an acre or other unit of land measure is called the duty of water. The duty of water necessary for the tract to be irrigated must be carefully determined before the needed amount can be stated, and this should be done before the loss in trans- mission is calculated. The duty of water is in itself a very comprehensive subject and, as such, will be discussed in a succeed- ing chapter especially devoted to that sub- ject, and the rules governing the loss of water in transmission will also be carefully discussed hereafter in the chapters dealing with the different kinds of conduits. Another question the solution of which requires careful study is the season of the year at which irrigation is necessary. The problem of a water supply must be care- fully studied in connection with this ques- tion. The irrigation season in different locali- ties varies as to the time of the year at which it occurs. As a general proposition it may be stated that the irrigation season occurs when crops are growing and matur- ing, but this does not fix any definite time for all localities, as the crop season fol- lows the climate and occurs in different latitudes and longitudes at varying times of the year. The location of a region with WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION. reference to bodies of water, mountain ranges, etc., also has a marked effect upon climate and consequently affects the crop season and time for irrigating to quite a considerable degree. Again a portion of the season at which crops are growing may be abundantly supplied with moisture by nature, while the portion which is deficient in natural humidity may require more or less irrigation. It therefore be- comes a matter of the highest importance to study conditions and definitely fix the time of the irrigation season in a locality for which a supply of water is being sought. If this is done much time and labor will be saved in analyzing and studying the water question, as the investigations can be confined to a stated period of the year, and ignored as to the time when we are aware that no water will be required. LENGTH OF IRRIGATION SEASON. While the time of the irrigation season varies in different localities, the duration of the period in each year when irrigation is necessary varies even more. In cool climates crops grow and mature very slow- ly, while in warm regions their progress is more rapid. As a perfectly natural con- sequence to this the irrigation season in one place may be of double the length that it is in another. Some crops require a longer period for their growth than others even in the same locality, and frequently two crops of different kinds are taken from the same land; especially is this lat- ter statement true in relation to lands ly- ing in the tropical and semi-tropical zones. All such matters will have to be care- fully studied and determined in reference to any particular locality, before the ex- tent of the water supply needed can be fully ascertained. In such investigations, the doubt, if any there be, should be given to make the water supply safe and ample, so that no error is committed for want of conservative judgment and action. If different crops can be grown the amount of water should be figured for that particular kind of crop which requires the most water and con- sumes the longest time for its growth; and if two crops can be raised on the same land each season, enough water should be provided so that this can be done if de- sired. Every precaution should be taken to make the water supply ample for all re- quired purposes and possible future de- mands upon it, to the end that the lands watered will be able to support the largest possible population and yield the greatest production. As will be seen later on, the length of the irrigation season does not affect some classes of water supplies, such as running streams, where it is only necessary to de- termine the minimum flow of the stream during the period covered by the irriga- tion season. But on the other hand it is a most important consideration in some cases as for instance in the case of storage reservoirs, in which the water is collected during one part of the year, when no irri- gation is required, and expended during another part of the year, i.e. during the irrigation season. The physical conditions affecting the question of the selection of a water sup- ply are many, and can only be determined by careful observations and accurate sur- veys. They are not the same for all sources of water supply and can therefore be best discussed hereafter in connection with the separate discussion of each mode of water supply known for irrigation pur- poses. CLASSIFICATION OF IRRIGATION WATER SUP- PLIES. The different classes of water supplies for irrigation purposes may be grouped in two main divisions : (1) Gravity Supplies; (2) Pumping Plants. A gravity supply is any water supply, which has sufficient head or elevation to enable the water to flow and be discharged upon the land where it is to be used for irrigation without the application of power for raising it above its level at the point of diversion. A pumping plant for irriga- tion is used only where the land to be watered lies at such an elevation that the supply of water proposed for its irrigation can not reach it without being raised by means of power. Gravity supplies for irrigation come from a number of different sources, the principal of which are : (1) Flow of na- tural streams. (2) Underflow of rivers or creeks. (3) Storage reservoirs. (4) Springs and swamp lands. (5) Artesian wells. Pumping plants may be erected to pump water from any of the above sources, when the water from them is to be used on lands which are higher than can be 6 THE IRRIGATION AGE. reached by gravity flow unaided; but this is seldom done, as water supplies of the above character are generally valuable on lands lying below their level. Pumping plants for irrigation purposes are profitably employed in raising water from wells only, and in other cases are very rare and exceptional, being used only where a small quantity of water is required for land above a regular gravity system, or where hydraulic power is available as a motive power. RELATIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT GRAVITY SYS- TEMS OF WATER SUPPLY. No inflexible statement can be made saying that any one of the sources of gravity supply named above is the best, nor is it possible to arrange them in the order in which they are to be preferred without the addition of some qualifying expression. It may be said, however, that where a supply can be obtained by simply diverting the water from a running stream, which contains a sufficient supply of unap- propriated water, this is the wisest thing to be -done rather than to search for a source of supply, which will require considerable money for its development. Still this phase of the question is of importance to the original projectors of an enterprise only, as it does not signify that the water is any better or more valuable to the irri- gators, who will subsequently own and use it, than if it had been originally obtained from a more costly source. The value of a water right depends upon its infallibility quite as much or more than upon its cheapness in first cost, and it is better to have water from an undisputed and un- failing source, which it has cost consider- able to develop, than to overappropriate natural streams and fall heir to the sub- sequent evils of litigations and partial fail- ure of the supply. From what has already been adduced in the preceding paragraph we can readily conclude that the flow of a natural stream is a very desirable source of water supply for a system of irrigation works. This is certainly true beyond any question or doubt, providing always that the flow of the stream, where the same is to be diverted, is ample to give the required amount of water. After having investi- gated and finally settled upon the amount of water requisite to make a projected sys- tem adequate for the area to be irrigated, it therefore becomes equally necessary to study the stream and determine with the same degree of thoroughness what its flow has been for a number of years past and what we may safely conclude will be its discharge in the future. In order to do so a familiarity with streams and the laws governing them in general must be one of the accomplishments of the irrigation engineer, and in the succeeding paragraphs we will therefore briefly discuss the na- tural philosophy of flowing streams. T'HE ORIGIN OF STREAMS. Certain conditions of physical geogra- phy are necessary to the existence of flow- ing streams of water in a country. The land must consist of mountains, hills, val- leys, plains, etc, combined in such a man- ner as to cause differences in elevation and inclination to the surface. The extent of any region having a range of elevations from the highest mountain to the lowest plain or valley, all falling in the same direction or in different directions, which ultimately unite into one valley or basin, is one of the most important conditions de- termining the length and size of streams. Other important conditions are of a mete- orological nature and relate to the evapora- tion and condensation of water and the movement and temperature of atmospheric currents. Water readily changes from its liquid to its vapory or gaseous state through subjection to heat. Heat applied to a drop of water whether it is exposed to the rays of the sun or to an artificial heat soon causes it to disappear into the surrounding air. This is due to the ex- pansion of the liquid and its consequent conversion into a vapory substance lighter than air, which readily mingles with the atmosphere, being controlled and moved by it, until by condensation it again be- comes heavier than the air and descends to the earth. The heat of the sun is con- stantly exerted to expand water exposed to its rays, and its power causes evapora- tion from the surfaces of bodies of water and from the water contained in organic and inorganic substances in the form of moisture. The vapors thus formed fill the atmos- phere and move with the prevailing winds until they reach higher altitudes, where the colder air condenses them, or until a cold current of air meets a warmer one, which is heavily laden with vapor, and BOARD OF TRUSTEES-ILLINOIS EASTERN HOSPITAL. HON. EDMUND SILL, PRES. HON. J. W ORR. HON. F. D. RADEKE. A. L. GRANGER. SFC'V AND TRF*S. WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION. causes the condensation and subsequent reappearance of the evaporated water in the form of rain or snow. We now have all the conditions neces- sary to the creation of a flowing stream of water. As soon as the ability of the soil to absorb the rain or melted snow is ex- hausted, it begins to flow along the inclined surface, always seeking its lowest level, until the union of one small stream with another in a common channel produces a creek or river of importance. ABOUT RAINFALL IN GENERAL. Owing to the irregularity and uneven- ness of the surface of the earth, causing differences in the area and elevations of watersheds, and variations in the tempera- ture of the atmosphere together with the varying distances between bodies of water, the length, size and the volume of flow of streams at different seasons of the year is a matter of much uncertainty. It depends upon the amount of rainfall on the area tributary to the stream and its distribution throughout the year either by the constant recurrence of rains or the melting of ac- cumulated snows. In the case of large rivers, where the volume of flow is derived from a large watershed having a copious rainfall, the supply is probably so much greater than all possible demands, that in- vestigations of the rainfall are unnecessary. But such rivers do not frequently exist in arid regions, and the irrigation engineer is generally called upon to obtain a supply from streams having a limited as well as a poorly and unevenly watered drainage basin. In such cases it is necessary to proceed with the utmost caution, and to carefully investigate the amount and distribution of the rainfall throughout a sufficient number of years to determine the available supply of the stream. VALUE OF STATISTICS. All civilized countries have statistics of the rainfall on its principal river basins and watersheds and of the flow of its prin- cipal streams at different seasons of the year. The value of these statistics, of course, depends largely upon the efficiency of the service under which they are pre- pared, but it is safe to recommend the re- ports of the signal service and meteoro- logical departments and the reports of the geological survey of most countries, as a source from which a large amount of reli- able information can be drawn regarding the capacity and discharge of the principal streams of those countries. Statistics prepared by private individ- uals and corporations, who are or have been the projectors and owners of water works or irrigation enterprises, may be said to be equally as valuable if not more so than those prepared under government supervision, and when they are obtainable much valuable information can be obtained from them. But as a rule these only re- late to watersheds or streams which have already been improved or appropriated, and are useful only in making examinations and reports on existing works, or for drawing conclusions and making estimates on works projected in the immediate vicin- ity. No tables of statistics relating to rainfall or the areas of drainage basins of streams will be reproduced in this work, as this would simply be copying public rec- ords, which are open to all, and would occupy space which is more valuable for the discussion of principles. (To be continued.) THE ART OF IRRIGATION. CHAPTER VIII. CHOICE OF METHODS (CONTINUED). ARATION OF THE GROUND. PREP- BY T. S. NOTE — [As the publication of this ser- ies has been suspended some fifteen months the reader may have to go back over some of the ground passed over before fully understanding this. The first seven chapters were mainly introductory, dealing with the errors of the early irriga- tors to a large extent because experience has shown that almost every one if left to himself will follow exactly in their foot- steps. The study of error is as valuable as the study of going right, and every one should read the history I there gave. Those chapters contained also a large amount of facts necessary to a full compre- hension of what is to follow and too num- erous to repeat. Those who have not read them must therefore attend more closely to what follows, for it will be the more practical part, or how to do it as dis- tinguished from how you don't do it.] Next to the quantity of water at your service, the size of the irrigating head in which you can have it, and the length of time you can allow it tq run, the slope of the ground becomes the most important factor in determining the method of apply- ing water. If the slope is great you can not flood by checks of any reasonable size. If they are very small their number be- comes a nuisance in making and in hand- ling the water from one to the other. If not small then the water stands too deep and too long in the lower part; and too much puddling, with compression of the soil, is the consequence, besides uneven wetting. All these are to be carefully avoided where possible. The slope may be so great as to compel you to terrace if the nature of the product will justify the ex- pense. If the soil is easily worked it may pay to terrace some on a very light slope, making the terraces very broad. This may pay even for alfalfa. If terracing will not pay you may then be driven to the use of basins or rings around the tree or vine where the slope is great. On such ground you can do little with large heads of water for a short run but must in some way work with small streams with a long VAN DYKE. run. And as a rule it will rarely pay to bother with anything but trees, vines or vegetables on ground having very much slope. Alfalfa and grain can be grown on it but they will not generally pay except for home use on a small scale. Good drainage in irrigation is almost as essential as water. Where the drainage is bad you must avoid flooding if possible and use small streams or you may have a sour, cold soil, with alkali perhaps appear- ing on the surface when it dries and becom- ing constantly worse. On the other hand, if the ground contains alkali, which rises to the surface in quantity sufficient to be injurious, flooding is often the only way it can be removed. If there is sufficient slope to carry water rapidly off, ground that has become badly alkalied may be put in good condition by a quick flooding that will dis- solve all the alkali on the surface and then letting it run off as fast as possible. And if very liable to alkali it should be laid out so that it can be flooded in this way if nec- essary. But drainage must still be pro- vided if possible. You must remember al- ways that in irrigation, however slowly or carefully done, if done on a scale large enough for a commercial success, a much greater quantity of water is put upon the ground in a given time than is usually done by the clouds even when unusually generous. And in the course of the year one who has any kind of a respectable water supply will generally put more into the ground and have more run off of it than will be the case from rain in the wettest parts of the country. Therefore there must be provision for the water to run away beneath if possible, or, if the soil is not naturally well drained, care must be used in putting water into it so that there be no excess. Waste water ditches above ground must be provided for what runs away and all rights of way should include these for individuals as well as companies. There is a distinction between " alkali land " and land liable to alkali that should be kept in mind, though the difference is THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 9 none too easy to define clearly. Almost any land forms some alkali in every coun- try, and under bad drainage may show too much when irrigated. The spots of na- tural alkali seen on the surface of the ground in some of the deserts are instances of this. They are not found where the soil is perfectly open below with good water beneath. There is somewhere a sub- soil of some tight material that stops the alkali as it is carried down by the water from some occasional cloudburst or unusual rain. Then the evaporation brings it again to the surface where it is left as a white powder. Alkali is not often in the Oranges do not seem injured by consider- able of it, though ground so badly drained as to make alkali possible will not gener- ally produce a fine orange. But the pos- sibility of alkali is always to be considered in irrigation; for under ordinary treat- ment it grows worse instead of better. Thousands of acres in California that were once fertile land, showing no trace of alkali on the surface, but having it in the subsoil, have had it brought to the surface by bad irrigation and defective cultivation and drainage and are now about worthless though they may be reclaimed. But ground with an open soil and good sheet SPECIMEN OK VERY GOOD FURROW IRRIGATION. A YOUNG ORCHARD WITH GROUND BETWEEN ROWS OP TREES. PLANTED WITH VEGETABLES. sheet water below but is more commonly in subsoil of some tight material from which it is carried up and down alternately by capillary attraction and leaching. "Alkali land," as it is called, is land al- ready so full of alkali as to show plainly either in efflorescence or coloring standing water on the surface. Such land is not necessarily bad If the alkali is not too strong on the surface the soil will raise many things as well as any land. When once well started alfalfa will stand consid- erable of it. So will corn and many kinds of vegetables, especially beets. So will many kinds of fruits, especially pears. water beneath, and hardpan lands with a slope of fifty feet or more to the mile have been worked for years with the worst kind of irrigation without showing a trace of alkali. Your choice of methods will also depend upon your object in irrigating. Almost every rule and caution that this work con- tains may in some places and for some pur- poses be disregarded. Are you irrigating for profit or only to raise something for your own use ? If for profit it may pay you to do the best work possible. For remember that good irrigation is often as far superior in results to bad irrigation as 10 THE IRRIGATION AGE. bad irrigation is to no irrigation. But not always. If the best work costs too much and the market is unsteady there may be too much risk in this. YOTI may be able to do one kind of work yourself but with another may have to hire help or buy ma- terial. And if you are working the ground merely for your own convenience and care little for looks bad work may be good enough. Suppose you have a bed of onions for your own use. If any way of injuring them materially by bad wetting can be devised I have not 'yet been able to discover it. By good work you might get a better crop and if you were, raising them to sell it would doubtless pay you to do better work. But you can not much affect the quality of the onion by any style of applying water and with any reasonable amount of it you will have from a small piece of ground more onions than you can use. Out of pure curiosity I have made desperate efforts to damage the radish with bad irrigation; but as long as it gets enough water the quality is hard to injure and the yield from a small bit of ground will be large enough, if the weather is right. It is much the same with beets, cabbage, carrots and all tough vegetables. But if you" are raising stuff to sell and have a sure market the very best work will generally pay and for all high grade products is quite certain to. The rainfall and its distribution as well as the kind of weather that generally fol- lows rain will also have an important in- fluence upon your choice of a system. In much of Southern California, the ground holds moisture well and the rainfall aver- ages about eighteen inches with a mini- mum of about seven happening only at very long intervals. Good crops of grain on a rainfall of only twelve inches, some of which by coming too early is practically lost, are a common sight in short years. And with good summer following fair crops are raised on the very minimum of seven inches. Thirty bushels of corn on upland on which not a drop of rain has fallen since the seed was planted are com- mon on well plowed and cultivated uplands in average seasons without a particle of irrigation. And where the ground is well cultivated good yields of fruit are com- mon even in the average years if the trees are not too old or too heavily loaded. The dry period is generally more than six months but with good cultivation the moisture retained in the ground from the winter rains carries most things through quite well. I am fully aware of how monstrous these statements will appear to many, but the truth can be had from hundreds of places, and not for one year, but for over a dozen. Under such conditions vegetation may need but a little drinking water and any way of supplying it may be good enough for the purpose in hand. The soil may be nearly moist enough to enable the roots to feed and may need but a trifle more. Such is the case in the greater part of the State& east of the ^Mississippi where irrigation will certainly oe used before many years to carry many products over the periods when the rainfall is too short and where it would pay them to do it now if they only knew it. But it would be folly to put in the expensive systems necessary in those sections where the rainfall is of little or no use, and where the air is so much hot- ter and drier that vegetation demands more water to evaporate through the leaves. And it might be equally unwise to do the fine work that for high grade products pays so well in California. The only trouble is that from fair results from careless work too many conclude that it is good enough anywhere. GKADE THE LAND. In whatever way you apply the water it will pay you to have the land so graded to a uniform slope that the water will run in all directions at about the same velocity. This will be true if you are to run it only from one small basin to another, still truer if you are to run it in large heads from check to check, and still more important if you are to run it in a large number of small streams across the tract. You will get back all it costs in time and patience to say nothing of the greater uniformity of the wetting, and the greater ease of cultivation and consequent better" results. It is almost impossible to make people re- alize this until there has been considerable loss, and often not until the place is plant- ed in an orchard that is paying just a little too well to take out, where the trees are too old to allow good grading between, and yet in yield are steadily falling behind a well-graded orchard beside it. No mat- ter how even or level land may appear it THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 11 is almost never even enough to irrigate. The result is a swamp here and a dry ridge or hump there. When the swamp is dry enough to cultivate the other is too dry. Uniform moisture throughout the whole is impossible while the work of handling the water and the cultivator afterward is often doubled. This grading is not nearly so expensive as one would suppose from looking at the places of those who have plenty of money and want everything symmetrical. The ground does not need leveling or anything near it. It is not of the slightest conse- quence whether the water is to run straight across a field or slanting; Nor, aside from looks, is it necessary that the slanting course should be the diagonal of the field. Nor need the furrows be straight or trees or vines planted on per- fectly straight lines. Nor need the whole place be graded to the same plane. You may have two or more slopes even on a five-acre tract. And no inconvenience from having too many faces could equal the inconvenience of leaving the ground in its natural condition. In whatever direction the water is to run it should run at about the same speed whether it is to be in small streams or big ones. And if the water is to stand on the ground, as in flooding, the depth should be as nearly uniform as is reasonably possible. These are cardinal principles and the man who neglects them will regret it, perhaps when too late. This grading can be cheaply done if the ground is in the right condition of moist- ure from rain, properly plowed and a good machine used. It can be made very ex- pensive by ignoring these conditions. It can not be well done with small scrapers that bounce. A road grader does very well and some scrapers are made purposely for this work. But for a few dollars one can make one that will do as well as any- thing if heavy enough and enough horses put to it. Two long heavy beams, the longer and heavier the better, should be well bolted into an A shaped scraper : An iron shoe along each lower edge should be attached and made so as to cut. The lugs to which the drag chain is to be fastened should be several in number and running down each side of the apex, so that in a moment either edge may be set at any angle to the course of the team. This will smooth down almost any ground that has been well plowed, and, cut down considerable that has not been. If weighted with sand bags and drawn by several horses it will cut wet ground quite well without plowing. If long enough, heavy enough and used long enough it is certain to put an even slope on almost any soil sufficiently open to be well drained. Where there are ravines to fill or boulders to remove the expense is of course in- creased and one must then begin to in- quire whether the value of the product is great enough to justify the use of that piece of land. But do not solve the ques- tion the other way, as many do, — decide they will use that land but that the cost of grading is too great to put it in proper shape. As a rule if it costs much to grade that proves it is worth little without the grading. In such cases get another piece. Some of the best orchards in California cost one hundred dollars an acre for the grading alone. Some now bearing the heaviest crops of the finest oranges and lemons look smooth as silk on the surface, yet two feet below big boulders are so thick that you could not take out a cubic yard of them and repack them as closely as they are there in place. Ravines ten feet deep in places have been filled with the loose rock from the surface and covered over with dirt. Warmth and perfect drainage make this ground valu- able for high grade fruits, fertility being- of trifling importance beside these con- ditions, though even this ground is much more fertile than one would suppose. But for every dollar the owner laid out on this ground he will get back five or ten. Ta have attempted to irrigate it in its natural state would have been almost madness. The same principles apply, however, to- ground that looks all right and needs but little work. The difference is only in de- gree, and if but little work is needed it is all the more reason it should be done. If much is needed it only proves that the land is almost worth- less without it and if the crops won't jus- tify the expense you should get a piece- where they will. You must not be led astray by talk about different systems of irrigation. Nothing is more absurd than to hear some one talking about "the diagonal system 'r for instance because the furrows are run diagonally across the field, or flooding: 12 THE IRRIGATION AGE. called a " border system " or a " plat sys- tem" because the checks are made small, or something called ''subirrigation" be- cause the water soaks upward from under- neath, either from general soaking of the fiubsoil from big ditches on porous soil, or from the upward seepage from small fur- rows made very deep so that the plant stands on a high ridge between them. .All this multiplication of nonsensical distinc- tions is confusing. Great numbers of such distinctions have been made and most of them are as valuable as the old distinction between tweedle dum and tweedle dee. When familiar with the principles on which the value of all of them depends you will see that systems are very few in number and very simple. And even then you will find that some are used, not because they are the best, but because the cheapest. Alfalfa for instance can be raised as well, and on some soils better, by watering from many small fur- rows. There is no better alfalfa in the world than that raised in this way. If the water supply allows you to flood it will generally allow you to irrigate in this way. If you are raising only an acre or so for home use, for a milch cow and a few chickens, etc., it will probably be cheaper and easier to use the small furrows, as is done on thousands of small patches in Southern California. But if you are rais- ing large crops in large fields, then the economy is generally the other way, and where the land is very flat it becomes by far the cheaper method. (Copyright 1895, by T. S. Van Dyke.) THE CODY CANAL IN WYOMING. BY ELWOOD MEAD. AT the eastern base of the Shoshone mountains, where the river of that name emerges from the shadows of its- canons to cross the plains of the Big Horn Basin, is a series of terraces left by the receding waters of some prehistoric lake. These lie one below the other along this stream for forty miles, extending back from it two to ten miles. So uniform is the contour of these successive steps that in many places water will follow a surface furrow along section lines across an en- tire township. The abundant water supply of the river, the fertility of the soil, and the ease with which water can be dis- tributed, give these slopes a peculiar fascination to the practical irrigator. Ever since the advent of the first emi- grant this tract of land has been a source of longing to the homeseeker. As the possibilities of this region became better understood its attractions have increased until it has become generally known and regarded as the most extensive and desir- able body of irrigable land in the state. At present the entire tract is arid and unoccupied. Even the speculative land grabber, masquerading as a homesteader, has not found it worth his attention. The prospect of diverting the river which flows through it has seemed so remote and the obstacles so formidable that it has been considered a project for the next century rather than the present. The Shoshone river from where it leaves the mountains nntil it passes the lowest terrace is hid below the nearly vertical rock walls of a canon almost as deep as it is wide. To surmount these rocky slopes with a canal is out of the question. To reach these lands in any manner is equally be- yond the reach of the individual settler. Nothing but aggregated capital and the best engineering skill will answer. Neither of these were available under the public land laws which make canal building a lottery in which the builders buy the tickets and the settlers, on the land re- claimed, draw the prizes; but with the passage of the state law accepting super- vision of one million acres of land for rec- lamation the opportunity was open to invite the joint efforts of the capitalist and colonist to effect its transformation. This law came at an opportune season. Increasing settlement has demonstrated the wonderful fertility of this soil and has shown that the shelter afforded by the snow-clad mountains which surround the Big Horn basin gives to this region a local climate, milder and more uniform than is enjoyed by any of the surrounding country. The curative virtues of the medicinal springs which gave this river its THE CODY CANAL IN WYOMING. 13 original name are becoming widely and favorably known; four thousand acres north of the river have been located as gold placers which can only be washed by a canal high enough to irrigate the entire tract. The region surrounding the headwaters of the Shoshone river is one of the greatest game preserves in the Rocky mountains, and is destined to be one of the Nation's pleasure grounds in the near future. The unique grandeur of the scenery of the Hoodoo or Goblin mountains will become more and more attractive as new trails are opened into their hitherto inaccessible heights. One serious drawback has been its isolation. Fifty miles to the nearest railway station is farther than the average pioneer desires to go. Red Lodge is about that distance from the center of these lands. This objection promises to be removed at an early date; the transconti- nental survey of the Burlington railway passes up the Shoshone river and the last extension to Billings, Montana, leaves it only ninety miles away. THE PROPOSED CANAL. These considerations have drawn the attention of the outside world, have led to three separate surveys to discover a feas- ible canal line, and have finally resulted in a location which while covering nearly three-fourths of the entire tract is secure and not exceptionally expensive. The river canon is avoided by beginning the canal above Cedar mountain, the last range cut through by the river. The canal emerges from the mountains through a low pass several miles south of the river and about five hundred feet above it. This is accomplished with but little heavy work. The terraced formation extends above this mountain and the lake deposit has covered the underlying rock to a depth which affords easy ground for the required excavation. Actual construction began in September, and at last accounts about three miles had been completed, it being the intention to construct seven miles before January 1, 1896. The per- mit from the State Engineer's office is for a canal sixty-five feet wide and six feet deep, with a grade of two feet per mile. The portion completed is only excavated one-half this width, it being the intention to enlarge as increasing use makes neces- sary. In this way a large part of the con- struction work will be reserved for the settlers who will be given preference in letting contracts therefor. In many of its features this canal is destined to occupy a unique place among our great irrigation works. With most canals, the problem is to secure elevation, with this it is to dispose of it. The head- gate is five thousand, seven hundred feet above sea level. In fifty miles the canal falls twelve hundred feet and the lower end is little if any above four thousand feet above the sea. This excessive slope requires a series of drops. The first occurs at the pass south of Cedar mountain. Here is a vertical fall of two hundred and fifty feet, the water tumbling down a rocky slope. Nearly all the drops are arranged to occur at the passage from one terrace to the next below. In this way the expense is greatly less- ened. Two of these will require the con- struction of chutes to confine the water in its descent and protect the canal from its erosive action; but in two others the water will find its own channel down rocky slopes, the material being hard enough to resist its erosive action. One drop occurs at the head of the ravine in which the placer deposits are found and a head of two hundred feet can be had for hydraulic mining. The first descent will doubtless soon be used for the generation of electric- ity for both lighting and power, as it is near the Shoshone Hot Springs and the proposed town of that name. Doubtless the entire available water power will in time be utilized. While the headgate is on the south side of the stream about ninety thousand acres of land to be reclaimed are on the north. To reach this will require either a flume one hundred and twenty feet high, or a pipe passing down one side of the canon and up the other. The canon at the point se- lected for the crossing is about one hun- dred and fifty feet wide on the bottom and three hundred and fifty feet at the level of the proposed flume. Between one hundred and twenty-five and one hundred and fifty thousand acres of irrigable land can be watered from this canal. If settled in small tracts it will support twice the present population of the entire State. If half is placed under cultivation it will be six times the cultiva- ted area of the entire State in 1890. 14 THE IRRIGATION AGE. Such a work has more than local inter- est. It is not only the most important irrigation work yet seriously considered in the State, but its magnitude as compared to what has heretofore been accomplished is so great as to overshadow all past efforts, and its success is destined to exercise a decisive influence on the future of the State. In the face of the increase in population and material wealth which must accrue, the malignant and demagogical opposition to agricultural development, which has beset this enterprise and which has been so conspicuous a feature of this State's history, must cease. The effort to keep this State as an open range, to array self- ish interests against the State's growth, to arouse prejudice against canal compan- ies by demagogical appeals, has succeeded in placing Wyoming behind every sur- rounding State in population and material prosperity. The inauguration of this project under these adverse conditions means a different and more enlightened appreciation of our opportunities. This project is conceived on a broad scale. A mammoth canal; an extensive area to be reclaimed; immense possibili- ties for material development in the gen- eration of cheap power for mechanical purposes; the creation of important towns in what is now an unbroken solitude, and the transformation of the conditions of one of the most favored sections of the State are attractive material results, but they are equaled by the generous purpose which inaugurated this enterprise and which animates its president and leading spirit. BUFFALO BILL'S ENTERPRISE. " I propose to leave a monument of my work for the West by founding a colony in the Big Horn basin which shall be to Wyoming what the Greeley Colonv is to Colorado." This statement of Col. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) explains the origin and un- derlying purpose of the Cody Canal. While the work is intended to be a finan- cial success, and will be managed to that end, philanthropy is to share with profit in all its transactions. It is not to be a canal to acquire title to land. The land goes only to actual settlers in tracts not to exceed one hundred and sixty acres to each settler. It is not intended to speculate on the rise in land values. Each settler pays fifty cents an acre, no more, no less. Twenty- five cents on making entry and twenty-five cents when proof is made of reclamation. It is not a canal to derive a perpetual or exorbitant income from water rights. Each settler under the canal must purchase an interest therein. Not a vague promise, such as constitutes many instruments known as water rights, but an actual proportionate interest in the work itself. The water rights come from the State, attach to the land reclaimed and are inseparable therefrom. The interests in the canal will be based on the cost of the work. It is simply capital, energy and system combined to construct the works for the settlers, who, when they are paid for, will own and control them. If the experience of the last quarter of a century is to be a guide this canal is destined to be a success. A success be- cause the physical conditions are favorable and because settlers are here freed from many of the economic mistakes, not to characterize them more harshly, which have marked settlement under earlier at- tempts at canal building on a large scale. THE MINERAL WEALTH OF WYOMING. BY ARTHUR W. PHILLIPS. IN the limited space of a single article it is not possible to do complete justice to the subject of the mineral re- sources of the whole State of Wyoming. The storehouse of undeveloped wealth is so vast, the varieties of mineral so many, that the adequate description ai/d hand- ling of this subject would fill a large volume. The writer does not pretend to be an expert in all the different mineral re- sources here mentioned, and is solely actuated in the penning of this article by the desire to publish to the investing public a few facts about the extraordinary opportunities for the investment of capital in developing the almost untouched treasures of Wyoming. In this State there are mountains of the finest iron ore, vast deposits of coal, soda, gypsum, salt, sulphur, copper, lead, tin, mica and other minerals, also marble, granite, sandstone, mineral paint, fire clay, kaolin, graphite, cinnabar and magnesium. Silver is found in many places and the discoveries of gold are attracting the attention of capitalists at the present time. Very extensive oil basins exist in Central Wyoming and are now in course of development and will no doubt take the lead amongst the valuable resources of the State. For some years past operations in drilling wells have been carried on at Salt Creek in Natrona county under great difficulties, but the success which is now crowning the efforts of the pioneers in this business, is lately stimulating others to follow their example, and several strong companies are now starting in to develop oil lands in Natrona and Converse counties. The .oil obtained from wells and from oil sand near the surface in these two counties is truly remarkable, considered from any standpoint. Not even kerosene is found in any appreciable quantity in this oil, to say nothing of the lighter products. The average Pennsylvania oil produces from 40 to 70 per cent kerosene, while the Wyoming oils contain 90 per cent of high grade lubricants. This oil is beyond question the best crude oil for lubricating purposes that has ever been discovered. The oil prodticed at Salt Creek is a dark olive-green color, and has been tested in every way, from the farmer who uses it' on his mowing machine and his wife who uses it on her sewing machine to the locomotive engineer who puts it in competition with the high grade manu- factured lubricating oils of the East. All opinions are the same, as to its being superior in its crude state to the best Eastern lubricating oils, which retail at $1.00 per gallon and upward. The present wells are fifty miles from the railroad, and every barrel of oil is hauled by wagon over rough roads at a cost of over $2. 00 per barrel, but even at this rate the business pays well, because of the superior quality of the oil. During the past year a refinery has been erected at the railroad at Casper, and every grade of oil is turned out, even to the finest watch and spindle oils, with- out adding any animal or vegetable oils. The quality of the Wyoming oil is superior to any in the known world, surpassing even the famous Russian or Sumatra oils in body and consistency. It is used as a lubricant for many purposes in its natural crude state, and has no equal for such purposes. Wyoming crude oil sells for $10.00 per barrel at the railroads in Wyoming, and has never been sold at less than $8.00 per barrel, and the demand is rapidly increasing. By refining under distillation, and with- out adding any animal oils, the finest grades of spindle and watch oils are ob- tained. These refined oils sell at whole- sale for big prices,valve oil bringing $25.00 per barrel, engine oil $15.00 and the finer grades even more. Crude oil, just as it is obtained from the ground, sells in Omaha for $1.00 per gallon. When it is considered that these wells average twenty barrels per day, and that the expense of operation of the same is very light, any one can readily figure out that profits must be enormous. The chemical tests of Wyoming oils show that they are both illuminating and lubricating in character, the latter being the most valuable, and largely predominat- ing, and not found to any extent in any 15 16 THE IRRIGATION AGE. other oil field. The lubricating qualities of the oil found in this State have been tested by the ablest chemists of this country and Europe, and have been by both pronounced the best lubricants yet found in any country. Mr. Ta3'lor, the chemist of the Standard Oil Company, at Cleveland, Ohio, said it was the best natural lubricating oil he had ever seen. Probably there is no scientific expert in any country whose practical experience and thorough knowledge concerning oils is superior to that of Mr. Taylor, long thus connected with the greatest petro- leum oil company on the globe. Messrs. Wyner and Harland, public analysts of London, England, report on Wyoming oils that "when properly treated by distillation the product ob- tained would form lubricating oils equal, if not superior, to the best vegetable or animal lubricants." Robert Hutchison, oil refiner of Springvale Oil Wells, Glasgow, Scotland, to whom was sent a small sample of sur- face oil obtained by skimming a spring in a tunnel near Douglas, in Converse county, Wyoming, reports as follows: ' ' As requested by you, I beg to report as follows respecting the sample of Wy- oming oil lately handed me. Owing to want of time I have been unable to examine the above thoroughly, and so can not commit myself positively as to its quality, further than to say that the body is far in excess of any mineral oil I have ever come in contact with, and if the color of this oil comes up well in re- fining, it will, I believe, be without a competitor in the market. " Indeed it is so heavy that it appears to me it would require to be thinned down by mixing with lighter oil. This would be a great recommendation as to its merits in the eyes of consumers. I find that the color comes up most satis- factorily by treatment with chemicals, but had I had sufficient of it I would pre- fer to have done it by distillation, as I am convinced that the latter method would be both cheaper and give even better results as to color. After being re- fined the oil has a body much superior to the best Russian oil. The practical mean- ing of this is, that it has a greater mercantile value than the latter oil, which sells wholesale in this country at about £23 ($115.00) per ton, and that, at equal price, once its merits are known, it would get the undoubted preference against the Russian. It is, in my opinion, more than probable, however, that it would be preferred to rape and even be- come a serious competitor with lard oil for a large variety of purposes, in which case its value would be much greater than what I have mentioned, but, taking it at the most moderate estimate, I think I am within the mark in saying that the Russian Oil, which has been a perfect fortune to the proprietors, would have no chance against it." The following analysis and letters are in reference to a piece of oil sand rockr 48 Ibs. in weight, which was obtained from a tunnel near Douglas, Converse county, about 27 feet from the surface of the ground. THE UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING. DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY. LARAMIE, WYO., May 18, 1895. A. W. PHILLIPS, DOUGLAS, WYO. Dear Sir : — Professor Knight and I have dis- tilled the oil from the greater portion of the rock sent, carrying the process to complete ex- haustion of volatile products by heating the retort red hot. The rock carries about four per cent crude oil of high specific gravity which could be used as a lubricant without further treatment. By redistilling the oil we separated it into six portions, of which samples are sent you. The oils are all heavy, and by regulating the process of distillation for that purpose, about 50 to 70 per cent of high grade lubricat- ing oil of a specific gravity above .880 could be obtained. The residuum would also be of value. It is quite probable that in lower strata, or in a lower part of the same stratum, the yield of oil will be richer. If we can assist you in any way in the development of this very interesting discovery, please let us know. Yours truly, E. E. SLOSSON, State Chemist. Extract from a letter received from the State Chemist, May 23, 1895. "The oil sand you sent me produces more high grade lubricating oil than any other in the State yet analyzed. The value of lubricat- ing oil increases with the temperature of vaporization and the specific gravity. "Oil between .860 and .890 are lubricating oils for lighter machinery, .890 to .900 for heavy machinery, and those above .900 are classed as cylinder oils. " If the distillation had been carried further the residuum would have afforded 10 per cent to 20 per cent more high grade oils, leaving a residue of coke." THE MINERAL WEALTH OF WYOMING. 17 The following is the analysis of the oil sand referred to in the foregoing letters: SCHOOL OF MINES. UNIVERSITY OP WYOMING. CERTIFICATE OF ANALYSIS. LAKAMIE, WYO., May 18, 1895. A. W. PHILLIPS, DOUGLAS, WYO. Dear Sir .•— Your sample of oil sand submit- ted to me for analysis contains the following: Sandstone : 94.2 per cent. Oil 4.0%,sp.gr. .921. Water 5 per cent. Loss on distillation 1.3 /' " 100.0 ANALYSIS OF THE OIL. Temperature No. of of Specific Per Distillate. Distillation. Gravity. Cent. 1. Below 100 ('. .816 10.8 2. 170-220 C. .845 14.5 3. 230-270 C. .892 16.0 4. 270-290 apital, $500,000; directors, W. L. Carter, O. C. Hinman, John T. Gaffey, M. J. Nolan, G. A. Smith, Los Angeles. Southern California Improvement Com- pany, at Los Angeles, capital, $500,000; directors, Bruce E. Ritchie, Hinsdale, 111.; J. M. Stewart, Chicago; W. E. Robinson, C. E. Crowley, John Love, Los Angeles. Final surveys are being made for the San Lorenzo Water Company's proposed irrigation system at King City, Monterey county. The height of the dam will be 100 feet, and will impound sufficient water to irrigate about 15,000 acres of level and fertile land in the vicinity. Southern California Mountain Water Company, at San Diego, $3,500,000, with full amount paid in. This company suc- ceeds the Mountain Tecarte Company in constructing the irrigation system of that company, which includes four large dams, and is calculated to irrigate most of San Diego county south of the San Diego river and west of the main range. California is now competing largely with France and Italy for the dried fruit and canned fruit trade of Mexico. The 27th anniversary of the founding of the Patrons of Husbandry was celebrated at Stockton on the 7th of December. The Los Aguilas ranch, consisting of 23,650 acres, in San Benito county, was knocked down to Andrew B. McCreery for $80,000. It is a fact that California is knocking out Baltimore and Maryland in the canned goods industry of the United States. Over 40,000 40-pound sacks of peanuts were raised in Orange county the past THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 47 season, and the price realized from the crop was from 3£ to 4 cents a pound. California the past year has produced and packed enough prunes to give every boarder in the United States just four pounds. Glaus Spreckels, the sugar King, says he will invest $1,000,000 in three new beet sugar factories in California. There is a prospect of a beet sugar factory at Anaheim in the near future, an Eastern syndicate having taken hold of the proposition in earnest. The San Bernardino, Arrowhead & Waterman railway,and the Harlem Springs resort are both about to be sold, and everything points to F. Kohl, of Centralia, 111., as the purchaser. A Ferris rancher reports a second crop of ripe peaches during 1895. The fruit was not so large as the first crop, but was well matured and of fine flavor. In one week San Jose shipped East 551,670 pounds of canned fruit, 1,014,925 pounds of green fruit, 4,026,285 pounds of dried fruit, 107,280 pounds of wine, and 170,850 pounds of garden seed. P. W. Morse, of the Watsonville Beet "Sugar Factory, announces that there will be no reduction in the prices paid for beets by his company next season. A straight price of $4.00 per ton, irrespective of sugar content, will be paid. Another industry is about to be de- veloped in Southern California. The first -cargo of guano ever taken from the Channel islands, off Santa Barbara, was 'brought into that place recently. The Antelope Valley Association is the name of a strong organization just com- pleted and composed of all those who are interested in the welfare of Antelope valley and are willing to work for its progress. It will work for the whole valley as the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce acts for Southern California. The newspapers are urging the organi- zation of fruit growers, so that the profits of middlemen may go to the producers. Small farms and diversified crops are also advocated. THE IRRIGATION AGE is well •read throughout the State. COLORADO. The mining improvement is not local to Cripple Creek. The whole State is involved. Taking the State as a whole, the increase of population can not be less than 300 daily, or at the rate of 100,000 a year. Notwithstanding the mining excitement, agricultural lands are selling and irri- gation enterprises are being pushed for- ward. The good effects of the remarkable mining development in Colorado are directly apparent in the increased State revenues. The railroads are reaping a harvest, and the officials are in a happy frame of mind. W. S. Stratton, the luckiest single mine owner at Cripple Creek, is arrang- ing for the erection of a large electrolytic reduction works, either at Cripple Creek or Colorado City. It has been discovered that almost nine- tenths of the West Creek district, one of the new gold fields, is in a United States timber reservation, and persons working there are liable to imprisonment for trespass. From the Gilpin district $75,000,000 has been taken during the past thirty years, and the product averages $2,500,- 000 a year. The Leadville district is yielding heavily of gold, but generally mined from deep levels. Depth in all districts shows no signs of exhaustion. In the Gilpin district some of the mines are down 2,200 feet. There are scores of producing districts in the State. It is not to be understood that all of the 600 companies organized and claiming ownership of properties in the district of less than thirty square miles are dividend- payers. Of 125 of these companies that are considered worthy of note, in the stock of which there has been more or less trading, only nine are reported as dividend-payers, thirty-two are producing, fifty have some ore in sight (generally of too low a grade to ship), and thirty-four own prospects that they are about to develop. Of a monthly production now amount- ing to fully $1,000,000, the greater portion comes from those classed as producing mines, and the proceeds are generally reinvested or are used in operating ex- penses. The estimated Colorado products for 48 THE IRRIGATION AGE. the year 1895 including the mining, agricultural, and manufacturing, was over $100,000,000. Carver Remington, of the Remington Typewriter Company, Chicago, has been elected vice-president of the new Mining Exchange at Cripple Creek. Sales at Colorado Springs on Tuesday, December 24. aggregated 1,000,000 shares. In his contest for the ownership of the Plymouth Rock mine, W. S. Stratton, the Bonanza King, has been successful, de- feating D. H. Moffat. IDAHO. For a place where "no great rush is anticipated" the Nez Perces reservation is receiving its fair share of attention. The best of it is that most of the homesteaders will be actual settlers, not speculators, and next season the land will be covered by growing crops to tempt the railway builders on to Central Idaho. Since the discovery of gold in 1860, Idaho's mines have annually produced about $6,000,000 worth of precious metals. In 1890 the mineral output of the State was $14,000,000. The lands of Idaho are classified as fol- lows: Grazing, 25,000,000 acres; agri- cultural, 15,000,000; timber 7,000; lakes and rivers, 1,000,000 acres. To those must be added several million acres of mineral and mountainous lands. The United States Government has made an agreement with the Bannock Indians to build an irrigation canal fifty miles long in the Bannock reservation for irrigating about 150,000 acres, the water to be taken from Snake river. The Washoe Irrigation & Power Com- pany has been incorporated, $20,000 to construct a canal in Canyon county, tak- ing water from the Payette river, for irri- gating the lands in the Washoe bottom. The commissioner of Indian affairs is about to make another effort to have the Fort Hall, Idaho, reservation irrigated, so that it may be of some use to the In- dians as farm lands. KANSAS. There is general satisfaction throughout the State over the exhibition train of the Kansas Million Club, the display in Bat- tery D, at Chicago, and the concluding grand mass meeting at Central Music Hall. The good work of attracting immi- gration to the State will be energetically continued. Irrigation is all the rage, and it has proved most wonderfully successful. The number of irrigators in 1895 was 1,638. D. M. Frost, president of the Kansas Irrigation Board, from ten acres in Finney county produced the past season two and one-half tons of sugar beets, 200 bushels of tomatoes and 1,036 bushels of sweet po- tatoes. The fruit growers of Wyandotte county now have upwards of 20,000 barrels of apples in cold storage. This is an experi- ment, and if successful hereafter apples will be stored in the fall instead of ship- ped, giving the growers instead of the speculators the benefit of the advance in price. Leading creamery managers of Kansas have formed what is known as the Kansas Creamery and Supply Company, includ- ing nearly all the creameries of the State, and will make united effort to secure the market of the South. Capt. W. S. Tough, formerly United States Marshal for Kansas, and who has for so many years managed the Kansas City stock yards horse and mule market, is to deliver an address before the annual meeting of the Kansas Board of Agricul- ture, on " The Horse Situation and its Fu- ture Outlook. ' ' Many of the larger farmers, who can af- ford it, have cribbed their corn and are holding for better prices. Many more, however, have sold out at 15 to 17 cents per bushel. W. C. McClain, of Huron, cashier of the State bank of his town, built cribs large enough to hold 15,000 bushels of corn. George M. Munger has an irrigating plant located at his Catalpa Knob fruit farm, seven miles south of Eureka, in Greenwood county. The water supply is furnished by an artificial pond, which with the dam now constructed, will cover about 100 acres. A coal mine has been opened up on the farm of John Hulsey, near Port Williams, and people in that vicinity will burn coal to a certain extent this winter. The twenty-ninth annual meeting of the Kansas State Horticultural Society was THE -PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 49 held at Lawrence. It had a bier attend- , . fe ance and was a success in every way. The papers were interesting and instruc- tive. It is understood that the Standard Oil Company has acquired almost undisputed possession of the Kansas oil fields. The commissioners of Shawnee county have decided to build a bridge across the Kaw river into Topeka. It will cost $150,000. Among the new topics introduced at the meeting of the Kansas Dairy Association was that of Pasteurizing milk and cream, and the process is finding considerable favor in other States, according to the re- ports. The Rock Island is putting in a dam at Phillipsburg and next will put one in at Smith Center. The latter will cause an extensive lake to form. Martin Mohler has taken a fancy to English Berkshires. He will raise no more wheat. Instead he will plant Kaffir corn, sorghum and other forage crops for hog feed. The Kansas corn crop for 1895 is about 201,457,496 bushels. N. H. Stidger is the father of irrigation in Ness county, says the Ness County News. He urges that it will pay any man to irrigate a garden spot, if he has to pump water by hand. O. P. Updegraff, secretary .of the Kan- sas State Swine Breeders' Association, says: "The foundation swine stock in our State has already given us a great reputation, and careful attention to our business will put millions of dollars in our pockets. Let us put forth a grand effort to further the interests of our asso- ciation. It's like that household neces- sity, the baby buggy — ' a good thing, push it along.'" The farmers of Stanton county were never in as good shape financially as now. The past has been a year of plenty with them. In 1894 Kansas had 90,825 acres in alfalfa, and in 1895, according to official returns, very close to 125,000, which is an increase of 88 per cent. The Osage Carbon Company's pay roll on Saturdays is $20,453.29. They also pay $869 to the Scandinavian Company. At Scnmton their pay roll is $6,889.73. Finney county farmers are. paying their taxes promptly. Irrigation did the busi- ness. Stafford county farmers have discovered that a profitable crop for them is celery. Fourteen extra fine spring pigs raised in Chautauqua county weighed 4,280 pounds. Liberal is becoming noted as a health resort. MONTANA. " It is only during the last two or three years that the people of Montana have turned their attention to gold mining, and this period has been characterized with discoveries and developments of gold belts- which, judging from their immensity and richness, will eventually place Montana at the head of gold-producers, as well as that of copper." This is the claim of the State press. The most important recent mining deal in Western Montana was that which oc- curred in Deer Lodge, whereby W. A. Clark became the owner of Willard Ben- nett's interest in the Royal Gold, which is one of Granite county's biggest gold-pro- ducers. The transfer includes all of Mr. Bennett's stock, consisting of 120,000 shares, at a price of about $1 per share. A batch of thirty-one patents for settlers on homesteads within the Helena land dis- trict was received at the land office in one week. It is a fact not generally known that Bntte produces 2,000,000 tons of copper ore annually. The Helena mineral land commissioners have examined and classified 2 16,600 acres of land, and but one protest has been filed in the local land office. Deeds transferring the site of the State School of Mines, which will be built in Butte, have been recorded, and the neces- sary buildings will be constructed in the spring. The Belt and Sand Coulee coal mines- of Cascade county now produce nearly 5,000 tons of coal a day. The pay rolls of these two companies aggregate $125,000- every month. The Last Chance Ditch Company at Joliet, Carbon county, has been incorpo- rated; $5,000; Andrew Nerlin. The crop statistics of Gallatin county 50 THE IRRIGATION AGE. average as follows: Wheat, 404 bushels; hard wheat, 34 bushels; oats, 57.96 bush- els; hay, 1.48 tons; barley, 47. 24 bushels; peas, 23 bushels; potatoes, 247.8 bushels. NEBRASKA. The favorable decision of the Supreme Court establishing the validity of the dis- trict irrigation law will have an astonish- ing effect in reviving agriculture and com- merce in Nebraska. Thousands of acres of semi- arid lands will at once be re- claimed and rendered as fruitful and pro- ductive as the most favored agricultural regions in any part of the United States, and the assurance of the crops in the ir- rigated portions will be made a matter of certainty so that the owners of these lands will be able to sow and reap regardless of rains or hot winds. A proposition submitted to the Lincoln and Dawson county irrigation district, com- prising 40,000 acres of laud lying on the north side of the Platte river in Lincoln and Dawson counties, to vote 6 per cent bonds to the' amount of $275,000 was carried by a majority of 84 to 18. The canal will be 62 miles long, with 115 miles of laterals and will be 100 feet wide at its head. In Western Nebraska there are several windmill plants from each of which thirty to forty acres of ground are irrigated. It seems that irrigation by windmills has made very rapid strides in Nebraska dur- ing 1895. The construction of an irrigation ditch in Holt county is proposed. The ditch is to draw water from the Niobrara and •Snake rivers in Cherry county. The artesian well drilled for S. W. Davis on his farm in the Ponca valley is completed. The depth is 770 feet and water bearing rock 25 feet thick was drilled through. A gusher was struck that flows 6,OJOO gallons of water an hour through a three inch pipe and has a pressure of 30 pounds to the square inch, throwing a stream 30 feet into the air. The owners of the gold-bearing lands in the vicinity of Milford are going steadily ahead with projects for develop- ing their properties, and in a few weeks it will be definitely known what the pros- pects are for making Nebraska a gold- producing state. Prof. Herbert Bartlett compares the formation and quality at Milford with that of South America, Aus- tralia and other gold fields explored by himself. A correspondent at McCool Junction writes: " While it is believed that gold can be found here in the valley of the Blue, the flowing wells are considered by farmers as of much more value than the prospective wealth of the gold fields. The flowing wells are being found near McCool. Two wells have been located in this county and a number of farmers near here are going to bore for the artesian flow. One thing is peculiar about this artesian flow. Men using common well augers bore down to a depth of eighty to 125 feet and an abundance of water gushes up about three to six feet above the surface." State Engineer Howell and secretaries Akers and Bacon of the state board of ir- rigation are preparing to adjudicate 181 cases involving claims for water in the Republican river watershed. Twelve of the cases also involve contests for water rights, but Engineer Howell believes that he can dispose of the entire lot by the middle of the present month. This is the truthful way the Culbertson Era puts it: " Alfalfa vs. the Mortgage. They will never stay long on the same farm. Incompatability of their temper. If the alfalfa stays, the mortgage must go-" The trouble between the sugar beet growers and the factory people at Nor- folk, growing out of the refusal of the factory to accept the beets under the con- tract, has culminated in a big law suit against the company. This will undoubt- edly throw more light upon the question as to the correctness of the findings of the company's chemists in tests reported. Last month's disbursements at the Table Rock creamery amounted to $16,537. Ten thousand fish have been distributed in Cheyenne county by the state com- mission. Fred Smith, a Buffalo county farmer near Ravenna, raised thirty-five acres of sugar cane and is now making sorghum at the rate of 100 gallons per day. He will have 2,000 gallons, which will net him At the recent meeting of the inter-state association of state fair managers at Chi- THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 51 cago Ex- Governor Furnas of Nebraska was re-elected president of the association. Dr. W. H. H. Duun, who farms near Lincoln, has found hemp a very profitable crop. Northwestern Nebraska is ong on hay and short on cattle. There should by rights be thousands of young cattle up in that country. But the fact is that the whole country is short on cattle. Nothing could be more directly in line with the demands of the hour than ex- tensive cold storage facilities at some cent- ral point, as Omaha, for instance, for car- ing for the dairy and fruit products of Nebraska and Iowa. "Alfalfa is all right and so are sugar beets," says Peter Youngers, of Geneva, "but as for me I propose to stand by the sub -soil plow through thick and thin." NEW MEXICO. The Marguerite Canal Company has bought the Pioneer canal at Barstow. A large tract of land, of about 2,100 acres on the lower Mimbres near Doming, was sold recently by Mr. Spaulding to a stock company organized in New York. It is the purpose of the company to turn this vast area of land into a canaigre farm. The building of the El Paso, Chicago & Mexican railway will be commenced some time during the latter part of this month. Papers have been filed with the secre- tary of state incorporating the Albuquer- que, Colorado & Pacific railroad, capital- ized at $100,000. It is believed that the Wichita reserva- tion will soon be open to settlement. The sugar beet factory in the Pecos valley seems to be assured. NORTH DAKOTA. There is the same opportunity in this State to irrigate by means of artesian wells that there is in South Dakota, and numerous contracts are being let for the sinking of wells. The Grand Forks PI aindealer says there is enough fuel beneath the soil of North Dakota to furnish heat for the entire na- tion for years. Bismarck business men are agitating the question of building a railroad for twenty miles north of that city to the coal fields. Experts estimate that a section of land containing the coal will produce 5,849,088 tons. The Sherbrooke Tribune is authority for the statement that Hon. J. O. Smith had 750 acres of flax on his Plainview farm in Newburgh township the past sea- son from which he gets over 12,000 bushels of flax. OKLAHOMA. One of the largest and most representa- tive conventions ever held in the Territory in favor of Statehood has just adjourned. The population now is 275,000. Taxable property in Oklahoma increased from $19,947,922.86 in 1894 to $39,275,- 189.21 in 1895. Secretary Lowe, of Oklahoma Territory, has issued a charter to the Santa Fe, Oklahoma & Western Railroad Company, which also includes a land and town site company, capital stock beino- fixed at $1,500,000. The value of alfalfa for Oklahoma is emphasized by the behavior of the crop at the agricultural experiment station. Canadian county land is quoted as more valuable than that of any other county in Oklahoma. The report respecting the leasing of school, college and public building lands in Oklahoma is very satisfactory, and shows the net proceeds for the year 1895 to have been $88,627.97. The governor asks that all the public lands in the Territory, not filed on at this time, be donated to the Territory for the use and benefit of public schools. OREGON. A rich discovery of gold quartz is re- ported from Baker City. The discovery was made by George McCarty in the Vir- tue district at a depth of 20 feet. The ledge is five feet wide, the ore showing gold in large quantities. The American Bar Company, at Kla- math river, near Ashcreek, has taken out considerable gold this season, realizing as high as $200 per day in some clean-ups. The secretary of the Oregon Board of Hor- ticulture estimates that there are 565,000 acres of pit and core fruit in the State, and 1,500 acres of a berry variety. There are 52 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 35,000 acres set to prunes, the estimated yield being from 80,000 to 100,OCO pounds dried, in one orchard of twenty-three acres. It is reported that the Bellevue mine has been disposed of to the Standard Oil Company for $210,000. A colony of fifty people from Scotland will locate in Grand Ronde valley. Many tons of chittim-wood bark are shipped weekly from Halsey to San Fran- cisco to be made into bitters. Oregon produced 80,000 bales of hops the past season. If weather had been better, and prices had warranted it. the yield would have reached 110,000 bales. The total amount of wool in the grease scoured by the Pendleton scouring mill the past season was 2,171,504 pounds. The amount of clean wool from this was 566,- 252 pounds. SOUTH DAKOTA. Farmers have been greatly encouraged by the prospects of irrigation from arte- sian wells, and are not nearly so anxious to sell out as they were early in the fall. Artesian wells are being bored in large numbers, and an abundant flow of water is invariably found at a depth of from 250 to 3CO feet. Irrigation will be tried on an extensive scale during 1896. Work is progressing rapidly on the Steimer & Shrader artesian wells. Brule county will probably have a dozen new artesian wells by spring, and quite a number of irrigated farms next season. OschnerBros,of Kimball,say the outfit is now being placed in position for the com- mencement of drilling on the artesian well. Judge G. H. Carroll, of Miller, is an en- thusiastic advocate of irrigation. Frank Morris of Tripp is selling irri- gated land. A. E. Swan, of Swan Bros., of Andover has gone to Forest City to make arrange ments for sinking an artesian well for the government at the Indian agency. An exhibition train bearing products from the big irrigation farm near Mellette, and from others in the State, is making a winter tour of the East and South. The actual cost of irrigation in South Dakota is fifty cents per acre. A report from Mellette says that F. R. Ryerson, of Spencer, Iowa, has purchased W. W. Taylor's interest in the famous Hunter irrigation farm. Johnson and Mahanna have completed the six-inch artesian well on the county poor farm, one and a half miles from Puk- wana, and it is one of the finest wells in the county. It is 925 feet deep and throws a stream of water, clear as a crystal, forty-one inches above the pipe. TEXAS- John Willacy, of Portland, has filed with the County Clerk of San Pat- ricio county, statements and estimates for the construction of two enoriuous dams across the Nueces river, one twelve miles and the other twenty miles from Portland. It is proposed to construct a canal from the first dam to Portland. The same will be under the control and management of the Nueces Bay and Irrigation Company. The upper dam will be operated by the Nueces Valley and Irrigation Canal Company. It also will consist of a canal of about eight miles in length between the upper and lower dams. As these dams will never fail to fill less than four times a year (owing to the enormous territory that the Nueces river drains) it will be easily under- stood that a very large body of land can be irrigated therefrom. Laredo is to have in the near future one of the biggest irrigation industries in existence. Captain Wm. Anderson has at last succeeded in enlisting capitalists in New York and Chicago in the enterprise. Mr. R. Walker, who has been operating the coal mines under a lease, sold out his entire interest to these people, they paying him $1 1,000 for his unexpired lease. The new organization has arranged to pur- chase the entire Santo Tomas tract, con- sisting of 43,000 acres of rich coal fields. Preparations for irrigating these lands in connection with mining are now being made. Another big Texas irrigation project has been formed in Maverick county, look- ing to the construction of a canal leading out from the north bank of the Rio Grande, some thirty miles above Eagle Pass, and extending down the river for twenty-five miles. The San Antonio Irrigation Co. has been incorporated to build a canal 25 THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 53 miles long and 14 feet wide to irrigate 2i),000 acres of land; Z. O. Stocker, San Antonio; J. S. Taylor, Laredo, Tex. UTAH. The Pioneer Electric Power Company, of Ogden, has commenced the construction of its irrigation canal, lying west and iiorthwest of Ogden and on the north side of the Weber river. The canal will have a capacity of 120 cubic feet per second, and is intended for the irrigation of 18,- 000 acres of land. Two companies are clawing at each other in the effort to first acquire posses- sion of rights on the Gooseberry reservoir and irrigation scheme near Mt. Pleasant, Urah, a new Richmond, with a surveying corps, having lately appeared upon the scene. This reservoir scheme is, with the exception of the Bear River Irrigation Company's, the largest and most import- ant in Utah, and will involve an outlay of a capital of $500,000. Henry M. Ryan, representing a com- pany of Chicago capitalists, will shortly begin the greatest undertaking ever yet attempted for the development of the mines in the Camp Floyd district — that is, a thorough prospecting of the district by means of diamond and churn drills. WASHINGTON. A very large irrigation project is talked of in the State of Washington. The plan is to tap with a main canal the St. Joe river, in Idaho, and carry the water across the fertile portion of eastern Washington to the arid region of the Columbia basin, and reclaim two or three million acres of land which is at present valueless except for scanty grazing. A Seattle syndicate has shipped to the Everett smelter, from one of a group of mines owned by the syndicate, a carload of ore which turned out a value of $70.96 per ton in gold, silver and lead. The vein was discovered early in August and has been traced on the surface for more than 1,400 feet. The mines are located eight miles from Skykomish Station on the Great Northern. Spokane is feeling the good effects of the revival of mining in the Trail Creek and other districts. During the past year over $250,000 has been paid out in Spok- ane in dividends, one mine, the War Eagle, alone paying $132,000. The Le Roi has paid $25,000, the Slocan Star $50,000, and the Cariboo claims large amounts. The great jetty at the mouth of the Columbia is nearing completion. The jetty is one of the most successful works of the kind ever constructed, and the cost has been far within the estimates. There is now a wide, straight channel 30 feet in depth. An irrigating canal is to be constructed near Walla Walla, which will water 16,000 acres of land. WYOMING. Application has been made to the State Engineer at Cheyenne by the Wyoming Irrigation and Land Company for water to irrigate 21,000 acres of land. It in- tends taking the water from Green river, in Sweetwater county, where this company has secured 48,000 acres of railroad land and has applied for an equal acreage un- der the Carey act. A. M. Crafts, the Douglas civil engineer, is in Casper again viewing the territory there, with the intention of carrying suc- cessfully his plan of building an irrigating ditch from Bessemer through the hills south of Casper to Glenrock. A section of country that is attracting more than ordinary attention just now is the Four Mile placers, situated about seventy-five miles south of Rawlins on the Snake river, in Carbon county. Six thousand five hundred acres of oil lands adjoining the Cudahy tract passed into the hands of C. B. McClenny, of Florida, last week, says the Douglas News. The Golden Bar Steam Dredging Com- pany intend placing two large steam dredges on the upper Snake river, in TJinta county, for the purpose of working their valuable placer ground, which consists of over 1,000 acres of low bars on both sides of the river. WASHINGTON, IDAHO, OREGON AND BRITISH COLUMBIA. The Northwest Fruit Growers' Associa- tion held their annual session at Walla Walla, continuing for four days, with extra conclaves in the evening. It was largely, attended. Dr. N. G. Blalock, the president, was in the chair, C. A. Tonneson, of Tacoma, acted as secretary. 54 THE IRRIGATION AGE. Hon. H. S. Blandford, in behalf of the citizens of Walla AValla, very cordially welcomed the fruit growers and visitors to the hospitality of the city. There were instructive papers and addresses by N. G. Blalock, J. A. Balmer, E. F. Babcock, J. B. Holt, C. L. Whitney, J. M. Hixson, T. R. Coon, C. A. Tonneson, S. A. Clarke, John Hill, Frank Lee, William Brown, H. S. Blandford, F. I. Whitney, J. P. McMinn, Prof. G. A. Droll, Prof. J. M. Bloss (Oregon Agri- cultural College) and M. P. Carter and J. R. Anderson (British Columbia). Pro- vision was made for the establishment of a Bureau of Information, the condition for membership to be actual shippers of fruit of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia, and also the applicant to be a member of the Northwest Fruit Growers' Association. The standing com- mittee on Bureau of Information was instructed to take up the matter of ex- posing dishonest commission merchants. The association elected the following officers for the ensuing year: President, Dr. N. G. Blalock; secretary, C. A. Tonneson, Tacoma; treasurer, W. S. Offner; vice-president for Oregon, Emile Schanno, The Dalles; vice-president for Washington, R. C. McCroskey, Garfield; vice-president for Idaho, H. A. Russell, Kendrick. The next meeting will be held at North Yakima, the second Tuesday in December, 1896. BOOKS AND MAGAZINES. The December Century has a season- able Christmas article in Edith Cane's paper on Tissot's The Life of Christ, and the first paper on The Passion Play at Vorder Thierese, by Annie S. Peck. The Life of Napoleon is continued. Among the table of contents pre Appeals to Lincoln's Clemency; One Way Out, and Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. One of the leading articles in Scribner's for the month is Wild Beasts as They Live, by Capt. Melliss. One of the most striking contributions is the opening paper by Cosmo Monkhouse, on Laurens Alma-Tadema, which is fully illustrated with reproductions of the artist's most famous paintings. There are good short stories by Frank R. Stock- ton, Joel Chandler Harris, Henry Van Dyke, Charles E. Carryl and A. S. Pier. The December number of McClure's magazine contains a continuation of the Life of Lincoln, with new portraits. McClure's magazine claims to have in- creased its circulation to the extent of 100,000 since beginning the publication of Lincoln's life. It certainly is one of the most readable magazines issued. Among the other features in this number are: The Sun's Heat, by Sir Robert Ball; Through the Dardanelles, by Cy Warman, and the true story of Annie Laurie. Lippincott's magazine for December contains, English Medieval Life; Gunning for Gobblers; Orchids; Japanese Sword Lore; Athletic Sports of Ancient Days and Meets. The Christmas Cosmopolitan appears with a colored lithographic frontispiece. Among the leading features are: A Christ- mas Legend of King Arthur's Country; one of Robert Louis Stevenson's stories, A Tragedy of the Great North Rood; Butterflies, by James Lane Allen, and a story called Tonia, by Ouida; Game Fishing in the Pacific, and Actresses who became Heiresses. The Review of Reviews for December is larger than usual and it is well filled with many important matters. Sherman's Story of his own Career, by E. B. An- drews is interesting. The Venezuelan question is very timely on account of recent developments in the status of af- fairs between the United States and Eng- land. Among the other worthy features are: An Indian on the Problems of his Race, and a character sketch of Herbert Spencer. Dr. Shaw in the Progress of the World carefully reviews existing poli- tical situations and important current topics. The Social Economist of New York, edited by George Gunton, for December contains a number of interesting items, among them are: What Shall be Done With the Tariff; Legal Merits of the Venezuela Case; Woman Labor in Eng- land, and others. The Monthly Illustrator and Home and Country for December contains an article of the Life of Christ, which is illustrated with innumerable reproductions of cele- brated paintings and drawings. The story of Jean Valjean is concluded in this number., This magazine is rapidly tak- ing its place in the front rank of illus- trated publications. LIST OF IRRIGATION REPORTS. THE following list gives the titles of the principal reports bearing more or less directly upon irrigation which have been printed at the Government Office at Wash- ington, D. C. Some of these are very elaborate and expensive, being fully illus- trated by colored maps and diagrams. Nearly all can be obtained either through members of Congress or by purchase from the Superintendent of Documents of the Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C., at cost of printing; or, these two sources failing, they can be had from dealers in Government publications. These reports have been arranged in chronologic- al order, the full title being accompanied by a brief note as to the contents: 1879 Report on'the Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States, with a more detailed account of the lands of Utah, with map, by J. W. Powell . 2d ed., 1879, quarto, 195 pp. United States Geographical and Geplogical Survey of the Kocky Mountain region. Contains chapters on water supply and irrigable lands of the Salt Lake drain- age system, by G. K. Gilbert; irrigable lands in the valley of the Sevier River, by Capt. C. E. Dutton; irriga- ble lands in that portion of Utah drained by the Colorado River ami its tributaries, by A. H. Thompson. 1882 Artesian Wells upon the Great Plains, being the report of a geological commission appointed to examine a portion of the great plains east of the Rocky mountains and report upon the local- ities deemed most favorable for making experi- mental borings, by C. A. White and Samuel Aughey. 1882, octavo, 38 pp. This report is a brief description of the geology of Eastern Colorado and is accompanied by appendices containing details of deep borings at various localities. Report on the climate and agricultural fea- tures and the agricultural practice and needs of the arid regions of the Pacific slope, with notes on Arizona and New Mexico, made under the direction of the Commissioner of Agriculture, by E. W. Hilgard, T. C. Jones, and R. W. Furnas, 1882, octavo, 182 pp. This pamphlet contains papers upon the climates of the Idyllic Slop**, the irrigation of the ;irid region, the soils of the arid region, the effects of alkali, lake and river waters of the great valley and their quality for ir- rigation purposes, the field crops and animal industries of the P;i"ilic Coast, miscellaneous field culture and other agricultural and horticultural matter, together with a brief description of Arizona and New Mexico. Report of an examination of the Upper Col- umbia river and the territory in its vicinity, in September and October, 1881, to determine its navigability and adaptability to steamboat trans- portation, made under direction of the Com- manding General of the Department of the Columbia, By Lieut. Thomas W. Symons, 1882, quarto, 133. pp. 47th Congress. 1st Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 186. This report contains numerous maps and illustrations and describes the Columbia River and its tributaries, as well as the adjacent agricultural areas in "Washington. 1887 Irrigation in the United States. A report pre- pared by Richard J. Hinton, under the direc- tion of the Commissioner of Agriculture. 1887, octavo, 240 pp. 49th Congress, 2d Session, Senate Mis. Doc. No. 15. This report relates to irrigation in the United States, its extent and methods, with a digest of laws governing water supply, the details being arranged in general by States and Territories. 1888 Report on the interior wheat lands of Oregon and Washington, by Lieut. Frank Greene, 1888, octavo, 25 pp. United States Signal Service. Letter to the Honorable Secretary of State on the general outline for a proposed scheme for an international dam and water storage in the Rio Grande river near El Paso, Texas, for the control of the annual floods, etc., and pre- servation of the national boundary to the gulfr and for other purposes. 1889 Annual report of the Commissioner of Agri- culture for 1888. Contains a paper on forest influences, pp. 602-618, by B. E. Fernow. Report on the Internal Commerce in the United States for the fiscal year 1889, Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department,* 1889, octavo, 697 pp. Contains description of conditions of agricul- ture and necessities for irrigation in New Mexico Wyoming and other portions of the West. Irrigation in Egypt, by J. Barois, Paris, 1887, translated from the French by Major A.M. Miller, Corps of Engineers,U. S. A. ,1889, quarto,lll pp. 50th Congress, 2d Session. House of Represen- tatives, Mis. Doc. No. 134. This report is illustrated by twenty-two plates and gives detailed information concerning Egypt and the Nile, a desci iption of the irrigation works of Upper and Lower Egypt, methods of elevating and using water, and •references to laws and regulations. Report on rainfall in Washington Territory Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Indian Terri- tory and Texas, for from two to forty years,1889. quarto, HI pp. 50th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 91. This report is illustrated by fifteen maps showing the mean monthly and annual rainfall. It consists of a paper upon the rainfall of the Pacific Slope and the West- ern StatesandTerritories.byGen.A.W. Greeley.totretlier with charts and tables of the rainfall on the Pacific Slope with a discussion of the causes of the wet and dry seasons, the abundance and deficiency in different por- tions, the summer rainy season in Arizona, etc.* by L cut. W. A. Glassford. 1890. The Climate of Oregon and Washington Territory, 188!), quarto, 37 pp. 50th Congresses! Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 282. This pamphlet consists mainly of tables showing the monthly and annual precipitation and also the- mean monthly and aunual temperatures at points lib 56 THE IRRIGATION AGE. Oregon and Washington up to 1887. It is illustrated by 7 maps and diagrams. Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1889. This report contains, pages 297-300, a paper by B. E. Fernow upon the influence of forests on water supplies. Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1890. This report contains paper, pp. 227-237, by B. E. Fernow, upon artificial rainlall. First Annual Report of the United States Irrigatiou Survey, 1890, octavo, 123 pp. This is printed as Part IT. Irrigation, of the 10th ^annual report of the Director of the United States Geological Survey, 1888-89. It contains a statemenc of the origin of the Irrigation Survey, a preliminary re- port on the organization and prosecution of the survey of the arid lands for purposes of irrigation and report of work done during 1890. Climate of Nebraska, particularly in reference to the temperature and rainfall and their influence upon the agricultural interests of the State, 5 appendices, and 12 charts, 1890, quarto, 60 pp. 51st Congress, 1st Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 115. This pamphlet consists of a paper upon the climate of Nebraska accompanied by tables giving tiie monthly and annual precipitation arid the mean monthly and annual temperatures. A report ou the preliminary investigation to determine the proper location of artesian wells within the area of the 97th meridian and east of the foothills of the Rocky mountains, 1890, octavo, 398 pp. 51st Congress, 1st Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 222. Consists of a report of the special agent in charge concerning existing artesian wells, accompanied by papers relating to the geology of North ana South Dakota, Nebraska, Eastern Colorado, Kansas and Texas. Illustrated by 3 folded maps. Report of the special committee of the United States Senate on the irrigation and reclamation of arid lands. Report of the committee and views of the minority, 1890, 4 vols., octavo. 51st Congress, 1st Session, Senate Report No. 928. This consists of a majority and minority report ac- companied by the testimony in full and documents pre- sented to the committee during its trip through the arid regions. The first volume treats of the Northwest, including South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and Idaho, and contains 469 pp; the second volume covers the Great Basin regions and California, including Utah, Nevada, California and Arizona, and consists of 573pp.; the third volume relates to the Kocky Mountain region and Great Plains, including El Paso and Lower Kio Grande, New Mexico, the staked plains of Texas, Western Kansas. Colorado, Wyoming, and Eastern Nebraska, containing 608 pp; the fotiith volume contains state- ments by Major J. W. Powell and other officers in the United States Geological Survey, reports of the United States Consuls in countries using irrigation, and other papers, 1891. Progress Report on Irrigation in the United States, 1891, octavo, 2 vols.,337 pp., 14 pp. and 10 maps. 51st Congress, 2d Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 53. The first volume contains various papers upon the condition of irrigation in different localities, the climate, wells, and other sources of water supply, irrigation statistics and progress in Colorado, alkali and soil waters in California, and other papers; the second part consists of a description of level lines run across portions of Colorado,Nebraska and Kansas, and is illustrated by profiles showing the depth of water in wells. Second Annual Report of the United States Irrigation Survey, 1891, octavo, 395 pp. This is published as Part II. Irrigation, of the eleventh annual report of the Director of the United States Geological Survey, 1889-90. It contains a de- scription of the hydrography of the arid region and of the engineering operations carried on by the irrigation survey during 1890, also the statement of the Director of the Geological Survey to the House, Committee on Irrigation and other papers, including a bililiography of irrigation literature. It is illustrated by 29 plates and 4 figures. Third Annual Report of the United States Irrigation Survey, 1891, octavo, 576 pp. This is printed as Part II of the twelfth annual re- port of the Director of the United States Geological Survey, 1890-91. It contains a report upon the location and survey of reservoir sites during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, by A. H. Thompson; Imlrography of the arid regions, by V. H. Newell; irrigation in India, by Herbert M. Wilson. It is illustrated by 93 plates and 190 figures. Dictionary of Altitudes in the United States, by Henry Gannett, 2d ed. Bulletin No. 76 of the United States Geological Survey, 1891, octavo, 393 pp. This dictionary gives the altitudes at various points in the United States, including localities in the arid and semi-arid regions. Bulletins of the Eleventh Census of the United States upon Irrigation, prepared by F. H. Newell. Quarto. No. 35, Irrigation in Arizona, 8 pp. 60, •' New Mexico, 14 pp. 85, " " Utah. 23 pp. 107, " Wyoming, 15 pp. 153, " Montana, 32 pp. 157, " Idaho, 26 pp. 163, " Nevada. 24 pp. 178, " Oregon, 2(5 pp. 193, Artesian Wells for Irrigation, 27 pp. 198, Irrigation in Washington, 17 pp. Report on the Internal Commerce of the United States for the year 1890. Treasury De- partment 1891, octavo, 1174 pp. This volume contains reports upon the condition of agriculture and of irrigation in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, in con- nection with statistics relating to the commercial interests of these States and Territories. Canals and Irrigation in Foreign Countries. Reports from the Consuls of the United States in answer to circulars from the Department of State, 1891, octavo. This report consists of descriptions of navigation and other canals in various foreign countries, and of irri- gation on the continents of Africa, America, Asia, Europe, also in Australasia and the Hawaiian Islands. Irrigation and Water Storage in the Arid Regions. A report of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army in response to House resolution dated May 23, 1890, relating to irrigation and water storage in the arid regions, 1891, quarto, 356 pp. 37 maps. 51st Congress, 2d Session, House of Representatives Ex. Doc. No. 287. This volume consists of a report on the climatology of the arid regions of the United States with reference to irrigation by Gen. A. W. Greeley, and is accompanied by numerous diagrams and tables showing the monthly and annual precipitation at stations in Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. It is also accompanied by a report upon the climate of Arizona with particular reference to the rainfall and temperature and their influence upon the irrigation problems of the territory. Also a similar report upon the climate of New Mexico and California and Nevada. 1892 Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1891, 'octavo, 652 pp. Contains, pp. 191-229, report of the division of Forestry . LIST OF IRRIGATION REPORTS. 57 with remarks on water management; also, pp. 430-450,re- port of the artesian ami underflow investigation and of the irrigation inquiry. Irrigation of Western United States, by F. H. Newell, Extra Census Bulletin No. 23, Sep- tember 9, 1862, quarto, 22 pp. This report contains tabulations showing the total number, average size, etc. of irrigated holdings, the total area and average size of irrigated farm" in the sub-humid regions, the percentage of number of farms irrigate I, Character of crops, value of irrigated lauds, the average cost of irrigation, the investment and profits together with a resume of the water supply and a de- scription of irrigation by artesian wells. It Is illustrated by colored maps showing the location and relative ex- tent of the irrigated areas. The Climatic Conditions of Texas, especially with reference to temperature and rainfall, by Gen. A. W. Greeley, Chief Signal Officer, 1892, •quarto, 120 pp. 52ad Congress,ist Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 5. This report contains a description of the mean annual temperature and the variations therefrom, the cold waves the precipitation in the form of rain and snow, Its distribution throughout the year and its variability, also remarks upon droughts, evaporation, the amount of sunshine, wind movement and other meteorologic details. It is accompanied by tables showing the mean tempera- tures l>y nnntlis ami years, and the monthly and annual precipitation at various localities. These facts are illus- trated by numerous maps and diagrams. 1883 Report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1892, octavo, 656 pp.. Contains, pp.292-:i58, report of the Division of Forestry. .1893 Certain Climatic Features of the Two Dako- tas, illustrated with 163 different charts and dia- grams, by Lieut. John P. Finley, 1893, quarto, 206 pp. This report contains a description of the physical fea- tures of the two Dakotas, the meteorological records, the amount and distribution of rainfall, and its relation to irrigation, the droughts and temperature. A report on irrigation and the cultivation of the soil thereby,with physical data and progress within the United States for 1891, accompanied by maps, illustrations and papers by Richard J. Hinlon, 1893, octavo, four parts. 52ud Congress, 1st Session, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 41. The first part consists of a general description of the growth of reclamation during 1891. the work on the great plains, and the results, the physical conditions In various States and Territories, and a number of papers by various authors upon different phases of irrigation. It contains 459 pp. with numerous illustrations. The second part consists of the tinaj report of the Chief En- gineer. Kdwin S. Nettleton, with maps, profiles, dia- grams .and additional papers, the principal portion being a report by W. W. Follett, Assistant Engineer, upon a line of levels run in the vicinity of Cheyenne; Wyoming; Sterling, Nebraska, the Frenchman River. Big Springs North Platte, Lexington, Loup River, and Grand Island Nebraska. Garden City, Dodge City, and Great Bend, Kansas. The third part consists of the final geological report of the artesian and underflow investigation be- tween the ninety-seventh meridian of longitude and the foothills of the Rocky mountains, by Robert Hay; the principal paper in this partis that by Robert T. Hill upon the geology of Texas. The fourth part consists of the final report of the mid-plains division of the artesian and underflow investigation. This whole report con- sists of a revision of Senate Ex. Doc. No. 222, 51st Con- gress, 1st Session, noted above.; j g __j ^.^ . _,j ... .j The Thirteenth Annual Report of the United State* Geological Survey, 1891-92. Part III. Ir- rigation, 1893, octavo, 486 pp.J This report consists of three papers, the first upon Water Supply for irrigation, by F. H. Newell; the second on American Engineering and upon Engineering Re- sults ot the Irrigation Survey, by Herbert M.Wilson; and the third upon the Construction of Topographic Maps and the Selection and Survey of Reservoir Sites, by A. H. Thompson. Ic is illustrated by seventy-seven plates and 119 figures. A Geological Reconnoissance in Central Wash- ington, by Israel Cook Russell, 1893, octavo, 108 pp. fifteen plates, Bulletin No. 108 of the United States Geological Survey, price fifteen cents. Contains a description of the examination of the geologic structure in and adjacent to the drainage basis of Yakima River and the great plains of the Colorado to the east of this area, with especial reference to the occurrence of artesian waters. 1894 Report on Agriculture by Irrigation in the Western Part of the United States at the Eleventh Census, 1890, by F. H. Newell, 1894, quarto, 283 pp. This report consists of a general description of the condition of irrigation in the United States, the area ir- rigated, cost of works, their value and profits. It also describes the water supply, the value of water, artesian wells, reservoirs and other details; it then takes up each State and Territory in order, giving a general description of the condition of agriculture by irrigation, and dis- cusses the physical condition and local peculiarities in each country. Fourteenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, 1892 93, in two parts. Part II. Accompanying papers, 1894, octavo, 597pp. . This report contains a paper upon Portable Waters of the Eastern United States, by W. J. McGee; Natural Mineral Waters of the United States, by A. C. Peale; Results of Stream Measurements, by F. H. Newell, illus- trated by maps and diagrams. A Geologic Reconnoissance of Northwest Washington, by George H. Eldridge, 1894,octavo, 72 pp. Bulletin No. 119 of the Geological Survey, price ten cents. Contains description of the geologic structure of por- tions of the Big Horn Range and basin, especially with preference to the coal fields, and with remarks upon the water supply and agricultural possibilities. 1895 Year-book of the United States Department of Agriculture, for 1804, quarto, 608 pp. Contains, pp. 155-17G, Water as a factor in the growth of Plants, by B. T. Galloway and A. F. Woods; pp. 461- 500, Forestry for Farmers, by B. E. Fernow. Sixteenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, 1894-95, Part II. Contains a paper upon the Public Lands and their Water Supply, by F. H. Newell, illustrated by a large ma]) showing the relative extent and location of the vacant public lands. Annual Report of the Commissioners of Indian affairs, 1894, octavo, 1034 pp. Contains description of irrigation ditches and works upon various Indian reservations. Report of Progress of the Division of Hydrog- raphy for the calendar years 1893 and 1894, by F. H. Newell, 1894, octavo, 176 pp. Bulletin No. 131 of United States Geological Survey. Contains results of stream measurements at various points mainly within the arid region and records of wells in a number of counties in Western Nebraska, western Kansas, and Eastern Colorado. ^\\^ViAb \4s\fc\b \b\is \4/\4fVb \L\iAis Vis VJsVUV^ 1 POINTS FOR FARMERS i DE. T. J. Dodge, of Illinois, has a recipe for bog cholera which he says he bas used for thirty-five years with great success. He says be has experi- mented by placing one well bog with a lot of sick ones, and keeping it well by the use of this remedy. The doctor says be re- gards it his duty to make the remedy known, and recently in an exchange he gave the prescription as follows : Arsenic, \ Ib;- cape aloes, \ Ib; blue vitriol, 4 Ib; black antimony, one ounce. Grind and mix well the remedy before using. The following are the directions for using: 1. Sick hogs, in all cases, to be separa- ted from the well ones, and placed in dry pens, with only 5 large hogs or 8 small ones in each pen. 2. Feed nothing but dry food, but no water, only the slop containing the rem- edy, until cured. 3. When the hogs refuse to eat, turn them on their backs, and then, with a long- bandied spoon put the dry medicine down their throats. 4. Dose for large hog: One teaspoon- ful three times a day for three days; then miss one day, and repeat amount until cured. Shoats and pigs, half the amount. 5. As a preventive, one teaspoonful once a week will keep your hogs -in a healthy condition to take on fat. Every Farmer is to a great extent a manufacturer and ought to keep a record of his operations. This is the key to success in any business. But the soil-tiller should attend to some other matters in connection with his accounts. A writer in an exchange suggests the map of the farm, with each field numbered, and its size, quality of soil, etc., specified, will be a great aid in keeping track of the year's transactions. How many farm- ers have such a guide and convenience ? And how many kept such a memorandum the past year as will enable them to tell the expense of each crop grown? And 58 bow about the domestic animals? If you keep cows, what have they paid you per head in the aggregate? And what of sheep, swine, and even chickens? How much did each contribute to your income, and which was the most profitable ? Timber Strips. — Many attempts at tree planting on the Western plains have met with poor success because they have been improperly conducted. The aridity of the climate requires that suitable varieties be selected and properly com- bined; that a sufficient mass of foliage be obtained to create favorable conditions of growth, and then that the trees should not be left to themselves, but should be as thoroughly cultivated as any crop of corn. Sufficient experience has now been attained to demonstrate that when these conditions are observed timber strips can be successfully grown. The New Celery Culture is the result of intensive gardening. It means larger and better yields from the same area. The new culture for celery con- sists of a system of close planting by which a part at least of the stalks can blanch in the shade of their own foliage. Rich soil, irrigation, and proper mechani- cal conditions of the surrounding earth are presupposed. Plants are set about five inches apart and the rows ten inches apart. Very rich soil is required and plenty of water for best results. Preparing the Poultry. — Turkeys dry picked sell best and command better prices than scalded lots; the appearance is more attractive. Ducks and geese should be scalded in water as near the boiling point as possible, and it requires more time for the water to penetrate the feathers than those of other fowls. Leave the feathers on the head, and for two or three inches on the neck. Do not singe the bodies as the heat will give them an oily and unsightly appearance. After picking, hold in scalding water a few OPENING OF THE CHICAGO MINING BOARD. 59 seconds for the purpose of plumping, then rinse with cold water. pork or not depends largely on circum- stances, and especially on the previous treatment of the animal itself. For Keeping Fruit.— The follow- ing rules for keeping fruit in winter are given in the Albany Cultivator: First, keep the temperature within a few de- grees of the freezing point. Second, let it be as uniform as possible, as an oc- casional warm draught hastens decay. Third, exclude air currents not required to maintain ventilation and uniform cold. Fourth, keep all odors away from the fruit. Sulphur. — No more effectual general agent for the destruction of disease germs has been discovered than sulphur. This fed to hogs does not always make them proof against the at- tacks of cholera, but its efficacy has proven so great in many cases that some of those who have used it consider it a sure preventive. The best form to ad- minister is in the hard lumps, which hogs eat readily and without wasting it. Feeding Turnips to milch cows is objected to by some on the grounds that the turnips taint the milk, contain too much water, and are not economical. Turnips have always been fed to cows in New England as well as the European countries and regarded as a good feed.. The prejudice probably arises from not understanding that turnips should be fed after milking and not before. Good Demand. — Two carloads of celery were recently shipped from Ogden, Utah, one to Kansas City, the other to Chicago. These are the first full car loads shipped out of Utah. Some Denver gardeners have shipped celery as far East as New York and Boston, but the lots were not large and were sent by express. One firm near Denver has a standing order from a large hotel in New York City for celery shipped daily by express. Corn as a Pork- Maker. — It is generally believed that a bushel of corn will make ten pounds of pork. If this were true it would be much better for the farmers to feed their corn to hogs than sell it at present prices. Whether a bushel of corn is good for ten pounds of OPENING OF THE CHICAGO MINING BOARD. The Chicago Mineral and Mining Board will open for business on Monday, January 6, its location being on the banking floor of the great New York Life Building. At a meeting of members Monday, December 30, the following officers were elected: President, John Marder; first vice-presi- dent, Joseph Underwood ; second vice-presi- dent, Charles E. Rollins; treasurer, John Hill, Jr. ; secretary, Henry Burkholder; attorney, John M. Palmer. Standing committees were appointed as follows: Finance, H. W. Treat, J. B. Ream, J. Walter Proby, Morris H. Walker, Edward C. Billings; Arrangements, S. E. Magill, W. H. Underwood, Jr., Edward F. Bogart; Membership, Green B. Raum, C. S. Sawtelle, Robert Connelly, Horace F. Brown, A. H. Nelson, Timothy Coler E. A. Webster; Arbitration, S. W. Fer- nald, George S. McKenzie, C. C. Chapin, Peter S. Daly, Peter Dudley; Listing, B. A. Seitz, M. A. Sheridan, R. H. Field, R. L. Martin, C. E. Gates; Statistics and Information, G. A. Downs, H. D. Griffin, Wilson I. Davenny, John Mayo Palmer^ C. W. Pomeroy, Otto Gresham, L. A. Davis. Chicago, New York, Denver, Helena, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and other towns and cities in the Western mining fields are represented in the membership. Chicago banks have representatives, as also has the Chicago Board of Trade and the Stock Exchange. Total membership thus far, 250. An additional membership of 250 has been voted at $250 each. Every precaution is being taken to pro- tect the public against fraud in dealing in mining properties and securities. The rules relating to the listing of mining se- curities are very rigorous. As is seen, the standing committees are composed of ex- perienced mining men, and they have been given power to appoint auxiliary members who are resident locally in the mining dis- tricts of the West. Besides the precious metals, the Board includes properties bearing iron, coal, lead zinc, tin, copper and all other minerals and metals. THE EDITOR'S DRAWER THE people of Illinois are proud of Dr. Clarke Gapen, the superintendent, and Messrs. Sill, Orr, Radeke and Granger, the Board of Trustees of the Illinois East- ern Asylum at Kankakee. In proving what irrigation will do for a farm in a State like Illinois those officials have ben- efited the agriculturists of the country generally. THE third annual convention of the Nebraska State Irrigation Association was held at Sidney. It was very largely at- tended and there was immense enthusiasm. The recent decision of the State Supreme Court gave every encouragement. Great progress will be made in irrigation pro- jects during 1896. Speakers were present from all over the country and the benefits of general irrigation were clearly shown. PLATFORM for 1896: 1 — Federation of all agricultural organizations. 2 — Smaller farms. 3 — Irrigation. 4 — Diversified crops. 5 — Improved public highways. 6 — Uniform, cheap railroad rates. 7— Free rural mail delivery. 8 — Let your legislators and Congressmen know what yon want. FREE SILVER was declared for by the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress. A great exposition of the products of States west of the Mississippi river was advocated, and resolutions adopted asking the National Congress to make an appro- priation in aid of it. CONFERENCE of the Bi-Metallic Leagues of Great Britain, France and Germany, now going on in Paris, has for its object the drafting of an agreement regarding bi-metallism which will be submitted to the parliaments of the three countries. IN the National Grange the resolution was stripped of the export bounty clause, and, as adopted, favors protection to farm- ing, and requests Congress to investigate the merits of Lubin's plan. WITH her mineral and Mining Board, and also a Mining Exchange, Chicago will (50 be the central point for investors. New York also has a mining exchange. THE Wisconsin State Grange adopted a series of resolutions urging that " the government should monopolize the issu- ing of money, and make the volume of legal-tender large enough to supply the wants of the people." SENATOR CHANDLER'S BILL for the un- limited coinage of gold and silver provides that the law shall take effect when similar laws have been adopted by England, France and Germany. A majority of the Senate favor free silver. A DECISION as to the constitutionality of the Wright law in California is about due from the United States Supreme Court. This decision will have a direct bearing on the irrigation laws in all the Western States. IN order to prevent the necessity of fur- ther bond issues, revenue for government expenses must be raised by restoring the duties on some commodities, and two of these are wool and woolen goods. RAILROADS are the great developers, and a big boom in railroad building — actual building — is announced from all the far Western States and Territories. IF there should be war, wouldn't prices of breadstuffs, meats and horses go boom- ing! A great many people are afraid Great Britain may back out. ILLINOIS, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indi- ana and Ohio have members of the National Irrigation Congress. At the next session every State in the Union will send delegates. THE Harvey county (Kansas) colony who went to Louisiana three years ago have just arrived back — on foot. THE American Bi-Metallic League will attend the silver conference at Washing- ton, D. C., the 22d of this month. WHAT about our own boundary line dis- pute with Great Britain — that Alaska line? TOPICS OF THE TIME The The arid regions will have Spread of to look to their laurels for Irrigation, irrigation is becoming gen- eral and no mistake. It was the general drought throughout the country the past season that has awakened the agricul- turists of the rain belt. Illinois already has one wonderful irrigated farm and the coming season farmers in various sections of the State will adopt the safe plan for crops. Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota will also have irrigated farms, and similar announcements come from Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other States, while the irrigation operations in the South will be largely increased. It has come to be gen- erally appreciated, that irrigation, with diversification of the crops, is the sure road to prosperity. Tiding A big trust company has just Them been organized in Chicago, the Over, business of which will be to loan money to cattle ranchers and farmers who are not ready to market their herds or crops. By the aid of this company it is urged that cattle, corn, etc., need not be sacrificed when prices are as at present. Of course the company will make money but its operations will prove most bene- ficial to people who need to be tided over. Among those at the head of the organiza- tion are P. D. Armour, E. A. Cudahy, Herman Kountze, John A. Creighton, J. M. Woolworth, Fred Davis, John A. Mc- Shane, W. A. Paxton and several Boston and New York capitalists. The capital is $1,000,000. Offices of the company will be located at Omaha and Kansas City. Annies With the new flood of of gold, or the prospect of a Immigrants, new flood of gold, armies of immigrants will take their way to the Western States and Territories in the Spring. From every section of the coun- try co-operative parties and individuals will be leaving. It is likely, too, that in- asmuch as the present boom has reached every part of Europe, immigrants to this country from the Old World will, more generally than usual, be ticketed through to the Western States and Territories. All this being true, Western America might as well prepare to provide for them. If there is not employment in the mines for all of these people, there are irrigation farms — acres sufficient for all. The mining boom has attracted the people generally, as well as the capitalists and investors of this country, but if hosts of poor men, expect- ing work, reach Colorado and other States and Territories in the winter season and find nothing to do, their plight will be a sad one. And this is just the prospect at present. Poor men from every point are working their way West. It would be a humane act for the State officers of Colo- rado to publicly notify the working people of the country of the present situation and the chances of employment. Men with a little means can go out West at any season and get along, but it is no poor man's country in the winter time. West All the efforts of the merchants and of Chicago and the West to open South, up trade with theSouthern States having failed, that rich field has for years been almost abandoned, and New York and the East have been the gainers. Spas- modic attempts have been made to solve the mystery as to why the South preferred to trade with New York when it could do better with Chicago, but nothing satisfac- tory could be ascertained. When the rail- road magnates were inquired of, the answer invariably was, "Oh, the Southern States have their trade relations with New York es- tablished for years and they will not make any change. ' ' But with the Atlanta Exposi- tion, and the mingling of Western farmers, merchants and manufacturers with those of the South, the whole matter is cleared up, and the prospect is that hereafter shipments from the West to the South and vice versa will prove a big factor in the commerce of the country. It is conclus- ively proven that for years past the rail- roads, at the instigation of New York and 61 62 THE IRRIGATION AGE. the East, have been discriminating against the West. A strong alliance is being formed between the West and South for the build- ing up of cotton manufactures in the South in competition with New England, and Chicago is to hold a great exposition of cotton and Southern cotton manufac- tures. It is not impossible that the West and S.outh may act together on various questions, one of these being silver. Western The announcement from Farming Springfield, the State capi- L/ands. tal, says of the incorporation : "The Chicago Mineral and Mining Board, at Chicago; without capital stock; to pro- vide facilities for dealing in ores and se- curities of corporations engaged in de- veloping mineral deposits; incorporators, Green B. Raum, Joseph Underwood and John Mayo Palmer. ' ' Three better known men do not exint in Chicago or in Illinois. Ex-Governor Palmer has a national reputa- tion. This enterprise is a board where par- ties and companies having mining claims or properties can meet capitalists, and part of the project is the rigid investigation of all properties attempted to be floated. Chi- cago will also have a Mining Exchange, but this board must not be confounded with it. Western America may well be congratulated that Chicago has taken hold and will aid in the development of the mineral resources, and also the agricul- tural resources, for Western agricultural lands will be operated in on the Mineral and Mining Board. Now is the time for the Western States and Territories to push their lands into the market. Careful, con- servative investors take more readily to agricultural lands than to mining shares, and of the armies of men who go West in the spring to dig gold many must remain to irrigate. It must be remembered, too, that the big new population in the mining camps must be fed and that grain, vege- tables and fruit and cattle and hogs and mutton are necessary to feed them with. That 1896 will witness great strides in the development of the West is a foregone conclusion. The rank injustice of taking and the duties off wool and lumber I/umber, is now generally realized and condemned, and Democrats in the wool and lumber States are loudest in their com- plaints. A gallant fight has been made to have duties restored, and if this fight is kept up, it can not fail of success in the present Congress. Revenue must be raised, and the articles that should be taxed are those mentioned. It will be "tariff for revenue only." In the present age every class Success, of business — every profession Organise, even — is organized. The trades are organized, and even unskilled labor is more or less organized. Business, banking, and railroad and water trans- portation are organized into immense trusts or pools. Now, in order to obtain their rights, hold their own and advance to prosperity, farmers and stock raisers must more closely organize. This closer organization was advocated at the meeting of the National Grange and it was also advocated at the subsequent meetings of the State Granges of Illinois, Indiana, Michi- gan, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, etc. Every man engaged in farming and stock- raising must be gathered into the fold. With this thorough organization, every question affecting agricultural interests can be regulated; all needed legislation can be secured. At the recent meeting of the Illinois Grange, Mortimer Whitehead, formerly one of " Uncle" Jeremiah Rusk's right hand men, made a ringing address in which he scored the politicans and their methods and urged co operation among the agriculturists in everything. Governor Altgeld spoke at some length and advised the farmers to organize and look out for their own interests, intimating that if they did not do so they could not expect others to do it for them. Will the great output of gold Is No bring the ratio of gold and silver Ratio, together ?" ask the great lead- ing editorials in the dailies. What- ever may be said for or against the free coinage of silver, it is a fact that a great deal of the hostility to it comes from the common notion that as things are now there can be any ratio between gold and silver. At present, silver is simply a com- modity, the same as copper. Copper is not spoken of as having any ratio to gold simply because a quantity of copper has been taken to make pennies out of, and why should silver be spoken of as having a ratio to gold simply because a quantity of silver has been used to make dollars TOPICS OF THE TIME. 63 out of ? How can silver bullion have any relation to gold when silver was demone- tized or destroyed as final redemption money ? No kind of metal can have any ratio to gold unless it is used as primary money, and then the ratio will be exactly what the law wishes it. There can be but one legal ratio between metals; that one is made by law, and the law of supply and demand will always compel the commercial ratio to be very close to the legal ratio. But now there is no ratio at all in the United States between any kind of metals because there is only one metal made into primary money. Hence, there is unnecessary fear that the commercial ratio between gold and silver, in case of free coinage of silver, would ever vary very much from the legal ratio. With the new ruling against the Beef bogus butter and the seizure Combine! of unbranded oleomargarine at several points, comes more trouble for the Chicago packers. It is understood that the new Grand Jury ordered for the United States District Court in Chicago will bring in indictments against the beef combine. It is known that the informa- tion gathered by the special agents of the Department of Justice and the Agricul- tural Department will be presented to the jury. Confidence Those bright Northern Again lights are indications of Returning, returning confidence, and sure signs of a new era of prosperity. The lights are from the great blast fur- naces of Northern Wisconsin and Michi- gan. The friends of protection to home industry are again in power at Washington and all the great iron and steel mills will soon be going again under full headway. Robbing The Chicago Board of Trade is Grain expelling members and doing Growers, all itcan to reform itself. The board is unable, however, to get from under the control of the elevator ring, which has absolute sway in the handling and ship- ping of grain. This ring is an absolute detriment to Chicago and is a bloodsucker to every grain grower in the West. The State legislature should investigate and breakup this nefarious combination, but it is afraid. It would be a blessing to the agriculturists of all Western America if the farmers of Illinois would make a political issue of the elevator abuses in Chicago and elect a legislature pledged to break them up. A majority of the members of the Board of Trade would gladly render their assistance. The Illinois State Grange, which has been such a great sufferer, has opened the ball against Chicago methods. At its recent meeting a special committee was authorized to draft a memorial to Congress requesting that stringent legis- lation be enacted against option dealing — gambling — in grain, and the use of the telephones and telegraphs for that purpose. THE National Grange and various State Granges demand that Secretary Morton be retired and that "a man be chosen from the ranks of the farmers, with a knowledge of agriculture." Farmers strongly approve the rebuke given to Mr. Bayard, the Min- ister to England. COMMISSIONER LAMOKEUX urges the neces- sity of a riational commission to regulate the distribution of irrigation waters in the West. THAT fraud, oleomargarine, can not mas- querade any longer as butter under the name " butterine." It must be stamped ' ' Oleomargarine. ' ' THE Illinois and Michigan State Granges declared for the remonetization of silver, and against the retirement of the green- backs. No WAY of successfully fighting the sugar and oil trusts, and the beef combine has yet been discovered or invented. A GOOD ROAD is being built from Chicago along the lake shore through Kenosha and Racine to Milwaukee. THE Western States are to have posses- sion of their grants of arid lands before the lands are irrigated. AN irrigation plant and a mortgage never remain long together on the same farm. CHICAGO permits the sale of horse meat for food. THE Chicago Metal Reduction Company has increased its capital stock. THE sugar bounties are to be paid. 64 THE IRRIGATION AGE. THE SILVER ELEMENT SHOWS ITS TEETH. The revenue bill passed the House by 205 to 81, some Democrats voting with the Republicans in favor of the measure. As passed, the bill repeals the present tariff law until August 1, 1898. It re- stores 60 per cent of the McKinley rates on wool and woolens, lumber and carpets, and makes a horizontal increase of the present rates in all other schedules, ex- cept sugar, of 15 per cent. The House passed the Republican (gold) bond bill by 169 to 136. It was on this bill that the silver element showed its strength and its disposition. Democrats and Populists voted solidly against the measure, and were aided by forty-seven Republicans, several of them from the South and all the others from the West and Northwest. The President and Secretary Carlisle of course tight both these bills. Silver rules the Senate and the bond bill stands little chance there, but men like Senator Thurs- ton of Nebraska are of the opinion that, after lengthy debate, the revenue bill will pass. If it does, the President may allow it to become a law without his signature. In advance of anything Congress may attempt in regard to the gold bond bill, the President has decided to issue $100- 000,000 more 4 per cent thirty-year bonds. ANOTHER CHICAGO REDUCTION COMPANY. Certificates of organization has just been issued to the American Reduction Company, at Chicago; capital stock, $150,- 000; to mine, smelt and reduce ores. The incorporators are Walter J. Doere, J. A. Pollock and S. S.Willard. A CRISIS IN THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW. The Interstate Commerce law is ap- proaching a crisis. The case filed in New York against the Joint Traffic Asso- ciation will make it or break it. The Government will do its utmost to sustain the law. Thirty railway companies own- ing and operating nearly 31,000 miles of road and capitalized at $1,000,000,000, are combined against it, The Government is by no means certain of success. Much depends upon a decision in what is called the Brown case, to be made early this month in the United States Supreme Court. This decision will determine for good the right of the Commission to com- pel railway men and shippers to testify. If the Brown case is lost the Interstate Commerce act is lost and the Commission is lost with it. AFTER THE BEEF COMBINE. Kenesaw M. Landis, formerly private secretary to Secretary Gresham, has been appointed a special assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois to appear in behalf of the Govern- ment in the prosecution of the beef com- bine among Chicago packers. His duty will be to direct the investigation now in progress. When Secretary Morton was in Chicago some time ago he expressed a desire to proceed with more rapidity in the investigation. He had several con- ferences with the men employed to secure evidence. Col. L. Monroe Haskell, of the Department of Justice, and Edward Sheldon, of the Agricultural Department, have been in Chicago for a long time look- ing into the charges against the combine, and have made frequent trips out of the city. Mr. Landis will, as Gen. Black's assistant, look after the legal end of the work. A great mass of convincing evi- dence will be presented to the Grand Jury which has been called for January 14. A large number of cattle men from all over the West will be present and testify before the Grand Jury. The packers have retained able counsel and will make a hot contest. GETTING THEIR LANDS BACK. Judge Randolph, in the District Court at Emporia, Kan., has decided that a deed cannot be given after foreclosure and sale by the sheriff, and instead ordered a simple certificate of purchase. The plaintiff will take the case to the Supreme Court. This decision will save to the citizens of Lyons, Chase and Coffey counties alone over half a million dollars, as it means that in a majority of the cases which have been foreclosed and embraced under this act the debtor may pay into court the price at which the land was bid in, together with the interest, cost and taxes, and get the land clear. ^ VbUA4sVMJsXiA4s\if Vis \Mis\^\if\jU\re on SO daji free trial, in any home bout asking one cent in advance. Buy from factory. Bare agents large profits. Orrr 1OO.OUO In nse. 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LOS ANGELES, CAL. THE IRRIGATION AGE. VOL. IX. CHICAGO, FEBRUARY, 1896. NO. 2. THE BROADER SIDE OF THE IRRIGATION MOVEMENT. BY THOMAS KNIGHT. WHETHER it be or be not possible to reclaim by irrigation some certain portion of the arid and semi-arid regions of this country is undoubtedly a question of importance per se ; regarded simply as a local issue there has as yet been no ade- quate comprehension of the problem by those whose very existence would appear to depend upon its satisfactory solution. This being the case, it is not surprising that attention to detail and consequent narrowness of the field of observation have, to a great extent, prevented any general recognition of the great principles which, underlying the Irrigation Movement, have given to it most of its influence and all of its vitality. And since the irrigationist insists that not only are these principles true, but will in their application be found to present a means for meeting at least some of the social difficulties of the hour, it is at least reasonable that examination be made of them and the correctness of such a position be discussed. There are in the world two great eco- nomic forces, Labor and Capital. To- gether they form a prime mover; separ- ately they are impotent. Labor, however, lias one advantage in that it is the capital of every man who is able to work, and should at all times be readily convertible into the necessaries of life for its pos- sessor. But it is a lamentable fact that in all civilized nations there is at the present time an inability on the part of labor to effect this conversion, and the tendency is undoubtedly towards a still greater stringency in the conditipn. It is mani- festly impossible to compel capital to em- ploy labor where the natural demand for such labor is non-existent; what then can be done to enable the laborer to exist, sup- posing him willing to dispose of his labor but unable to find a purchaser? The ir- rigationist contends that the necessities of the laborer do in themselves constitute a natural demand which will tax all of his energies to meet, and proposes that he be given the opportunity to satisfy this demand directly, without the competition attendant upon a congested labor market or the evils arising from the fluctuation in values induced by empirical and unstable national legislation. But labor to be thus utilized must cer- tainly have within its reach such raw ma- terial as will absorb it profitably. And it is clear that the ultimate worth of such lies in its capacity to increase in value according to the amount of labor em- ployed upon it. If, in addition, such raw material is capable of not only a cumula- tive but a recurrent increment, its ultimate worth is incalculable, inasmuch as such cumulative and recurrent properties are practically infinite. It is in this light that the irrigationist regards the land. As raw material he maintains that, under irrigation, it is cap- able of making a remunerative return in direct proportion to the amount of labor bestowed upon it. For since the extent of any man's actual necessities depends 70 THE IRRIGATION AGE. not in the least upon the cost of satisfy- ing them, any return which is sufficient to provide these is remunerative, and un- less a rise or fall in prices could govern the amount produced from a given area of land by a given amount of labor (which proposition is absurd), it is clear that this return will be both stable and reliable, and thus exactly meet the demand which it is required to satisfy. That such a result is possible is dem- onstrated by the facts. The product from an acre of irrigated land under any crop has not yet been even approximately determined, nor does it appear capable of such determination. It is, therefore, a legitimate assumption that while the irri- gationist is perfectly safe in his estimate as to the population which may derive sup- port from a given area under conditions favorable to intensive cultivation, it is alto- gether out of the question for objectors to urge either that the limit of production will soon be reached, or that the available land will be exhausted. But supposing any such objection were well founded, which it evidently is not, it simply amounts to the proposition that un- less our unoccupied lands will absorb the whole of our unemployed labor it is use- less to utilize them in the absorption of any part thereof; a position so nearly ap- proaching the ridiculous as to demand no consideration. Presuming, however, it be conceded pos- sibleto fix on the one hand the limit of pro- duction, or on the other the extent of cul- tivable land, it will be at once seen that even this by no means determines the amount of labor provided with employ- ment. The development of the mining districts of the West depends almost en- tirely upon the ease with which suste- nance may be obtained for the labor em- ployed therein. If 100 acres of irrigated land in the neighborhood of such of a dis- trict will produce a surplus equal to the support of five men, those five will assur- edly set to work upon unoccupied land (other than agricultural) which can now afford no return whatever. And so wide- spread are these effects that wherever such surplus can be transported at any reasonable cost they are found to operate; without the irrigated fields of Colorado one half at least of her mines would be idle, and all her dependent industries suffer in proportion. The State of Wyoming today, with her river sands full of gold, her hills rich with mineral, her subterranean shales saturated with oil, waits for what? The intensive cultivation of those fertile acres which will afford not only support to those who till them, but from their surplus main- tain the army of workers who shall render these treasures available to the uses of mankind. Hence it follows that while intensive cultivation means enormously increased returns from the land (and the aim of the irrigation movement is to secure not only larger yields per acre but also ex- tended area under crop), it is by no means a consequence that such a result implies over-production or even any increased com- petition in the markets; for the bulk of the labor which would derive its direct sustenance from the soil is just that which now is unable to enter the market as a purchaser, while the surplus, as we have seen, would go to supply the demand created for it by the opening of fields for industry which are now non-existent. If it be true that the real advances in civilization have always been made through its industries, it would therefore appear that the irrigationist will be large- ly concerned in the transformation which our social life is now undergoing. The possibilities of production from a very small area of land surely point to the massing of population, not in overgrown cities, but in colonies of small holdings, in which all the advantages of urban life may be enjoyed, and many of its evils eliminat- ed. Unless there be any disadvantage to mankind in the exercise of the traits com- mon to humanity which call for social in- tercourse and intellectual advancement, this tendency' cannot be deprecated; the irrigation movement is the outcome of an irresistible demand for the means to meet higher ideas, and its success will be in proportion to its capacity for their satis- faction. If it be borne in mind that legislation under a popular form of government can never be in advance of social requirements, but must depend upon them for its incep- tion, the necessity for a just comprehen- sion of the broader side of the irrigation movement will be readily conceded. That much of our existing legislation is entirely inadequate to our present social needs ad- mits of no doubt, and it is here that the WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION. 71 irrigationist unflinchingly joins issue with the opponents of the movement. If, as they urge, it is impossible to meet his reasonable demands because existing legis- lation is adverse, or insufficient, his posi- tion is that such legislation must be amended, and by no means that social progression be for a moment retarded thereby. In order to render such a position ten- able, it is undoubtedly necessary for the irrigationist to urge far more than a pure- ly local or transitory issue. This he squarely claims to be doing, and he esti- mates his labors solely according to their beneficial results upon the whole common- wealth. It is from a study of the broader side of the irrigation movement that any just ap- preciation can be placed upon these; it is from an unprejudiced consideration of its aims by the public, and their unfalter- ing prosecution by its friends, that success may be expected in their attainment. WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION. II. ORIGINAL RESEARCH— RAINFALL AND STREAM DISCHARGE. BY F. C. FINKLE, C. E. NO irrigation engineer can afford to give a project his unqualified endorsement by basing his examinations and opinions wholly on the data derived from reports made by others, no matter how complete and full such reports may appear. The most perfect human minds have their failings and are liable to mistakes, and reports, especially those prepared under government supervision, often con- tain serious errors, inaccuracies and omis- sions caused by carelessness or a lack of proper interest in the work. The impor- tance of verifying data obtained from other sources than from personal investigation and research is therefore apparent. It is often the case that no reports, gov- ernmental or otherwise, are obtainable, from which any information about the particular locality in question can be drawn. This may be due to one of sev- eral causes. The country may be new and unexplored or only partially explored; the data known maybe too limited or conflict- ing to be considered reliable; the region may heretofore have been considered of too little importance to merit investigation at the public expense, or some other cause, known or unknown, may be responsible for the existence of no reports in relation thereto. In cases of this kind original researches have to be commenced de novo and com- pleted before any conclusion can be reached. *A11 rights reserved by the author. We will now endeavor to discuss the methods to be employed and the manner in which the work should be done in order that a perfectly fair, reliable and conserv- ative conclusion may be arrived at. One of the principal things, and one which requires the most careful and long continued observation to determine, is the rainfall on the watershed tributary to a stream. For the determination of this a pluviometer should be employed on as many different stations on the watershed as possible. A pluviometer is an instrument for ascertaining the amount of rain which falls from the clouds. It is usually made of brass or some other metal not easily corroded and consists of a cylindrical dish with open top and a long tube connected to its bottom, which is otherwise closed, the tube being of such diameter as to give a sectional area equal to one-tenth of the top area of the dish itself. The edge at the top should be very thin and the meas- uring rod, for which allowance in propor- tion to its thickness must be made in pro- portioning the sectional areas of the dish and tube, should be graduated in inches and tenths of inches. This instrument, when in use, should be set in level, open ground with its top just above the top of the grass and apart from buildings and other obstructions, and the weeds and grass should be kept trimmed below its top. When these conditions are observed 72 THE IRRIGATION AGE. the depths shown on the measuring rod on the tube will be ten times the rainfall in inches. In places where snow falls, a round dish of equal diameter at top and bottom and of sufficient depth to receive all the snow which may fall in any one storm is used. This dish should be securely set in an open, level place so as to receive all the falling snow due to its area and so as not to allow any snow to drift into it. After each storm the snow should be melted and the obtained depth of water measured, which together with the depth of the snow before melting should be carefully record- ed. For accurate gauging the practice of placing the instrument on the roofs of buildings or on other objects elevated above the surface of the ground is to be condemned, as, at any considerable eleva- tion above the ground, the drops of rain in their downward course are deflected in their vertical descent by the force of the wind and less water will enter the rain- gauge than the proportion due to its sec- tional area. Fornulse which have been suggested for making corrections for dif- ferent elevations are practically valueless, as so much depends on the relative force of the rain and wind, factors which it is impossible to determine accurately. In making observations of the rainfall on a watershed, rain-gauges should be placed so as to cover all points where a material difference in the precipitation is likely to occur. The location of the gauges should be correctly determined, so that, when the watershed has been sur- veyed, the exact points of all observations can be noted on the plat as stations and numbered. A record of each station should be kept showing the date and amount of rainfall each day. The character of the gathering ground upon which the rain falls has considerable to do with flood discharges from a water- shed. The maximum may in some cases reach two- thirds of the amount which actually falls; but this is only to be depended upon when the watershed is small and the surface impervious and bar- ren, and the ground frozen and free from snow. It is impossible to give the maxi- mum discharge with any claim of reliabil- ity in the case of large watersheds with loose soil, except where data have been collected in regard to that particular watershed by actual gauging of the rain- fall and measurement of the discharge. Some cases are of record, where the dis- charge from a large basin with loose ground and slight descent has been so insignificant as to amount to practically nothing. With zero as a minimum and two-thirds of the total rainfall as the maximum, re- sults vary so much that no ratio can be confidently named even with a good map and description of the watershed at hand. Absolute safety in making estimates of the ratio of discharge for a given rainfall lies in having made a sufficient number of measurements of the flow in the outlet channel to establish a rule applicable to the watershed in question. In calculating the volume of flood water falling on a given watershed there are three factors to be taken into considera- tion, i. e. (1) Area of watershed. (2) Depth of rainfall and (3) duration of pre- cipitation. By means of these factors we can find the number of cubic feet which have actually fallen from the sky during a flood. But in hydraulics the time as well as quantity are considered so that water is always measured and estimated by the rate of flow in a given space of time, and the units adopted are the cubic foot of water and the second of time, so that the rate of flow is expressed in cubic feet per second. We now have everything necessary for establishing a formula by which can be determined the rates of a volume of water falling on a known area exposed to an observed precipitation for a given length of time in cubic feet per second. This formula is expressed as follows: Q in which Q = Flow in cubic feet per second re- sulting if all the water falling were dis- charged uniformly in the same length of time which it has taken to fall. A =Area of watershed or basin exposed to the rainfall in square feet. D = Observed depth of rainfall by the pluviometer or rain-guage in feet. S = Time in seconds during which the observed depth has fallen. The following table may be of use in making approximate estimates without em- ploying the formula: WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION. 73 TABLE No. 1. Volume of precipitation per second of time for a given depth in feet, per twenty- four hours. Vol. of rainfall per Rainfall in 24 hrs. second on 1 sq. mi. FEET. CUBIC FEET. 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 80.6683 161.3312 242.1635 322.8264 From the above table the volume of rainfall can be found for any of the given depths, observed in twenty-four hours, by multiplying the figures in the second col- umn by the area of the watershed in square miles. For depths of rainfall other than those given, the cubic feet per second for one square mile can be found by simple proportion, and then for the whole water- shed by multiplication, as before. Recorded measurements show that the flood volume of streams varies inversely as the area of the tributary watershed or basin. Usually the larger the basin the less in proportion to its area of watershed will be the rate of flow of flood water at its outlet. This is due to the fact that the proportion of pervious soils, open and por- ous ledges, intercepting stratified forma- tions, easy slopes and still water basins is so much greater in large drainage basins than in smaller ones, that a much larger proportion of the water falling reaches underground courses and receptacles. In small tributary basins the opportunity for loss is much less and the rate of flow con- sequently greater. The time when the flood flow takes place at the outlet of a basin, like the rate of flood flow, varies inversely as the area of the basin. In small watersheds and the basins of tributary streams the period of maximum flow follows immediately after the maximum rainfall, while in the main outlet channel of a large basin the flow may not begin for from one to four days, and sometimes even more. The length of time which the flood dis- charge from a stream lasts usually corre- sponds very closely to the length of the storm, although in the case of large basins the discharge sometimes begins after the storm is entirely over, this time being con- sumed for the first water to reach the out- let. In the case of elevated watersheds, where the larger portion of the precipitation comes in the form of snow, the discharge of the flood water coming from the subsequent melting of the snow may continue for a long time, and the effect of a storm may continue for weeks or even months. DETEKMINATION OF FLOOD VOLUMES. A large number of different formulae have been invented in different countries for calculating the flood discharges from river watersheds. Most of the experimetits made for the purpose of devising satisfac- tory formulae have been by Indian engi- neers. Mr. Dredge proposes the following, which has hitherto been very popular among hydraulic engineers: in which Q = Volume of discharge in cubic feet per second. M = Area of watershed in square miles. L = Length of watershed in miles. The record of maximum flood discharges of American streams are few in number, and for this reason it has been impossible to construct a formula epecially for this country which would give as close results as might be desirable. In addition to the difficulty due to the insufficiency of re- corded observations, another serious diffi- culty in the way of constructing a general formula for the whole of the United States arises from the fact that there is quite a considerable difference, meteorologically, between extremes of the country. In the New England and Middle States, and most of the United States lying east of the Miss- issippi river and north of the Mason and Dixou line, hydraulic engineers use the following formula, which has been obtained by comparing the data furnished from measurements taken in that region: Q = 200 (Hi), in which Q = Volume of discharge from the whole area measured in cubic feet per second. M = Area of watershed in square miles. To find the discharge per square mile, the fornmla may be expressed as follows: Q = 200 (Mi) M ' in which the letters have the same value as given above. In the southern and western portions of the United States the measurements made 74 THE IRRIGATION AGE. and recorded are even more meager than in the portions already referred to, and as a consequence the formulae in use for de- termining the maximum flood discharges of streams are even less accurate. In the Southern States the best results have been obtained by the use of the form- ula already given, but in the following form : and in the portion of the United States lying west of the Mississippi River, with the exception of a few localities, the fol- lowing form of the formula has met the greatest approval: Q = 160(M«), in both of which the values of the letters are the same as already given. Results obtained by the use of any of the formulse given above are not claimed to be exact, and can only serve to give some idea of the rates of flow which may be expected from maximum floods in the dif- ferent localities. In making rough pre- liminary estimates these formulae are use- ful for determining the maximum flood discharges of rivers as well as the approxi- mately safe proportions of structures in- tended to span the streams, to divert water from them or to provide spillways for dams. But before any final plans and es- timates are made or contracts entered into, the nature and history of the particular locality should be carefully ascertained and studied, and such measurements and observations made as time and opportunity will allow, in order that the formula may be modified to suit the particular locality and conditions involved. For making ex- act and reliable determinations of the max- imum flood discharges from any watershed, topographical, geological and meteorolog- ical characteristics must be known and used to modify an existing formula o'r to construct a new one for use in making the necessary calculations. The general formulae already given, when used intelligently, can easily be mod- ified so as to take into consideration the extreme precipitousness or flatness, pervi- ousness or imperviousness of the surface, and the particular degree of precipitation which characterizes the particular basin in question. (To be continued. ) THE ART OF IRRIGATION/ CHAPTER IX. IRRIGATING WITH FURROWS. BY T. S. VAN DYKE. A SSUMING that the ground is fine f\ enough to hold up the small streams of water mentioned in Chapter VII with- out letting them drop through too quickly, you will generally find it best for all or- chard and garden work to irrigate with furrows instead of flooding. You will find this true whether working the ground for pleasure or profit and whether on a large or small scale. Furrows do better and cleaner work and when everything is arranged as it should be the labor is generally reduced to a minimum. The results are those of a long, slow, soaking rain, whereas flooding at the very best has too much of the effect of a short and pour- ing shower. As flooding is sometimes the cheaper way of irrigating large fields, as in alfalfa, so is the use of furrows general- ly cheaper in orchard and garden work of any magnitude. To handle a flooding "Copyright 1895, by T. S. Van Dyke. head on ten acres will take from two to four men according to its size, whereas one man can manage the furrows on ten acres if the delivery flume is fixed as it should be. I have known five acres of lemons furrowed, irrigated and cultivated by a boy of sixteen who lost not an hour from school, and the whole was well done. It was all in the arrangement being per- fect at the start. The first requisite for good irrigation from furrows is an irrigating head of from twenty to fifty inches of water for at least twenty- four hours for each ten acres. The head will vary with the nature of the soil, the product and the length of time you can run the water. Where the soil is quite close in texture and you can have the head for three days at a time twenty inches will do good work. I have seen fine work done with fifteen inches for ten acres, but it was with a four days' ran, which gave plenty of time for the smallest THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 75 streams to soak the ground evenly. If you can get a run of only two days or a day and a half, you will need a larger head. Under some ditches you may not be able to get a head for more than twenty-four hours. Then you will need a still larger one, for you will have to use larger streams in the furrows and send them through more quickly to ensure full soaking of the lower end. If the run is so short that you have to use streams so large that they will run muddy or wash and cut too much, then you are at the point where it may pay you best to flood. For to do good furrow work the streams should run clear or very nearly so. If too muddy, they will puddle the furrows and check seepage, while the cutting of the soil and washing off of fertilizers in end-waste are disadvantages easily obviated in flooding and not sufficiently compensated by the other advantages of furrows. The nature of the crop will make a difference in the amount of head and the length of time you need it. Corn, for in- stance, will not need so deep a soaking of the ground as trees, although if you have plenty of water you are not likely to hurt it if the water is warm. So for many kinds of vegetables a run of two or three hours will do, and five or six will be enough for most any. Young trees will not need the whole ground soaked so that a smaller number of furrows may do, while such things as olives, that need little water, will do very well even when old and in full bearing without the centers be- tween the rows being wet if a reasonable amount is run near the tree. In the East and other places where the rainfall is nearly sufficient, good enough work for most trees could be done with one furrow on each side, while two on each side should be enough for any. In such countries the shortage of moisture is generally in the top soil, caused by too long a delay in the rain at the time when the fruit most needs it. Consequently such deep soaking is not needed as in the very dry countries and a much shorter run of water generally will suffice. It is impossible to go into detail in these matters. From the analo- gies of a few cases the reader must work out other cases for himself; but for the dry countries twenty inches for twenty- four hours for ten acres is little more than enough for any kind of vines or trees, alfalfa or other field crop irrigated with furrows and not enough for most trees when old and in full bearing. The number of streams into which to divide the irrigating head will also vary with the crop and the character of the soil as well as the size of the head and the length of the run. But if the soil stands the test described in Chapter VII of hold- ing up small streams, the water is quite certain to soak well on each side. Hence, if you can give a long run, the smallest and most shallow rooted vegetation is likely to be wet enough at eighteen inches from the furrow and even on a ridge several inches above the level of the water eighteen inches away. On many soils a long run of water will not wet farther than this; and you need rarely feel any alarm at see- ing the top of the ridge between the furrows remain dry long after the water has been running. If the soil will carry a stream of a gallon a minute at the rate of a yard a minute, the water will generally work up to the roots in time, no matter how high you make the ridge. You may therefore feel quite safe in placing these little streams a yard apart for almost any kind of orchard or field crops. For many things, such as corn, four feet will do; that is, two feet from each row. On the other hand some garden stuff like strawberries that are great drinkers may do better with the streams two feet apart or even less. A few trials on a small scale will settle these questions and you should make them before you proceed farther in arranging the ground. Suppose you have found that the right distance for your ground and crop is three feet apart for the streams. Ten acres are two hundred and twenty yards square. At a yard apart you would then have two hundred and eighteen streams. If the head of water were thirty inches measured under four inch pressure, as before de- scribed, which is about the average re- quired for this kind of work, each stream would be a little over one-seventh of an inch or about one and one-third gallons a minute. Such a stream would need from fifteen to twenty-four hours to cross a square ten acre tract, or six hundred and sixty feet. It might do it in less or take even more according to porosity of the soil and the care with which the furrows have been made. At first it seems ridiculous to 76 THE IRRIGATION AGE. think of doing anything with such streams, but you may be very much surprised when you try them. Nothing would seem more obvious than the need of uniformity in these streams to ensure uniform wetting, avoid cutting or filling, and furnish a uniform condition for cultivation. Yet the length of time it took to learn that furrows cannot be even- ly fed from a larger ditch with earth con- nections, and the persistence with which thousands of irrigators still cling to such connections when lumber is cheap, are among the strangest things about the errors of irrigation. Bogs here and dry patches there are almost inevitable, unless yon do a vast amount of flying about with hoe in hand. When you open laterals from the main feeding ditch, the earth at the junction is sure to cut away in some places and build up in others. In a short time one stream will be nearly stopped and another twice too big. The smaller the furrows, the worse this trouble, though it is bad enough with any. The streams are often stopped by a fallen leaf. I have seen a stranded beetle form a bar at the mouth of one in a few minutes and he was not an extra beetle either. The neglect to secure uniformity of flow in the laterals has been one of the most fruitful sources of loss in irrigation and has made many a one abandon the whole business in disgust. Putting straw, brickbats, gravel or other similar stuff in the connection is simply recognizing the difficulty and then resort- ing to the stupidest way of avoiding it. Gates of some kind are so cheap, effective and permanent that in any well regulated State it should be indictable to try to get along without them. In some parts of California these streams are fed by hydrants placed at the head of each furrow. But these are a needless expense, and need considerable opening and closing at each irrigation to get the proper flow from them. In other places closed aqueducts of terracotta with gates at every yard or so are used. These are more of a luxury than the case re- quires. Wooden flume which can be made at home is good enough and is generally the cheapest material. Scores of miles of it have been in use at Riverside for many years and are perfectly good today. And whatever is good enough for Riverside is good enough for any part of the world. If made of redwood it will last half a gen- eration and most any wood well dipped in coal tar will do in most places. There is no law requiring you to put it under ground. You need not worry about the leakage caused by its drying between times. Throw a little fine dirt into it and fire a head of water down it and that is soon settled. With lumber at twenty dol- lars a thousand on the ground, and the owner doing his own work, a flume of inch lumber one foot square should not cost much over six and a half cents a running foot, as the braces amount to little where there is no pressure. This would be about four dollars an acre for a ten-acre tract, and the best investment ever made. It can be made smaller, but it is well to have it large enough, as it will be dirty and will not run full. Laid on a grade of twenty feet to the mile, it will carry the largest head you want for ten acres. Smaller ones will do where the grade is greater. If you hire the work done, it should not cost over a dollar and a half an acre more. In building it the grade may be kept well enough with a carpenter's level on a plank with a bevelled edge, or with a triangle of three strips of scantling and a stone for a plumb-bob. Or you can turn water into it and let it run as you lay it, as an Indian builds a ditch. Whatever it costs you will in a short time get back with interest com- pounded hourly, not to mention your pros- pects of heaven and good digestion caused by serenity of soul. The gates in these flumes are often a wooden button over an auger hole. But a plate of zinc about two inches square with a slide of zinc running in a raised portion on each side made by two slight cuts is better. Almost any tinker can af- ford to make these at two dollars and a half a hundred and less by larger quantity. But they can be made at home with old shears out of scrap zinc and be just as ef- fective. Gates of this remain in position better than wooden ones of any form and when once set to an even flow need rarely be touched. The holes can be punched with a wad cutter and need not be over half an inch in diameter, though it is well to make them larger in case large streams should at any time be wanted. After the first regulation of these gates there is little to do but spend an hour or two each time you irrigate, looking over them to see that the streams are about uniform. Here THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 77 you may have to take out a little dirt or some leaves or other rubbish, but as a rule, you will have little to do. As the head runs down in a flume from the discharge of water to the upper fur- rows, the gates will have to be opened wider. And toward the lower end it may be necessary to tack cleats across the bot- tom to throw the water out of the gate better. Some use brickbats, stones and such things, but cleats are better. It is best to put them on in the form of a but- ton with a single screw in the middle so that they may be turned enough to give the proper flow with ease. One of these flumes should be set for every face on which the water is to run. But if two faces meet like the ridge of a house, the water may be delivered from each side at once from a flume set at the top. The five-year old lemonorchard ir- rigated by the boy above mentioned was of this arrangement. The work is but slightly increased over that of a flume delivering from one side only, and if flume and gates are carefully laid and kept in order, the increase of work in this furrn is hardly perceptible. The advantages of this style of delivery are so great that it will probably pay to put in flume and gates even for flooding where the scale is not so great as to make the expense of flume over ditch too great. But for flooding on an ordinary scale, and for all furrow irrigation, no matter how large the scale, it is almost certain to pay. You may make your ditches ever so cheaply and put in box connections with gates at the divides, may have all the cau-vas dams or iron dams handy to turn the stream from one to the other, and then, when you have summed up all the running about you have to do looking after this and that, and all the cleaning of ditches, all the breakages from gophers, moles or other causes, all the loss of flow from growth of vegetation in the ditches, with other annoyances too numerous to men- tion, and balance them against the in- creased cost of a good flume and gates, you may find you have saved nothing in cash and are out a vast amount of time and patience. The ground all graded to a face or faces of uniform slope and the flume in position, the next thing is making the furrows. These are often made with a common corn- plow and are from three to five inches deep. Four will do for most things unless there is danger of water touching the stalk in some places. There is little danger in making them too deep. It mere- ly is not necessary if they are made with care. The deeper they are, the harder they are to break up in cultivation. The shallower they are, the more liable to break and let the water from one to the other. There is generally plenty of time to do this work and no excuse for slighting it. Every hour spent in making the furrows of uniform depth and as free as possible from heavy clogs, ridges or depressions, or openings into the next furrow will be well repaid after you start the water. These furrows are often made with a corn- plow and sometimes with a cultivator. The latter may be easily fixed to make three at once if the ground is smooth and fine enough. It can be made at home of old beams on the principle of the corn- marker. If made long enough, it would make very uniform furrows very rapidly. But rapid work can be done with the com- mon corn-plow and the boy of the family can do it as well as the grandfather who was raised to the plow. It matters not which way these furrows run. Running at right angles to the flume is but a matter of looks. But they should run on a course and slope that will carry the water as fast as possible without cutting the ground or making the water muddy. And they should always be as nearly parallel as possible. By walking along the flume at the head and looking down the rows you can compare them and see what they are doing much better when they are parallel. (To be continued.) THINGS THAT RETARD IRRIGATION. BY WILLIAM REECE. THIRST — A conservatism that clings to old time customs, notions and super- stitions, and opposes scientific researches and new methods of farming on the plains. Cowboy notions still hold sway, and the ideas and efforts of all tender feet are looked upon with mingled pity and con- tempt. It is difficult to break away from the old custom of burning off the dry grass and weeds; plowing the ground aboiit two inches deep; of letting the flood waters rush off to the rivers, and of keeping the wind pumps at rest, except when a drink is needed. Some of the railroads give practical dis- couragement by their eagerness to grasp the profits from the improved business after individuals have, at their own ex- pense, worked up enterprise and made the country more populous and productive. A few persons have contributed valuable time and labor to study and advance the true theory of irrigation, without any idea of ever receiving any remuneration there- for, except as they may share the country's prosperity. Although railroads will receive the first and greatest returns from this enterprise, yet many persons have been compelled to travel at their own expense, to gather from actual observation reliable data by which the natural conditions and the best methods of farming this country may be fully pre- sented to the public. With the exception of irrigation and agricultural papers and journals, the press has given the matter but little promi- nence. Had as much space been given to irri- gation in behalf of the farmers on the plains as was given to Corbett and Fitz- simmons, the country would be ablaze with enthusiasm in the great work of mak- ing the now barren desert furnish beauti- ful homes for many millions of American citizens who are now without homes and without employment. The so called rain- makers have done much in the way of de- ceiving and misleading the people. Money, labor and encouragement have been withheld from irrigation, and given T5 to one of the greatest modern humbugs, that of rainmaking. The aiding of this silly work by corpo- rations has encouraged many farmers to pin their faith to the rainmaker. Educational journals, as a rule, shy off from irrigation as too earthly for the con- sideration of people of culture, and one educational journal in Nebraska is so far removed from things that affect man's happiness here below as to decline to give the matter of irrigation any recognition whatever in its columns. We think that teachers and preachers should not be so ethereal as to ignore those things that make people healthy, wealthy and wise. Our congressmen have given the matter comparatively little attention. We do not know whether it is caused by indifference, by fear of being laughed at, or by fear of being censured by the politi- cal press. Ignorance of the meteorological condi- tions on the plains is another great hin- drance to the onward march of irrigation. Men who never spent two years and in some cases never spent two days in study- ing and experimenting with the elements of earth, air, water, animals and plants are often loud in condemning or ridiculing what they do not understand. We do not mention these hindrances in a complaining spirit. Railroad managers, editors, congressmen, teachers, preachers and farmers have a right to think and act as they please, but, lack of unity and lack of earnestness in this matter, nevertheless, greatly retards the development of the arid plains. The great mass of people seem to have given up all hope of reclaiming the great American Desert and are disposed to look upon the few who are firm in the belief that the desert can be made to blossom as the rose as a set of enthusiasts or land speculators. What our people most need is scientific instruction in all matters pertaining to irri- gation, and then concerted action through- out the length and breadth of the land. Seasons of big crops are not, as is often, supposed, seasons of heavy rainfalj. IMPOUNDING STORM WATERS. 79 The official records of Nebraska show that in 1883 there was a good crop, with fifty inches rainfall, while in 1889 there was a big crop with only twenty-three inches rainfall. The condition in Kansas affects crops in Nebraska. A few can take good care of themselves by local ditches, but, in order to make this arid region furnish comfortable homes for the millions of homeless American citizens, the atmos- pheric condition of the entire region must be understood, and the tierce thirst of the atmosphere prevented by dotting the plains with ponds and lakes, and by burying the wild and impervious buffalo sod with the Indian and the buffalo. Our President and Congress and the daily press are all wonderfully exercised about a few barren acres in Venezuela and are rushing with break-neck speed to quiet the fears of people in Venezuela, but do not seem to care if the isolated settlers in arid America starve to death and the coun- try becomes a howling, sandy desert. A large majority of the settlers in arid America are men who spent the best years of their lives in defense of our country. Congress encouraged them to settle on the plains but now refuses to do anything to make it possible for these settlers to live upon the land for which they paid the government millions of dollars. If Salisbury would send a modern Stromburgh to run a line around arid America and claim what our government does not seem to care to develop, the natural resource of this fertile region would then be fully considered and appreciated and it would receive the attention it deserves. Our government in conjunction with States, counties and townships must do one of two things, develop this arid coun- try so that millions can have homes on small farms, or allow our country to fill up with troublesome and dangerous, homeless people. The perpetuity of our free government demands that everything possible be done to encourage and aid our people to secure homes. Twenty acres under intensive cultivation will produce more than two townships now do without irrigation in Western Ne- braska. IMPOUNDING STORM WATERS. BY A. C. ROMIG. FOUR consecutive years of comparative drought and crop shortage have aroused the farmers of Central Kansas, as never before, to a spirit of inquiry and. inven- tion to discover some device by which like casualties may be averted in the future. They are strongly and. favorably im- pressed with Major Powell's suggestion of impounded storm waters by a system of storage reservoirs, catch basins, dams, and ponds, not alone for the purpose of irriga- tion, as he suggests, but for increased humidity, evaporation, heavy dews, and possible rainfall as well. It is a well-known meteorological fact that clouds evaporated from the Pacific Ocean are precipitated on the western coast; in like manner, those of the Atlan- tic are spilt out long before they reach the center of the continent; that moisture from the great lakes of the north, and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, seldom reaches beyond one hundred miles west of the Missouri State line, and that in all the vast territory bounded by the Missouri river, the Rocky Mountain range, British America, and the Gulf of Mexico, there are no inland seas nor large bodies of water exposed to the sun's rays for evapo- ration, hence the necessity of adopting the only available substitute in sight. When the practice shall have become general throughout the watershed regions of the Missouri and Arkansas rivers, sup- plemented by the underflow lifted to the surface for the purpose of irrigation, as is now being done in Western Kansas, and if to this be added the additional supple- ment of deep subsoiling, the problem of relief and immunity from drought, hot winds and crop shortage, will be effectually and permanently solved. IRRIGATION LEGISLATION. RESERVOIR SITES WITHDRAWN BY THE GOVERNMENT. BY CLESSON S. K1NNEY. THE needs and necessity of irrigation legislation which will definitely settle some of the vexed questions upon the sub- ject of water rights are becoming more and more apparent in all of the Western States. la the face of this necessity appear great difficulties. The law of vested rights stands in the way as the greatest stum- bling-block. If effective laws had been passed when the country was new, and the various rights which are now vested had not been acquired, the task would be easy. But at an early day the great needs and necessities of the future were not recog- nized either by the general government or by the various States. It is only by ex- perience that some wisdom comes. In re- viewing the legislation of Congress it seems strange that such definite and strict laws were passed relative to the acquisition of title to lands and at the same time let the element which is absolutely necessary to make those lands valuable, take care of itself. This is the experience. The wis- dom has come too late in many States. But be that as it may, the fact is that Con- gress is divested of the power to pass any general law that will govern the subject. It devolves upon the States to work their way out of the difficulty as best they can. That there are difficulties is illustrated by the Supreme Court of Nebraska declaring the irrigation law of that State unconstitu- tional; by the Circuit Court of the United States declaring the most elaborate law that was ever passed on the subject — the Wright law — also unconstitutional. In many of the States the constitutionality of their irrigation law has not been tested. Several of the States have laws which are copied after the Wright law. All are wait- ing until the Supreme Court of the United States shall finally decide the question. GOVERNMENT RESERVOIR SITES. Some years ago surveyors sent out by the general government located a great number of reservoir sites throughout the inter-mountain country. These sites as located were withdrawn from the market so that they could not be entered by set- tlers and are still owned and held by the government ostensibly for the purpose for which they were located. They consist of natural depressions and basins, sometimes dry, but at other times are lakes of con- siderable size filled with water. The pur- pose of the government in locating these sites, according to the scheme of Major Powell, was for the government to con- struct at its own expense these reservoirs, and thus be enabled to dispose of its lands in the neighborhood of the same at a cor- respondingly higher price. This scheme was all very beautiful if it had been car- ried out; but when we come to consider that through all these years not a single reservoir located by the government has ever been constructed by it, another phase of the question is seen. These sites which were located were of the very best that could be found. They are still held by the government, thus pre- venting their being located by private par- ties. The only reservoirs which have been constructed to date are those con- structed by private enterprise. Many of the government sites would have been lo- cated and long before this the reservoirs would have been constructed had it not been for the obstruction of the government location. One of two things ought to be done. Either the government ought to carry out the original scheme and construct these reservoirs, or the law ought to be modified so that the sites could be located and reservoirs constructed by private parties. There is not much confidence in this western country that the government will ever construct them. But if the sites are opened up for private location the law ought to be so that they can only be lo- cated for reservoir purposes and not en- tered for farming purposes. CORNERING THE CORN AND THE CATTLE. A CRISIS IN THE CENTRAL WEST. PRIVATE letters and dispatches from I various points in the central Western States confirm THE IRRIGATION AGE'S an- nouncement that a powerful company or a very wealthy individual was quietly buy- ing up the great corn crop at ruinously low figures to hold it for a rise. It turns out that P. D. Armour, of Chicago, is the great buyer. Singularly enough the daily press know nothing of this as yet. Agents of Mr. Armour are working very quietly, but they are gathering in great quantities of corn. Elevators are leased in some localities, in others crib room is rented, and where this cannot be done cribs are built, and all the time corn is being shipped to Chicago, where Mr. Armour has elevators with storage capacity for 30,000,000 bushels. Never before in the whole history of the West was a solid cor- ner on corn so nearly possible as at pres- ent. This corn is bought at a price really below the cost of production, and far below what it will bear inside of eight months. The agents purchase at 15 cents per bushel, the farmers, who are in sore need of cash, readily selling at that figure. If Mr. Armour sells finally at 25 cents, it is seen that his profits will be immense, but it is more likely that he will hold for 50 cents. In case of a short crop in 1896 he may get 75 cents or more. Thus does the farming community fall victim to the money king. Instead of a fair profit, the farmers sell, per force, at a loss, while the great capitalist rakes in millions of dollars. It was known that Mr. Armour was at the head of a syndicate to loan money to stock- raisers on their grazing herds, but this outright buying of the corn crop has been engineered on the quiet. The stock- raisers, like the general farmers, need cash just now and they are borrowing it freely, so that Armour will not only own the corn but he will also have a first mort- gage on the cattle market. Of course there is nothing illegal in these operations, but it does seem outrageous that nothing can be done to defeat or check them. Such power in the hands of an individual or a syndicate is most dangerous. It is often boasted that the farming and live stock interests, if no others, could steer clear and be independent of trusts, but the situation at present indicates the weakness of those boasts. Cattle, hog and even sheep raisers are all falling into the clutches of the combination, the free- wool Wilson bill being responsible for the hard times among the sheep owners. A crisis has been reached in the affairs of the agricultural and live stock interests of the entire central West and the farmers of the whole country should unite in meet- ing it. It is idle to deny it longer. Times were never more desperate for cen- tral Western farmers than at present. Various crops, except corn, have suffered through drought, and the hog cholera alone has made ruinous inroads. All this being true, holders of corn and cattle are easy victims for the money kings. Cash must be had, and with offers of ready money, the corn is given up and the live stock is signed away. If ever there was a time for united action by the granges of the whole country, it is the living present. As in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa and Michigan, the operations of the cheap corn buyers have already been ex- tensive in Nebraska, but there is yet time to succor many of the farmers. The Neb- raska Farmer sounds the alarm and makes an excellent suggestion. It asks: " Is not a State, or a county, or a corporation larger than one man? In other words, cannot some system be devised for furnishing farmers with needed money, their bins of corn serving as collateral ? By this means whatever of value is in the corn remains with the farmer and the community of which he is a part, and does not go to swell the millions of a man whose fortune represents and is measured by the losses of others. Such men would not be in the field buying up our corn if any adequate protection were provided producers. If the people of the corn belt do not have opportunity to learn a useful lesson this year, we shall miss our guess." 1 THE DIVERSIFIED FARM * 1 la diversified farming by irrigation lies the salvation of agriculture 1 CORN AND SOME OF ITS AS- SISTANTS. [Abstractor address by President G-. E. Morrow of the Oklahoma Agricultural College, before the Kansas State Board of Agriculture.] INDIAN corn is America's greatest gift to the agriculture of the world. It is the chief cultivated crop of the United States and of Kansas. The official esti- mates of the crop of the United States for 1895 give an average of more than 82,000,- 000 of acres (more than one and one-half the size of Kansas) and a yield of 2,151,- 000,000 of bushels, valued, even at present low prices, at $567,000,000. The State estimates of the Kansas crop show an average of well over 8,000,000 acres, or one-half the total average in cultivated crops, and about one- sixth of the total area of the State, and a yield of 201,000,000 of bushels. It may help us to get some idea of the enormous quantity these figures represent if we recall the fact that the Kansas crop would fill a crib ten feet wide and ten feet deep and 900 miles long, or would make a tower covering one acre and reaching two miles into the air. Corn is a true grass and we have un- derestimated its value by thinking too ex- clusively of its seed— not fully recognizing the great food value of the stalks and leaves. It is a conservative estimate that the value of these per acre equals the value of one ton of good grass hay. In the corn growing regions corn stalks may well be substituted for timothy or prairie grass hay. The silo admirably preserves the stalks or the entire plant. With the aid of the recently improved machinery for shredding the stalks they may be put into almost ideal condition, when it is not convenient to have a silo. Aside from the percentage of water, corn fodder has a chemical composition not materially dif- ferent from that of the hay grass. The food constituents are digestible in large de- gree but the large stalks are not in shape to be readily eaten. Made into ensilage or shredded, this difficulty is largely re- moved. 82 Corn is long to remain the great grain food for American farm animals and will, probably, be more largely used as food, for man in the future. Almost entirely new uses will be found for the grain as well as better methods of utilizing it for its present uses. There is great difference in the value of different varieties — especially in their adaptation to different climates and soil. Much has been done in the improvement of varieties, but much more remains to be done. It is believed possible to develop corn so as to better adapt it to a dry climate than are the varieties we now have. Much experience shows the im- possibility of corn having all good quali- ties in the highest degree in any one variety. For Kansas especially, those parts most subject to hot winds and drought, medium large varieties ripening as early as practicable seem best. There is much ad- vantage in having the stalks of moderate height, with short joints, giving greater leaf surface. In a greater degree than in some other regions early planting is important. Prob- ably nowhere is thorough preparation of the soil before planting more important. Subsoil plowing will be helpful on much Kansas and Oklahoma soil, largely because of its effect in enabling the soil to absorb and retain more moisture. If anything has been proven by experi- mentation in regard to corn, it is that deep cultivation of the growing crop is general- ly injurious — especially after the plants have made much growth. Root turning is almost always a necessary evil at the best, and the less of it that is done the better. In dry seasons the roots are not so near the surface. No positive rule can be given as to depth. In Central Illi- nois three inches was found as deep as it was desirable to stir the soil in cultivating the crops. Were it not for the action of the strong winds, a level, finely pulverized surface is clearly the best. The number of stalks per acre for the largest yields varies somewhat with the THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 83 size of the mature stalk but probably more with the climate — decreasing as we go north. A regular, uniform "stand" is an essential to a large yield. Overcrowd- ing is to be avoided but an insufficient or uneven stand is a frequent source of small yields. Probably from 8,000 to 10,000 stalks per acre may be a fair range for Kansas. The food value of the crop increases until the plants are fully matured; the total dry matter increases greatly even after the stalks have reached their full size. There is some loss from winds blowing off tassels and leaves. Valuable as corn is, it cannot do every- thing. It needs assistance. We cannot afford to grow it year after on the same soil. A rotation is helpful in many ways. For much of Kansas alfalfa is an admir- able crop both as a means for helping maintain the fertility of the soil and be- cause of its great value as food. When- ever it will thrive it should be grown in increasing quantity. Kansas and Oklahoma farmers are recognizing the folly of fighting against nature's laws. Eleven counties in the eastern fourth of the State grew more than one- fourth of the crop of the State. Twenty-four coun- ties in the western fourth grew about one- fortieth of the crop — eighteen of these growing only about 1,500,000 bushels. For the regions with insufficient rainfall the sorghums, especially the Kaffir corns, give promise of very great value. One of the great fields for work for boards of agriculture and experiment stations in the regions of light rainfall is in improv ing the varieties and in learning how best to cultivate and feed this great crop of the future. TRENCHING IRRIGATED LAND. BY F. C. BARKER, NEW MEXICO. TRENCHING is seldom practiced on irrigated land; partly on account of its cost, and partly because it is very little understood in this country. The European market gardeners trench their ground regularly every two years at least, and I am convinced that it would pay on all land where the crop to be raised is a valuable one. The operation jn thoroughly pulverizing and manuring the f-oil to a depth of eighteen to twenty-four inches, and it is needless to point out the great superiority of soil thus worked as compared with land manured and plowed in the ordinary way to the depth of, say, six to eight inches. Not only is there a much greater supply of plant food, but the loosening of the land to the depth of eighteen inches enables it to hold a greater amount of moisture, as every one knows who has tried subsoiling. For the benefit of those who have never seen trenching done, I will briefly state how I do it myself, as the operation is somewhat different where irrigation is practiced from what is the rule on unir- rigated land. In the first place the work should be begun as early in the fall or winter as the time can be spared, in order that it may be finished at least a month before the land is cropped. To begin with, cart onto the land barnyard manure at the rate of not less than sixty loads to the acre. Spread this and plow it under as deeply as possible. If necessary har- row or drag the land and then give it a good irrigation, so that the soil is moist- ened to the depth of at least two feet. Now leave the land for say, fifteen to twenty days, or until it gets sufficiently dry to work with the spade, and cart on sixty loads more of manure to the acre, deposit- ing it in small heaps at a distance of about sixteen feet from heai) to heap. Having provided yourself with a sharp digging spade eleven inches long,proceed to dig out a space four feet wide and one spit deep along one end of the piece of land. Wheel or cart this soil to the other end of the land, as you will need it to fill up the last trench. You will now have a trench four feet wide and one spade deep, onto which throw manure, and having spread it dig up this trench one epade deep, mix- ing the manure with the soil. Then dig up another stretch four feet wide, throw- ing the soil upon that which was last dug. Now manure and dig the second trench and continue the process until you get to the other end of the land, where you will find the soil for filling the last trench. You will thus have the whole field dug and manured two spades deep. In actual practice I find that the first digging does not leave the trench over seven inches deep, as the spade on loose soil does not clear out all the earth, a good deal of it falling from the spade; bu{, the second digging 84 THE IRRIGATION AGE. goes fully eleven inches deep, thus leav- ing eighteen inches of well pulverized and manured soil, which would when finished be again irrigated, so that the manure is rotted before the crop is planted. As regards the cost, this will depend upon the texture of the soil and the class of labor employed. A man accustomed to the use of the spade will do fifty per cent more work in a day than a novice. I have employed native Mexican labor, paying them seventy-five cents per day and I find that when they get used to the work two men will trench an acre of land in twenty- four days, bringing up the cost to $36 per acre. This does not include the cost of manure, and the hauling and spreading of same, nor the first plowing. Of course, only expensive crops, like garden truck, strawberries, and other berries, will pay for this intense culture. In the case of strawberries the farmer will take three crops off the land before it again needs trenching, and I think anyone will admit that land thus cultivated will easily produce 1,000 quarts per acre more than land treated in the ordinary way; or a total crop of 4,000 quarts instead of the usual average of 3,000 quarts. Reckoning the strawberries at five cents per pound on the vines you have a gain of $150 per acre during the three years to pay for the cost of trenching. On many soils it would pay to bring the bottom spit to the top and so have virgin soil in which to plant. The trenching is then done in the following manner: First, dig a trench twenty inches wide and eighteen inches deep. Then dig twenty inches wide and one spade deep and throw the soil into the bottom of the trench. Then dig the bottom spit of the second trench and throw it onto the top of the first trench. In following this system of trenching, manure the top of the land as already described. This top soil will be placed at the bottom of the trenches and the soil brought up by the second spading will need manuring after the land is all trenched. This can be done by hauling the manure onto the land, spreading and plowing it in. I believe it will pay to trench land for all crops like cabbage, cauliflower, straw- berries, raspberries, blackberries, goose- berries, and currants, that need a very $eep and rich soil. No deep plowing can in any way approach it. One hears of plowing ten inches deep, but take a foot rule and measure it and you will generally find only about seven inches of soil culti- vated. Of course, cultivation with a plow, followed by a subsoiler, is much cheaper, but you will want four very good horses to stir the soil eighteen inches deep, and then you only have the top half manured, whereas by trenching you have eighteen inches of cultivated and manured soil. IRRIGATION AND FERTILIZERS, BY E. M. SKEATS. C ARMING under irrigation and farm- 1 ing in an arid climate with artificial water supply are generally synonymous, but the two phrases suggest distinct trains of thought. Very much has been written on farming under irrigation and its advan- tages have been eloquently set forth by many. The advantages are usually summed up in abundant sunshine, abun- dant water and therefore abundant crops. But has experience in irrigated districts corroborated these claims? In a few instances no doubt it has, in more in- stances it has not, and why ? Chiefly, I venture to say, because the peculiarities of an arid climate are not sufficiently rec- ognized by the farmer from the rain belt. Every district has its own peculiarities of climate, water and soil, but there are certain things common to nearly all arid countries and these are: 1. Abundant bright sunshine. 2. An abnormally dry atmosphere. 3. Clear, cool nights with excessive radiation of heat into space. 4. Soil rich in inorganic plant food but almost destitute of nitrogen except in a few favored spots. To make the most use of the sunshine the water and the inorganic riches it is absolutely necessary to supply nitrogen to its full amount. It is desirable to render the atmosphere more humid for most crops, and for many plants it is impera- tive to take the night radiation into ac- count; any overshadowing will lessen this, such, for instance, as the proximity of a tree. Time and diversified farming over large areas will do all we want, but we cannot afford to wait, and need not. To get big results from the land THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 85 ical manures have been tried by many with fair results, but with what a waste of money! All the constituents paid for except the nitrogen might generally have been dispensed with. For arid lands, as a rule, good stable manure from animals fed on leguminous hay is by far the best fertilizer, and a lib- eral use of it by the first settlers is essen- tial io full success. Next to this the best results will prob- ably be had by the plowing in of legu- minous crops such as clover, alfalfa, cow- pea vines, etc., and they should be plowed in in the fall and the ground kept moist through the winter. Every farmer, too, should so manage his farm as to have a leguminous crop come off all his arable land at least once every other year if possible, and he should take care to see that his very soluble nitrates are not leached out of his soil during the process of irrigation. I think he will find that heavy winter irrigation will go very far to prevent this. The nitrates have not formed to any extent by then, and the water deep down in the soil will act as a supply for half the sum- mer, rendering a minimum of irrigation necessary in the hotter growing months. The humidity of the atmosphere may but be obtained by the planting of trees and covering the ground with crops. I think it will be found that with young orchards, especially in new districts, more and better growth will be had amid corn or other tall plants than in the open with clean cultivation. The moisture evapo- rated from the large leaf surface is ac- countable for this in great part. I need hardly add that the water evaporated thus into the air must be met by increased irri- gation for the trees. SORGHUM FOR SYRUP AND FEED. BY MARY BEST. MANY readers of THE IRRIGATION AGE have written asking for further in- formation about sorghum, especially the varieties best suited for syrup. I am glad to be able to answer such inquiries as far as possible through the magazine. Mr. A. A. Denton, who had charge of the extensive government station at Ster- ling, Kansas, has kindly permitted me to use any of his reports pn this subject, and I have also availed myself of the results gained at the station at Medicine Lodge. It is singular how little people appear to care as to what variety of sorghum they buy, and yet it is of the first and last im- portance to learn which kind is best suited for their purpose, and then, above all else, to see that pure seed alone is used. I have been looking through the cata- logues of several large seed houses and, while they advertise new and improved varieties of almost every other grain or forage plant, not one word is said about sorghum except the same old song. "Am- ber and orange" as special for syrup, and a general lump sum of "other kinds for fodder." This is the more remarkable when we know that any one interested can so easily learn from the reports that in the thorough and comprehensive work done by the U. S. Department of Agriculture "amber and orange" have been entirely superseded by Folgers and Colman, and that out of the hundreds of other varieties Collier alone stands equal with the two last named. The United States through the Department of Agriculture have spent an immense amount in the work of sorghum seed improvement and selection, not only showing how to accomplish this, but act- ually doing it on a scale never equaled, not even by the work in Europe on beet seed. Perhaps about no other plant in America is the information so complete and definite, or so little appreciated. It may be that the very luxuriance of the plant, its ease of cultivation, and grateful response to a little care and attention make people careless and indifferent to the great possibilities under the best condi- tions. There is really little difference in the so-called varieties, being more agricultural than botanical. In 1888 there were many hundred different names; the whole work since then has been to select the best, dis- carding all others, and to improve the few chosen. In 1892, four varieties were ac- knowledged ahead of all others and espe- cially desirable from a sugar standpoint for their quality of remaining true to parent feed. These were Folgers. Colman, Collier and Planter. The latter had no special advantages not embodied in the otherthree, and therefore has been dropped for general cultivation, as it lacked some of their virtues. At Medicine Lodge and Sterling gov- 86 THE IRRIGATION AGE. ernment stations and by private growers, it has been shown that Folgers is the best early cane. It has all the advantages of early maturation of amber, and is superior to it in every respect — in yield per acre, sugar content, and for syrup making. Mr. Denton, on being asked which is the best cane for syrup, replied, Folgers, for it is the one out of all others yielding a large amount of syrup that does not crystallize. While it is a week or ten days later than amber in ripening, yet in all tests of the two we have found one hundred days after planting it had an equal amount of su- crose. Colman is a splendid cane. A cross be- tween amber and orange, it is far ahead of either; it is firmly established and not only maintains the high standard reached, but improves from year to year. It is of great value for sugar, gives a large tonnage, and is a good resistor of drought and frost, giv- ing also a heavy seed crop. As a good cane for feed it is only surpassed by Collier. The Collier is the third selected as being superior with Folgers and Colman to all others, and is recommended as the best variety for northern latitudes where sor- ghum is grown for sugar. Its sugar con- tent is very high, and as winter feed it is simply perfection — tall, sweet and slender stalks, with an abundance of foliage which is resistant to frosts, and with the light seed heads stands up well even against our Kansas winds and calamity howls. It ripens early although a late cane and can be planted as late as June 15, and still mature. It gives a fine quality of syrup, which, however, very soon turns to sugar. Wherever corn can be grown sorghum will flourish and will bear drought infinite- ly better. On the other hand we have a few acres planted on land irrigated a week before seed was put in, and this crop is still standing for the reason that the only way we could devise to harvest a forest of sor- ghum, was to turn in the cattle, and let them eat at leisure. No machine we have can cut it. It looks as though the knowledge gained and money spent on perfecting this great plant was being rapidly wasted. Very few people are keeping their seed pure in this district. It is a thousand pities to have it all lost, for apart from the sugar question which is rapidly changing for the better, as a forage plant alone sorghum is more valuable as it is kept pure and each variety grown separately. SOILS AND PLANT FOOD. BY H. R. HILTON. [Extracts from paper read before the annual meeting of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture.] PLANTS need food, like animals, and, like animals, do best on a balanced ration. The essential elements of this balanced ration obtained from the soil are nitrogen, potash, phosphorus, lime, magnesia, iron and sulphur. If one of these is absent from the soil, or not in available form, the plant will be defective. If either nitro- gen, potash, phosphorus or lime are ab- sent, the plant will be short-lived. All of these elements are needed, and if one be missing, that one controls the life of the plant. Assuming that all food elements re- quired are present in sufficient supply, four important agents must still co-op- erate before the seed can germinate and the plant partake of the foods provided. These are heat, air, water and light. If there is a deficiency or excess of either one of this quartette, plant life suffers; if all are present in right proportions the plant reaches its highest perfection. Each plant has its own requirement of heat, air and water, but when a tine textured soil has a temperature of 75° to 90°, F. and contains 20 to 30 per cent of its bulk of water, or 16 to 20 pounds of water to each 100 pounds of soil, an-d the air can permeate freely, it is in the most favorable conditions for the growth of our ordinary field crops. The mineral elements of plant food are usually abundant in our western soils. Some, like potash, are most abundant where the rainfall is least, and least abun- dant where the rainfall is greatest. Nitrogen, a product of decaying animal and vegetable matter in the soil, is the most costly, the most easily wasted or lost from the soil and the most valuable to the plant itself of all the food elements ob- tained from the soil. Organic matter (i. e. , animal and vege- table matter) in its various processes of decomposition in the soil is called humus, THE DIVERSIFIED 87 The products of this decomposition are ammonia, carbonic acid and water. The agencies in this work are micro-organisms in the soil. The ammonia is converted by other micro-organisms into nitrous and nitric acid. The carbonic acid acts on the mineral elements of the soil and aids in rendering them more soluble and available to the plant. The work of these lower organisms is important. German and French investi- gators have found from 500,000 to 900,000 germs in a gram of soil (less than half a cubic inch). These micro-organisms can only exist where organic matter is present and will be many or few as organic matter is abundant or scarce. They are dormant when the temperature of the soil is below 39° F. or above 115° F. ; dormant when the moisture content of the soil falls below 8 to 10 per cent, or about one inch in depth of water to one foot in depth of soil; dor- mant when the soil is fully saturated with water and dormant when air is excluded either by too much water in the soil or by soil compaction. They are most act- ive when the soil is about half saturated, i. e. , from 20 to 30 per cent of the bulk of soil, or say 16 to 20 pounds of soil, and when the temperature of the soil is 75° to 90° F. and the air has free access to sup- ply oxygen. Many farmers consider the destruction of weeds the important object of cultiva- tion, but this is secondary to the mainte- nance of those favorable conditions in the soil that will secure the presence of air, water and heat, so related as to promote the highest development of the plant. In applying stable manure to the soil organic matter is being supplied for the bacteria to work upon, and to get the most value out of the manure, soil conditions favorable to the nitrifying processes must be maintained or much of this valuable promoter of fertility will be wasted. We have little control over the tempera- ture of the soil, except as it is warmed in the early spring by cultivation, or lowered at mid-summer by shading the ground with green foliage. Our soil tempera- tures are not excessive even in mid- sum- mer if a corresponding proportion of water is maintained, but a deficiency in the water supply makes a lowering of the soil temperature desirable while the deficiency exists. The air is always within reach and avail- able when the soil is in permeable condi- tion. Time to Irrigate.— When to irrigate is a serious problem with many, especially so with new settlers. To lay down an inflex- ible rule for irrigation would be absurd. One answer is, to watch the appearance of the crop and give water as the condition demands it. Root crops will thrive best if irrigated frequently. Corn when small should have but little water, quite fre- quently none until it is several inches high, but when it is earing out it will require a great deal of water. This is true of all crops when the grains are filling out and the most rapid growth is being made. The water should be shut off when the grain is hardening. To allow water to stand about the plants with a hot sun shining on them is often fatal. Cabbage and even alfalfa in some soils can be killed in this way. The ap- plication of water to growing crops is a matter that requires a great deal of inves- tigation. There are so many conditions to be considered and different objects to be accomplished that comparatively little is known as yet of this science. Both qual- ity and quantity are regulated by the use of water; then what is best in some soils is not good in others, so that the old timer even finds new difficulties to contend with when he changes his location, even though but a few miles away. Winter Water Reservoirs. — The win- ter rains and snows are a constant source of waste of water that might be held in natural basins or easily constructed reser- voirs for use in irrigating during the com- ing season. There is no better time than the present for irrigators to investigate the subject of securing an independent source of water supply. Land without water is almost worthless in many sections of the West, yet with a sufficient supply to meet all the demands for irrigation the land be- comes valuable in proportion to its location and fertility. If the soil is of a character to admit of constructing catchment reservoirs every available location should be used. In the foothills of most mountain valleys are base- ments covering from one to fifty acres where, with a little work, a large body of THE IRRIGATION AGE. winter water can be stored. Small chan- nels, made with an ordinary plow, will be sufficient to lead the water from a large area to the reservoirs. In this manner the rains, that otherwise would only swell the mountain streams and run away causing frequent floods and destruction of prop- erty, can be utilized and made to furnish moisture for the next season. The snow is a prolific source of supply for these res- ervoirs, and many small streams of winter and early spring can be trained into the channels leading to the reservoirs. The Woolly Aphis.— Cyrus Marshall, of San Marcos, California, gives this remedy for the apple tree pest as follows: "Some six years ago I found fifteen or more apple trees infested with woolly aphis. The trunks were more or less covered with them and they had distributed themselves on the higher branches on most of the trees. I had a mixture, kerosene, of course, being the principal ingredient, and applied with a very small brush to the parts affected. As fast as I killed them they came up to the roots and appeared again upon the trees. I consulted all the men I saw who were learned upon the subject of tree pests, and received from each a remedy, none of which was a success. The second year, after vainly working, I dug deep around each tree and found masses of diseased roots attached to the main roots, woven together in labyrinth, and from three to four inches in diameter. In the interstices were thou- sands in different stages of development. I cut these diseased masses of roots clean from the trees, and put around each tree two or three gallons of hard- wood ashes, and then filled up with the earth. It was not necessary to repeat the experiment, ex- cept with five or six trees, and did not lose one, and have since had no woolly aphis." Care of Fruit Trees in Winter. — When trees stand too thickly in grown orchards, excluding air and sunshine, all inferior trees should be dug out. Each tree to bear well should be exposed to the light on all sides. Many a cord of wood might be taken from most orchards and y^t plenty of trees remain to serve their purpose better. Remove all rough dead bark from the trees with a scraper, and whitewash the body of the tree nearly \ip to the limbs. This destroys all insects, the bark will be renewed and the whole tree restored. The ecrapings, however, must be burned or the pests will live on the ground. This work can be done any time during the winter. Our Poultry Population. — No accoun was taken of the hen product until the census of 1880, when it was found that we had approximately 100,000,000 fowls in the United States, laying nearly 457, 000,000 dozen eggs. During the subse quent ten years the number of fowls had more than doubled, though the increase in the egg product was not so great, doubtless because of the greater consump- tion of broilers. The exact figures are as follows : Census. Fowls. 1890 258,472,155 1880 102,265,653 (Jeese, ducks and turkeys. Uoz. eggs. 26,816,545 817,211,146 23,234,687 456,875,080 Increase. 156,206,502 3,581,858 360,336,066 The increase in the number of fowls was 153 per cent between 1880 and 1890, and of eggs 79 per cent. Estimating the value of eggs at 12 cents a dozen on the farm the year through, we would have the egg supply of the United States worth $55,000,000 in 1879, and $98,000,000 in 1889. Taking the farm value of a fowl at 25 cents, we should have $64,618,039 as the representative value of all American hens. Adding this to the $98,000,000 for eggs, we get $162,618,539 as the value of the fowl crop of the United States. This is 150 per cent greater than the value of all American sheep in 1895, and $62,000,- 000 greater than their value in 1890. One Acre, ivith Irrigation. — The fol- lowing is a closely estimated average of crops raised on one acre in Otero county, Colorado, last year : Wheat twenty-six bushels, oats thirty-seven bushels, rye thirty bushels, barley forty bushels, corn forty-one bushels, beans twenty-two bush- els, potatoes 160 bushels, sweet potatoes 110 bushels, peanuts 150 bushels, toma- toes 325 bushels, sugar beets twenty-two tons, alfalfa five tons; cabbage, sold at two cents a pound, eight tons, canta- loupes, sales for an acre, $248.30, net $203.20; watermelons, sales for an acre, '$134.40, net $96.40. LEGISLATION THAT IS URGENTLY DEMANDED. THE National Grange, various State Granges — among them the strong Illinois body — and the Illinois Farmers' Institute, all recently in session, demand from Con- gress and the Illinois and Indiana State Legislatures pure food laws — laws which shall suppress the manufacture and sale of bogus butter, bogus cheese and bogus lard. And the National Dairy Union, which has just closed its session in Chi- cago, voices the same just demand. Com- mittees were chosen by the Union to wait on Congress and the Illinois and Indiana Legislatures. Other Western and Central States, except Illinois and Indiana, already have State laws to protect honest products. THE attention of Congress and the Illi- nois Legislature is also called to the fact that a great and extensive business is done in Chicago in horse meat — sold as beef. The stuff could be seized in hun- dreds of meat markets at any hour any day. Horses are not only slaughtered here but supplies of corned horse are re- ceived from western points in barrels and cans. ANOTHER meeting, with more creden- tialed delegates than there are to a na- tional political convention, has also just been held in Chicago. This was the first annual meeting of the National Associa- tion of Manufacturers. About 15,000 people were in attendance, representing manufacturers of the country worth hun- dreds of millions of dollars. A national organization of the manufacturers was ce- mented, and that great organization pro- poses to have a voice in regard to future legislation concerning the manufactures, trade and commerce (domestic and foreign) of the United States. Its very reasonable demands for the present will doubtless be granted by this or the succeeding Con- gress. THE far Western States are waiting on Congress for an act giving them the arid land grants outright, and the Territories ask to be included in the measure. A Government Commission for the regulation of irrigation water supplies has been rec- ommended by Commissioner Lamoreux. Western America is also waiting on the United States Supreme Court for a de- cision of the constitutionality of the State District Irrigation laws. THE commercial bodies of the country demand a much more thorough recogni- tion of the business interests by the gov- ernment, and the bill in Congress for the establishment of a Department of Com- merce will doubtless be pushed through. The head of the department will be a member of the Cabinet. It is suggested that the scope of the new department should be extended to embrace a general supervision of the tariff. MEMBERS representing $100,000,000 worth of lake vessel property attended the annual meeting of the Lake Carriers' As- sociation at Detroit. Congress was me- morialized against the proposed railroad bridge over the Detroit river, and in favor of deep water in the connecting rivers and canals. The proposed bridge at Detroit was denounced as a scheme of the new railroad trust to cripple the lake shipping and retard quick shipments by water. THERE is nothing preposterous at all in the demand for free rural mail delivery. It can be performed cheaply enough by postmen on horseback or on bicycles. Every agricultural paper in the country should advocate this proposed measure, so that farmers may receive their papers soon after they reach the country post- office. FARMERS are crying out for the seed dis- tribution, and a bill is to be introduced forcing Secretary Morton's department to furnish them. That investigation of the Agricultural Department will bring out a long list of complaints. ^Vis\t/\i/\i/ ViA4f U>Vi/\4s\J/^\is Vis \is\4s Vis \ T— * TT* Vick's Floral Guide (Price roc.) I"1 FvC-tL to select seeds from. \Ve cannot send this valuable book to parties who do not remit. This offer holds good for thirty days only. FIRESIDE PUB. CO., Rochester. K. Y. DR. OWEN'S I ELECTRIC BELTS CURE WHERE MEDICINES FAIL, All Nervous Diseases in Man or Woman from any cause Rheumatism and chronic ills. Write for Catalogue and tree Consultation. OR. A. OWEN 201 STATE STREET, CHICAGO. IRRIGATE YOUR LAND ^H^BBb USE THE LINK BEI-T WATER ELEVATOR. Cheapest machine on the market. Capacities from 500 to 6,000 gallons per minute. Hundreds now in suc- cessful operation. Send for circular and price list. Agents wanted. LINK BELT MACHINERY CO., Chicago, 111., U. s. A. 'THE BOSS" TREE PROTECTOR. Protect your growing trees from Rabbits, Squirrels, Gophers, Frost, Sunburn, Grasshoppers High Winds. Made of Yucca Palm; Strong, Durable, Cheap and Guaranteed to give Perfect Satisfaction. We make all Sizes. Send for Sample Free. PRICES. 18 in. long, $12.50 per thousand 24 in. long, 15.00 per thousand 30 in. long, 17.50 per thousand Agents Wanted Everywhere YUCCA MFG, CO, Third St., near Santa Fe B. R. LOS ANGELES, CAL. ^HUMPHREYS' VETERINARY SPECIFICS lor Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Dogs, Hogs, AND POULTRY. 500 Page Book on Treatment of Animals and Chart Sent Free. CURES < Fevers,Congestions, Inflammation A. A. (Spinal Meningitis, Milk Fever. B.B.~ Strains, Lameness, Rheumatism. C.C.— Distemper, Nasal Discharges. D.D.— Bots or Grubs, \\ornir . E.E.— Coughs, Heaves, Pneumonia. F«F. -»Colic or Gripes, Bellyache. G.G.— Miscarriage, Hemorrhages. II. H.— Urinary and Kidney Diseases* I.I. —Eruptive Diseases, Mange. J.H.— Diseases of Digestion, Paralysis. Single Bottle (over 50 doses), - - .60 Stable Case, with Specifics, Manual, Veterinary Cure Oil and Medicator, $7.00 Jar Veterinary Cure Oil* - - 1.00 Sold byDrngglsts; or sent prepaid any where and In any quantity on receipt of price. HUMPHREYS' MED. CO., Ill & 1 IS William St., New Turk. $100,000. Worth New Crop Seeds. Tons anil Tons of Onion, Beet, Cabbage, Cucumber, Melon, Lettuce, Radish, Squash, Tomato, Turnip Seed, etc., and thousands of bushels of Beans, Corn, Peas, Seed Potatoes, etc., and any quantity of Flower beeds, Bulbs and Plants are offered at astonishing low prices. Every person intending to purchase $6.00 worth of Seeds, Bulbs, Plants, Potatoes, etc., should send for my "Planter's Wholesale Catalogue" filled with all the best, and prices are from 30 to 50 per cent, cheaper than any other Seedsman will make you. By ordering $5.00 worth or more, is why I can supply you at wholesale. Two or three neighbors can club together and make the order $5.00 and get these prices. Do not buy until you see this Great List. It's free to all. Nothing published like it. Write for a copy to-day. F. B. MIL.L.S, Seed Grower, ROSE II II. I,, N. Y. THE IRRIGATION AGE. VOL. IX. CHICAGO, APRIL, 1896. NO. 4, THE ART OF IRRIGATION/ CHAPTER XI. IRRIGATING WITH FURROWS (Continued). UNDERGROUND WATER. FLOODING. BY T. S. VAN DYKE. ALL systems of making water soak side- ways from ditches are practically the same, no matter by what name called or how many distinctions may be multiplied from different ways of running the water. Filling up the soil with water from below by seepage from large ditches around the tract differs somewhat from this, but hard- ly enough to justify calling it a new sys- tem. Sometimes it is done unintentionally and on a very large scale, as in parts of the great San Joaquin valley in California, where the steady seepage for several years from large ditches and waste water has raised the level of underground water, over tens of thousands of acres, from sixty or seventy feet to six or seven or less. Some- times it is unintentionally done on a small scale by the use of too much water on land having hardpan, clay or other imper- vious material beneath. On all land not well drained it is liable to happen from very ordinary waste after the land has been ir- rigated several years. And sometimes it is done intentionally where the conditions will allow it. And where the soil is very " leachy " (lets water through too fast) it may be advisable to do it as the cheapest method, and in some rare cases the only method. Its simplicity commends it in many cases where other methods are far better, and it is the favorite of many a lazy man who has plenty of water, because there is nothing to do but let it rua. Sometimes the ditches are made around the tract, some- times across it, sometimes both; often they are large and often small, but it is all the same, and is generally possible only on land that is quite sandy. At first glance it seems fine to dispense with work and cultivation in this way, and have the roots go down out of the way of evaporation. Being a kind of subirriga- tion, it has all the attractions of that sys- tem with apparently none of the disadvan- tages of underground pipes. Time, however, shows that many things are injured by having the roots in stand- ing water, while some are killed. It is doubtful if anything does as well that way as under surface irrigation on land well drained. It certainly does not if the water becomes stagnant and heavily im- pregnated with salts of iron, making it "sour," as it is often called. And if the water is clear and changing, with a steady underground flow, it is doubtful if any- thing does as well in it. While alfalfa will grow on such ground, and often give large yields, it has been proved over and over again that alfalfa, on well drained open soil with surface irrigation, is still better. The same is true of the pear, which will often do well on ground too wet for other deciduous trees, but with plenty of water does still better on well drained benches. With the orange and lemon, and most of the deciduous fruits, there is no longer room for question. Grapes of some kinds will bear heavily on wet land, but you can see the difference on higher soil, while the finest corn I ever saw was *A11 rights reserved by the author. 154 THE IRRIGATION AGE. on land twenty feet from water and heav- ily irrigated with warm water on the top. Eight acres averaged 115 bushels to the acre, and most of it was over fourteen feet high. I have seen very fine corn in the same region and on the same kind of soil, low along the river where the water was but a foot from the top, but it would not run over ninety bushels. On the whole, it is pretty safe to say, do not irrigate in this way for anything unless there is some special economy in it, and then plant only such things as you are sure will stand it. Where the head of water is great and the feeding flume large enough, furrow irrigation may become practical flooding, as in the picture given in Chapter X of bad furrow irrigation. If you had 180 streams of one miner's inch each, and should run them for twenty-four hours on ten acres, this would be one half of 360 twenty-four-hour inches, or about half the whole allowance for the year under many of the best water rights in Southern Cali- fornia. This would equal about nine inches in depth, or three-quarters of an acre foot. Nothing but very coarse sand could take such an amount of water as that, even if distributed over the twenty-four hours evenly in steady fine rain. The folly of trying to put it on from a ditch must be apparent. Yet that was about what the irrigator was trying to do in the picture of bad furrow work. It leaches out fertiliz- ers, cuts the soil and is in every way bad. When the soil is so coarse as to require such large streams you are approaching the point where it is best to flood. Noth- ing but sandy or gravelly land will need streams of an inch apiece, and nothing but land nearly level will stand them. You have, therefore, the conditions for flood- ing, and had better do it directly than in- directly. You can then save your fertil- izers, avoid cutting and do better work. Where you can get a large head of water for only a short run you are gen- erally compelled to flood no matter how well small streams might run upon the soil. This is liable to be the case at times on many ditches depending on the flow of a stream and not supplemented by reservoirs. If the amount of water used is based on the average of the sum- mer flow, as it should be instead of on the minimum, on which no one can figure and which should not be established as the limit of the capabilities of any country, there will be times when a run of large heads for a very short time may be the only way of accommodating all consumers. This is liable to happen at the driest and hottest part of the season when vegeta- tion is demanding the most water to evaporate and will suffer the most if it does not have it. And sometimes it wants it furnished very quickly, too. In such case you may have to take a hundred inches of water for five acres and handle it all in two hours or so. And you may have to be on hand at three o'clock in the morning to take your turn, and every minute you lose is so much gone, for at the precise minute it is cut off. Such occasions are short, but you should figure on them as possibilities. You should find out such matters before buying or plant- ing, and especially before deciding what system to adopt. Sometimes it is easy to change from flooding to furrows and vice versa. But sometimes it is not. It will depend very much on how you have pre- pared the ground. PREPARATION FOR FLOODING. If land is to be flooded even more care should be taken in preparing it than if it is to be watered from furrows. The depth of water in all the checks should be as nearly the same as is consistent with reasonable economy in grading. And it will not do to economize too much in this. In many cases it would ultimately pay to terrace the land somewhat in very broad steps, taking care to leave no jump off places, but smoothing it down so that ma- chines can run over it. If the checks are not level then the water stands deeper in one place than in another. For best results the water should be rushed over the land in as thin sheets as possible, and never allowed to stand longer than requisite for enough soaking. Otherwise uneven wet- ting results and the lower part is puddled too much, both bad whether cultivation is to follow watering or whether the piece is in something permanent, like alfalfa. If your land has a slope of twenty-five feet to the mile, which looks almost level on a large plain, checks one hundred feet wide would have the water in the lower side about six inches deeper than on the upper side. If you increase the depth so as to give enough to the upper side you injure the lower, for the six inches it already has are too much for almost any THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 155 crop or orchard. If you reduce the size of the checks to twenty feet you still have over an inch difference. This is all right for orchard work, but checks as small as that are generally a nuisance for alfalfa or most field crops. To bring the larger check right would require only a few inches shaved off the bottom of the upper side and spread over the lower. To do this well is not very expensive and would in most cases be repaid by the better crops and greater ease of handling the run of water. This is best done by large scrapers that carry dirt easily in large quantities, like the Fresno scraper. The man who attempts to economize at this stage of irrigation is very foolish and will ever regret it. Preparation of the ground is two-thirds of the battle, and this is the last case in which to underestimate the enemy. To repair the mistake afterward is generally difficult and in case of or- chards nearly impossible. It will also pay to have the flow from the feeding ditch regulated by something better than dirt and the water had better be diverted by something better than a dam of earth or a piece of cloth on two skewers or a bit of board stuck in the ground. Even a sheet iron dam is not the best. It costs little to fix all these things well at the outset and a good gate of lumber with a cut off from the main takes very little material and can be made at home. The shape of the checks into which the field is to be cut to hold the water is of no consequence. If permanent they are best made according to the contour of the land; if temporary, square. Where the ground will permit it is common to make them square, but they are made in all sorts of shapes according to the lay of the land, the nature of the crop and the whim of the irrigator. If they can- not well be made rectangular for orchards it is pretty, good proof that the land has not been well prepared and you had better stop right there and go back and prepare it. When so prepared it is more easy for temporary work to make them in squares or "oblong squares," as rectangles are called, than any other form. The size of the checks will depend upon the slope of the land, the head of water at your disposal, and the nature of the crop. The more nearly level the land the larger you may make them. But you must first be sure that the head of water is large enough to fill them quite rapidly and discharge from the upper ones to the lower ones quite rapidly. Otherwise you will have slow and uneven flooding, which should always be avoided. If you should try to flood forty- acre checks with a fifty- inch head of water — a cubic foot a second —you would find yourself in trouble if you had many to fill. The speed with which the water will flow through the checks and pass to the next ones will depend also on what is in them. If there is a stand of alfalfa or grain in them the stalks will retard the flow. You must therefore have a larger head of water. If you have plenty of water, in heads large enough, it is gen- erally best for all field crops to make the checks as large as the slope of the ground will permit. Especially is this the case if they are to be left there permanently and be run over with mowing machines. But care must be taken not to have the ridge too high on the lower side. This may, however, be partially obviated by making them very broad at the base, and this should always be done where they are to be left and run over by machines instead of being broken up every time by cultiva- tion. In all cases they should be so strong that there is little danger of their break- ing. For if one goes the extra rush of water may take the next one, and in care- less work one may see a whole line of temporary checks go one after the other as certainly as a row of bricks. LARGE AND SMALL CHECKS IN MEXICO. The largest checks I have seen were near Lerdo in the siate of Durango in Mexico. While I have to depend on memory I am certain that I have there seen fields of corn and cotton half a mile square, irrigated in one check almost per- fectly level, and one cornfield in which I hunted ducks several times was fully a mile square. The water stood all over it at nearly uniform depth and the irri- gating head that I saw turned into it was fully five thousand inches or one hundred cubic feet a second. This work was well done and the crops were very fine. I can- not see that smaller ckecks would have been any better. And while a larger yield to the acre could have been had by better 156 THE IRRIGATION AGE. plowing and cultivation, it is not easy to say that the difference would have paid. There is little land anywhere that will justify such large checks. This was the most level land I have ever seen, and was probably once the bed of a lake fed by the River Nazas. The water was prac- tically of uniform depth throughout and took over two days to spread thoroughly over it. There were dry places all through it, but so very low and small that they amounted to nothing. They came, no doubt, from uneven plowing, but the water soaked through them fast enough. On the other hand, the smallest checks I have ever seen used for field crops were in Mexico on a large hacienda cear Jim- enez. Several thousand acres were planted in wheat, and' the whole was in checks about ten feet square. I was over it sev- eral times in January and the stand of wheat was very good and it no doubt made a fair crop. The land was black adobe. The checks were made with the common wooden plow of the country — a bit of log six or eight inches in diameter sharpened at the end. They had in places been patched up with a hoe, but the whole work was quite well done. It could pay only with very cheap labor like the peon labor of Mexico. The checks were undoubtedly so small on account of the slope, which did not appear great on account of big mountains in front, but which must have been considerable to require so much labor. METHODS OF THE CHINESE. For lettuce, radishes and other vegeta- bles to be grown very early, the Chinese market gardeners often use checks even smaller than ten feet, and even on level ground. They seem unable to tell the rea- son, but it no doubt is because they can in that way run a thin sheet of water over the whole, get it in the ground more evenly and in less time per square foot than could be done with larger checks. In this way there is no such chilling of the ground or puddling in places as if more water were turned into larger checks. By taking care in this way they raise good vegetables in fair quantity without any cultivation, even very tender ones suffer- ing little if any. But when it comes to later crops and things to be grown on a larger scale, the Chinaman finds this small checking too slow. He then makes them of many sizes and shapes. For tough stuff like cabbage he will sometimes make them half or even the whole length of the field, and from twenty to a hundred feet wide. He pre- fers furrows for almost everything where they can be used, but when they will not work to advantage he does not hesitate to flood. But he tries always to rush the thinnest sheet over the ground in the shortest time, unless the nature of the crop makes it unprofitable to spend too much work on it. He is a good irrigator and no one can afford to ignore his work. It is worth studying for the principles in- volved, and cheap as his labor is, he is still a close figurer in economizing work. For alfalfa and other field crops where the land is flat enough and the head of water large enough, forty acres make about as large a check as is generally con- sistent with economy. In the San Joaquin valley of California, probably the great- est alfalfa region in the world, many are larger than that. Many are also smaller, and it is difficult to see any advantage for ordinary farms in having them over ten acres for anything. While it is well to imitate the methods of prosperous settle- ments, you must still remember that the secret of success in flooding is to get the water in the ground as rapidly as possible and in as even sheets as possible, avoiding all puddling and scalding, which will re- sult if the water is allowed to stand any- where too long. Other things being equal the smaller the checks the more easy it will be to do this. (To be Continued.) WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION. CHAPTER IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERFLOWS. BY F. C. FINKLE, C. E. THE term underflow is often applied to any water below the surface of the ground. In this way it is sometimes em- ployed to designate both artesian and ordinary sub-soil water. Such an appli- cation of the term is decidedly improper and should be discouraged as far as pos- sible. As the term itself expresses, it means water which is both under the sur- face and flowing. It can, therefore, neither mean ordinary sub-soil water, which is standing water merely filling the voids in the sub-soil, nor artesian water, which is confined under pressure in under- . ground reservoirs and channels, and flows only when the impervious layer confining it is perforated by artificial means. Since underflow water does not exist on the surface it cannot be taken by simple diversion in the same manner as the sur- face flow of streams. When its utilization is contemplated for irrigation purposes the first step to be taken after its existence has been determined is to bring it to the surface. This is termed developing it. Before the mode of development is fixed upon there are several things which should be carefully determined. The most im- portant of these are: (1) Point where the water is to be, or can be used for irrigation. (2) Points where development is prac- ticable. (3) The probable volume of underflow. If no tract of land requiring irrigation is found to exist sufficiently near and be- low the bed of a stream possessing an underflow its development for irrigation purposes will of course be a useless under- taking. While it is a rare occurrence, in- deed, to find such a case in any arid region of the earth, yet it may occur and sometimes does. Rivers of slight inclination and high banks are often encountered, and in such cases territory which can be irrigated from them is difficult to reach by means of a gravity system. In doubtful cases the only way to determine such questions as the existence or extent of a body of land which can be irrigated from the underflow of a stream, and the cost of conveying the water, is by making surveys. Frequently no surveys are necessary for determining the point where the water can be used, as irrigable land exists in abundance and the fall of the stream and surrounding country is much greater than necessary. After a tract of land susceptible of be- ing benefited by the water in a degree which will insure the undertaking to be profitable has been located, a suitable place for the development of the under- flow must be sought. Such a place must, of course, be selected at an elevation suf- ficiently higher than the land to be served to render the conducting of the water to it possible by gravity flow. The point for developing an underflow should be as low down on a stream as it is possible to find one, in order to derive benefit from as large an area of watershed as practicable. The narrower the canyon of the stream the more easy it will be to develop the underflow by any of the methods which can be employed. A dam, tunnel or cut will be more cheaply con- structed across a narrow canyon than across a wide one. A place where the depth from the surface down to bed rock or to the impermeable stratum underlying the underflow is shallow is always a desir- able point for making the development. Shallowness to the bottom of the under- flow is even of more importance than a narrow channel. But both are of much importance and should be combined in as large a degree as possible in seeking a favorable place for the development of an underflow. If the proposed development is to be made by a cut, tunnel or submerged masonry dam, a point on the stream where the grade is rapid should be selected. This is im- portant as a factor in reducing the cost of the proposed works to a minimum. 158 THE IRRIGATION AGE. In streams of rapid descent a shorter cut or tunnel will suffice to reach the same depth, and in draining the founda- tions for a submerged dam less pumping will be required, as short drain cuts or tunnels can be employed. PROBA.BLE VOLUME OF UNDERFLOW. We have already seen how the existence of an underflow can be determined by the natural characteristics of the watershed and channel of a stream. By the same means the volume of the underflow can also be judged. That is to say it can be determined whether it is probable that the underflow is quite considerable, or whether it is small and unimportant. It is impos- sible, however, to determine the exact amount of the underflow from any obser- vations in regard to the channel and water- shed of a stream. In fact it can be seen very readily that it is a difficult matter to ascertain the volume of H stream of water flowing by underground percolation through sand and gravel. Some experi- ments covering the velocity of water per- colating through such materials as usually comprise the beds of rivers have been made by engineers. From these experi- ments the following laws have been de- duced: The velocity of percolating water varies directly as the density and character of the stratum through which it percolates, and as the square root of the one-hun- dredth part of the product of the slope and depth of the percolating stratum. The quantity of water percolating through any formation depends upon the mean velocity of percolation and the area of cross-section of the stratum of percolating water. By plotting the results of such experi- ments as have been made with varying grades, depths and classes of material they have all been found to follow quite closely the following formulae: v = O.lm and Q — a (0. 1m V Tirir, in which the let- ters denote the following factors: v = the mean velocity of the percolating water in feet per second. Q = the number of cubic feet of perco- lating water per second. a = area of cross-section occupied by water in the deposit containing the perco- lating watery in square feet. d = mean depth in feet of the deposit containing the percolating water. s = mean fall or inclination per foot of the deposit containing the percolating water, in feet. m = a variable factor. The value of the factor m depends on the density of the deposit of materials through which the underflow percolates. A deposit in which a large portion' of the mass consists of voids affords an easy out- let to percolating water, while one with less voids makes percolation more slow and difficult. The following values for the factor m have been deduced from such experiments as have been made and recorded: For coarse boulders of nearly uniform size, m — 1.0. For coarse boulders with some gravel, m= 0.9. For boulders with considerable gravel, m = 0.8. For coarse gravel, m = 0.1. For coarse gravel with some sand, m = 0.6. For coarse river sand with some gravel, t» = 0.5. For ordinary sharp river sand with very little gravel, m = 0.4. For coarse quicksand, m — 0.3. For medium quicksand, m — 0.2. For fine quicksand, m =• 0.1. For intermediate cases between those enumerated above the values of in can be approximated from those given. While it is not believed that the formulae given above will produce results which are entirely exact, yet, if the true conditions are arrived at, employing the formulae will give as close results as are required for all practical purposes. The best method for determining the depth and area of cross- section of an underflow is by making bor- ings at intervals across the stream from the top to the bottom of the water-bearing formation. If the expense of making such borings cannot be incurred, the only way to determine these things is by approxi- mation from such characteristics of the stream as are observable. The slope of the river bed, the proximity of bed rock at the sides of the channel, the dip or angle of the materials comprising the sides of the river bed, the width of the channel, the distance from the surface flow to the top of the underflow and other things of a like nature are often guides, which help to determine the probable depth and sec- tional area of the underflow. WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION. 159 Sometimes the underflow of a stream does not occur in the usual form of a con- tinuous sheet of water gradually percolat- ing through the sand and gravel of a river bed. There are instances where the for- mation is partially cemented and obstructs the free percolation of the underflow water. In cases of this kind the passage of the water is obstructed by the solidity of the formation and it breaks through in small streams, which are separated from each other by intervening dry formations. It sometimes occurs in instances of the latter class that the formation in the channel of the stream is so much more compact than that adjacent to the stream that the underflow is either partially or wholly deflected laterally and flows in a different direction from the stream itself. This, of course, does not occur in narrow, rocky canyons, but on streams with low banks of permeable material. On account of cases of this nature we often find that streams with a very large and good water- shed possess little or no underflow. The absence of underflow in streams, however, is generally due to other causes. These are the opposite of the characteristics of a watershed and stream channel, which have been previously outlined as essential to the creation of an underflow, and their discus- sion in detail is therefore deemed un- necessary. • ESTIMATING AND DEVELOPING IRREGULAR UN- DERFLOWS. Such underflows as have been discussed in the preceding paragraphs may be said to be irregular both from the fact of their being exceptional and on account of their departure from established rules. Conse- quently their volume cannot be estimated in the ordinary way, nor can they be de- veloped like regular underflows. Esti- mates as to the quantity of an irregular un- derflow must rest largely on the skill and judgment of the engineer who makes the investigations. Sometimes there are cir- cumstances which can make the results nearly certain, even in irregular cases, but usually the conclusions arrived at are merely rough approximations. The most satisfactory method of devel- oping an irregular underflow is by means of a system of tunnels and shafts crossing the stream at nearly right angles. The shafts are necessary in order to make the running of drifts on different levels possi- ble so as to follow the levels where streams occur in the formation. The first work should always be the sinking of shafts, after which the tunnels can be commenced back on a level to reach the required ele- vations. MODES OF UNDERFLOW DEVELOPMENT. The different methods of developing underflows are as follows: (1.) By cuts. (2) By tunnels. (3) By submerged dams. The conditions and circumstances sur- rounding each case must determine which of the above methods is to be employed in making the development. Without enter- ing into a discussion of the principles governing the designing and construction of these structures, which matters will be discussed in succeeding chapters, we will now briefly discuss the ruleg governing the application of the different methods of development already enumerated. THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERFLOWS BY MEANS OF OPEN CUTS. Cases are rare where open cuts can be employed wholly as a means for develop- ing the underflow waters of a stream. The objection to this mode of development in the ordinary run of cases encountered in practice is, that most streams are subject to heavy floods and overflow at certain times of the year. As the development usually has to be made in the bed of a stream, such floods or overflows would cause open cuts to be tilled up and ob- literated, so that the work would have ,to be done over periodically. The following instances often occur, however, in which this objection does not apply: (a) when the outlet of the underflow drain can be located outside of the overflow channel and the drain under it in such a manner that it can be covered over after being supplied with a flume or pipe; (6) when the stream is not subject to greater floods than can be controlled by aprons or bridges across the cut. When either of the above conditions ob- tains cuts can be considered as a method of development, provided always that the underflow at the proposed point is not too deep to be reached by means of a cut. Economy and practicability prescribe that a cut for the purpose stated should not exceed a certain depth. Both the cost of construction and the cost of future 160 THE IRRIGATION AGE. maintenance must be considered in de- termining whether a cut should be made or some other method employed. The materials encountered in river beds are commonly of a loose character and will not stand on abrupt slopes. It is therefore necessary to make the slope of the sides flat, which increases the quantity of earth to be moved very rapidly as the depth of the cut increases. When the limit in depth has been reached at which a tunnel can be con- structed and maintained equally as cheaply as a cut the former is to be preferred, even if a cut will be equally as safe. DEVELOPMENT BY MEANS OF TUNNELS. Tunneling is undoubtedly the most customary method of making underflow developments. It is always safe provided the proper location is made and the proper method of construction is employed. The mouth of the tunnel should invariably be located at one side of the channel of the stream and above the high water or flood mark. The mouth of the tunnel should also be located far enough down or away from the channel so that sufficient grade will be obtained to preserve a depth when the tunnel penetrates under the channel, which will place its depth at a point safely below the erosions liable to occur from the heaviest floods. At times an open cut and a tunnel can be combined more advan- tageously than the use of either one singly. When for a long distance outside of the regular channel and above the flood line the tunnel would run at a shallow depth below the surface, a cut can be made, thereby causing a considerable saving, until a depth is reached at which a tunnel would be more economical. SUBMERGED DAMS AS A MEANS OF DEVELOP- MENT. When the underflow is near the surface, and a point where bed rock approaches the sides of the canyon and is found at a shallow depth can be located, a submerged dam is possibly the cheapest method of development. This will prove to be true more particularly when the grade of the channel is light, so that a very long tunnel would be required. Before a submerged dam is undertaken it must be known with certainty that the bed rock is continuous and unbroken, so that no water will escape under the dam after it is completed. The object of a submerged dam is to raise the underflow to the surface, and leaks in the foundation, which will grow' and under- mine the structure or allow the water to escape under the dam, must be avoided. Submerged dams can sometimes be con- structed with some impervious stratum other than bed rock for a foundation. Such cases, however, are quite rare and undertakings of this sort more often result in failure than in success. Tunnels and submerged dams are often combined in the development of underflows. A tunnel may be used in connection with a submerged dam for the purpose of drain- ing the foundation to facilitate con- struction, or a dam may be constructed across the channel at some suitable point on the line of the tunnel for the purpose of collecting the underflow into the tunnel, or for holding it back and regulating its flow when only a part of it is required for use or when it is not to be used at all. (To be Continued.) A YOUNG ORCHARD IX CALIFORNIA. OREGON AS A FRUIT GROWING REGION BY H. T. W. THE eastern portion of the State of Oregon was, for a long time, regarded as being inferior to the strip of country lying west of the mountains, on account of the lack of rainfall, but since the advan- tages and possibilities of irrigation and diversified farming have become more generally recognized it has been the scene of active development. Its immense beds of valuable minerals, its rivers and vast cattle ranges made it a country' of great wealth, and. of late years its agricultural and industrial growth have kept it fully abreast the progress of modern civiliza- tion. In the eastern portion of the State bordering upon the Great Snake river lies Malheur county. Here is a country of hills and valleys, watered by running streams, enjoying the genial and health - giving climate which has been the fame of Southern Idaho. In this county, near the lively town of Ontario, is located the one thousand acre K. S. D. Fruit Farm. This farm has attracted wide attention on account of its magnificent park and beauti- ful driveways, Grand Boulevard being sixty feet wide and two miles long. The growing orchards, the broad acres of alfalfa and clover, surrounded on all sides by thousands of tall shade trees and flowing streams of clear water, give the place the appearance of an ancient private estate. This farm consists of about 1,000 acres, of which 360 have been planted in alfalfa, forty acres as a winter apple and pear orchard and ten acres as a prune and garden orchard, the balance being fenced and under ditch but not cultivated. There are 27,000 shade trees and 6,000 fruit trees on the farm which is located within one-half mile of the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad. The water for irrigation is supplied through two canals, one each from the Owyhee and Malheiir rivers. Six years ago the owners, Messrs. Kiesel, Shilling and Danilson, adopted a broad policy of improvement — fencing and cultivating the land, setting out fruit and shade trees, making roads, erecting barns and outbuildings, and finally taking an act- ive part in the building of the irrigation canal which was to furnish the water so necessary for the growing of crops and orchards. At the present time they are making preparations for the setting out of a large number of fruit trees, making a veritable orchard of the country. It is only a short time since the fruit industry was started in Eastern Oregon. Formerly the large producing orchards lay west of the Cascade range in the valleys adjacent to the coast cities where the great rainfall assured abun- dant crops of grain and fruit without irrigation, but they are beginning to see that the countries which the Creator has kept hidden away under a mask of apparent barrenness are in reality His greatest store houses of wealth, and that the irrigated orchards of Eastern Oregon are destined to be the great fruit producers of the State. Scarcely anywhere can the apple, prune and pear be grown so successfully as in the Snake River valley, near Ontario. The soil, climate and every- thing is especially adapted to fruit culture. Thisland produces some of the finest apples, prunes and pears in the world, also grows to perfection peaches, cherries, plums, apricots, grapes, nectarines, etc. Indeed, their twenty-four ounce apples are the prize takers wherever they make their ap- pearance, while the peaches (twelve inches in circumference) are looked upon with astonishment. While the largest profits in this country will ultimately come from the orchards, the first yields will come from alfalfa and vegetables. For feeding horses, beeves, sheep and stock hogs it is all that is re- quired. With porous soil, plenty of water and warm seasons, after the first year three crops may be cut, aggregating six to eight tons per acre, besides the pasture thus afforded. It sells in the stack from four to eight dollars per ton. Another industry receiving considerable atten- tion is the cultivation of hops. The 162 THE IRRIGATION AGE. HOW LARGE SHOULD THE IRRIGATED FARM BE I 163 average yield is about 1,700 pounds to the acre, but with good cultivation this can be increased. The suitable soil, favor- able climate and reasonable price for material, labor and transportation will enable growers to do business at a profit. The average yield per tree of apples and pears is from three to five hundred pounds, and sell at from one to two cents per pound. And this is sometimes great- ly exceeded. Wheat yields from twenty to forty bushels per acre; oats from forty to sixty bushels; potatoes from one hundred and fifty to three hundred bushels. The aver- age retail price of the grain crops is about $1.25 per hundred. Messrs. Kiesel, Shilling and Danilson deserve credit for their enterprise in build- ing up new industries in the Eastern Oregon country. HOW LARGE SHOULD THE IRRIGATED FARM BE? THE number of acres which the average irrigated farm should comprise must, of course, depend upon a variety of condi- tions. While there is no doubt that farm- ing operations may be carried on profitably on large areas of irrigated land by single owners, yet it is with the small holding that most men are specially concerned. In fact, the small farm is the key to highest success in a broad sense, when considered as affecting communities, large districts or even States. Local conditions must largely determine the acreage in the irrigated farm. In many cases individual caprice will alone rule in this connection, but in well regu- lated colonial settlements the matter may be largely controlled by the management of the original subdivisions of the land. Perhaps wisdom would suggest only the outside limit of the amount to be sold to any one purchaser. Subdivision into five- acre lots is often convenient, and the limit of -original purchase may be fixed at some multiple of that amount not exceeding, say, forty acres. The object generally to be attained by compact colonial settlements should be kept steadily in view, and the land so peo- pled as to render it most valuable, not only to the purchaser but to the colony. For it must be remembered that the entire community gains or loses by every acces- sion to its ranks. Every industrious, hon- est, thrifty and progressive colonist who is content to make a comfortable home on a ten-acre lot is worth far more to a settle- ment than the man who indifferently man- ages the poor cultivation of eighty acres and will not be satisfied with a small hold- ing. If the settleme'nt be mainly devoted to fruit culture the acreage in the farms may generally be smaller, perhaps, than if the land be devoted to dairying or some other pursuit. The best possible results to flow from colonial settlements upon irrigated lands within the arid belt will be found to come from the cultivation of the land by the owner and his family, or by them with the aid at harvest time of a little outside help. The limit of the holding, therefore, should generally be fixed by a full consideration of this fact in connection with local con- ditions of climate, products and mar- kets. In districts where orcharding is a recognized specialty it has often been found that ten acres, intensively cultivated and intelligently managed, have proved entirely adequate to the support of a fam- ily, and also to give a tidy surplus at the end of the year. But good crops and good prices are not always certainties, even in the irrigated regions, and perhaps a great- er diversity of production should be un- dertaken in most places within the new regions developing upon the arid domain. A ten-acre orange or lemon grove, in good bearing, should ordinarily give satis- factory results to almost any modest fam- ily, but insect pests, frosts and other ca- lamities sometimes cut short the profits, and thus bring discomfort if not great in- convenience to the orchardist. Ordinarily, an^ in most settlements, it will be found better to undertake a somewhat diversified husbandry, even on the small holdings appropriate to such localities. The more self-supporting a family can be the better. To be brief, everything should be produced that can be produced with less cost or 164 THE IRRIGATION AGE. greater convenience and profit tban out- side purchases of such commodities would entail. The butter, eggs, meat, fruit, veg- etables, milk, honey, jellies, sauces, oil, wine, etc., required by a family should, if possible, be produced on the home acres, though reserving enough space to produce the surplus crop deemed most valuable for the locality and surrounding conditions. Every foot of land should be made to yield some profitable crop. The barbar- ism of waste everywhere seen about the large farm should have no place on the snug little irrigated farm of the colonial settlement. If the season will justify, two or more crops of vegetables should be pro- duced on the same ground each year, and the land should thereby become better for the extra cultivation and fertilizing. Every scrap of fertilizing material should be carefully preserved and applied to the land in due season. Ashes and meat scraps should be utilized in making soap where- with to wash fruit trees, and leached ashes should never be thrown into the street, but applied to the land. A compost vat should be a prominent feature of the small farm, into which all material available for plant food should go, to be prepared to nourish the growing crops. In short, the little ir- rigated farm should be the owner's labor- atory, wherein he should transmute the air, the water, (he earth and the sunshine into gold. It will be readily seen that the intensive farmer here contemplated must be not only intelligent but educated and industrious. Backwoods methods will not win on such a farm, and the man who knows too much to learn anything about his business from books' and papers should betake himself to the desolate cattle or wheat ranch, for he could not succeed on the small, neat, well- ordered farm of ten or twenty acres. The ablest lawyers are they who know most of the precedents long established, and the physician ignorant of the best work of others in his profession would be justly set aside for a man of the times. It is the same with the farmer. He who depends upon his own knowledge and experience alone is too often trying to do a large busi- ness on a very small capital. To read, to study, to experiment, to think and to rea- son are absolutely essential to success on the small irrigated farm, and he who is above or below this plane would better be- take himself to other fields of endeavor. DEVICE FOR MEASURING WATER. RECENT DECISIONS UPON THE SUBJECT OF WATER RIGHTS. BY CLESSON S. KINNEY. IN a recent case decided by the Court of Appeals of Colorado, the court held that where deeds of water rights provide that, when the grantor (an irrigation com- pany) sells a number of water rights equal to its estimated canal capacity, and two- thirds of those rights are paid for, the title to the canal shall pass to the grantees, and the company received payment for more than two-thirds of all the rights sold, if it sold rights in excess of the capacity of the canal, so that the consumers could not receive the quantities of water purchased, the grantees are entitled to have the title to the canal conveyed to them. And the court further held that the fact that the company's reservoirs might increase the capacity of the canal to furnish water did not excuse the company from executing its contracts in such deeds. (La Junta & Lamar Canal Co. v. Hess, 42 Pac. Rep. 50.) In another case the same Colorado court held that a deed containing no reference to a ditch which supplies water to the land conveys no interest in the ditch. (Child et al v. Whitman et al, 42 Pac. Rep. 601). In the case last above mentioned the appellees offered no evidence of any trans- fer or deed conveying the interest other than a deed to the land on which the water had been used. The conveyance contained no reference to the ditch, nor were there any apt words of alienation in it. Mr. Justice Bissell in rendering the opinion said: "It is well established that an interest in a ditch is property, which may be transferred or conveyed subject to the same limitations and restrictions which attend a conveyance of real property. A conveyance of land without mention of a water right cannot be taken to transfer an interest in a ditch, although the water car- ried may have been used upon the land. In this State it is regarded as an independ- ent right, which may be the right of sub- ject of sale and conveyance, but a technical transfer is essential to vest in the trans- feree a title to the water." APPKOPKIATION OF WATER-FOKFEITUBE BY NON- USER. The Supreme Court of California held, in a case decided November 19, 3895, that under the Civil -Code of California, § 1411, declaring that an appropriation of water must be for some useful or beneficial pur- pose, and that when the appropriator ceases to use it for such a purpose the right ceases, not only to the water rights, but also to the rights of way for ditches, given by the Eev. Stat. of the TJ. S. §§ 2339, 2340, over land which at the time of the appropriation belonged to the public, are lost by non-user for five years, the period for obtaining the prescriptive title, or losing the prescriptive right by non- user. (Smith et al r. Hawkins, 42 Pac. Rep. 453.) This seems to the writer to be a correct construction of the sections of the statute. But it seems as though the statute was ex- ceedingly liberal upon this subject. In this western ' country where water is the very life of agricultural development, five years seems to be a long period of time to wait before a water right, which the prior owner has to all intents and purposes abandoned, can be declared forfeited by his non-user of the same. In the opinion the court said : " In this State five years is the period fixed by law for the ripening of an adverse possession into a prescriptive title. Five years is also the period declared by law after which a prescriptive right depending upon enjoyment is lost for non-user; and, for analogous reasons, we consider it to be a just and proper measure of time for the forfeiture of an appropriator' s rights fora failure to use the water for a beneficial purpose. Considering the necessity of water in the industrial affairs of this State, it would be a most mischievous perpetuity which would allow one who has made an appropriation of a stream to retain indefi- nitely, as against other appropriators, a right to the water therein, while failing to apply the same to some useful or bene- 165 166 THE IRRIGATION AGE. ficial purpose. Though, during the 'sus- pension of his use, other persons might temporarily utilize the water appropriated by him, yet no one could afford to make disposition for the employment of the same involving labor or expense of any considerable moment, when liable to be de- prived of the element at the pleasure of the appropriator after the lapse of any period of time however great." WASTING WATER. In the case of Roeder v. Stein, decided by the Supreme court of Nevada in De- cember, 1895, and reported in the Forty- second Pac. Rep. 867, the court discussed the subject of wasting water by those who had originally appropriated it for some beneficial use or purpose. And the court held that where it appears that the plaint- iff made the first appropriation, by means of a certain ditch, of enough water to irri- gate 125 acres of land, and that subject thereto the defendant had made an appro- priation, the court has the power to direct that the plaintiff must use the water through that ditch or by other means that will be least wasteful. The court further held that the first appropriator is only en- titled to the water to the extent that he has use for it when economically and rea- sonably used. When he has that he can- not prevent others from making use of the surplus; and the court also further held that after others had acquired rights to the use of the water of the stream, the first appropriator for irrigating purposes cannot, to their detriment, change the method by which he conveys it to his land, so as to increase the waste that naturally occurs in such conveyance. The court in the opinion said: "As already remarked, water is too precious to permit its being wasted. Conveying it through a ditch, even, will always cause some loss, and if the distance is great or the soil loose or porous the loss will be considerable. This, within any reasonable expense, is gener- ally unavoidable. But, however this may be, if the appropriation has been made before others acquired rights in the stream, after that no change can be made to their detriment. The first appropriator must continue to use it in at least as economical a manner as before, and cannot change the method of use so as to materially increase the waste. Such a change may be forbid- den and parties ' may be compelled to keep their flumes and ditches in good repair so as to prevent any unnecessary waste.' ' Citing, Barrows v. Fox, 98 Cal. 63; 32 Pac. Rep. 811. THE EDGEMONT CANAL IN SOUTH DAKOTA. ^VJsV^Xb \4s\b\4sVls\Js \4s\lU\if Vls\b\b>Jf\^ I In diversified farming by irrigation lies the salvation of agriculture HOW TO PREVENT INJURY FROM FROST. BY F. C. BABKER, NEW MEXICO. IN studying methods of preventing injury from frost it is necessary to have a clear knowledge of how and why the tempera- ture falls and frost is produced. The surface of the earth is continually losing heat by radiation into space, but during the day it usually receives heat from the sun more rapidly than it loses it by radiation, and therefore it grows warmer. Radiation, and consequent loss of heat, takes place most rapidly when there is nothing to obscure the sky. Clouds or any other obstruction act as a screen in retard- ing it. The escaping rays of heat strike the obstruction and are driven back to the earth. This is why frost is more likely to occur on a clear night than when the sky is cloudy. It also explains why smudge fires, by forming a screen of smoke over the orchards, are a protection against frosts. Cold air is heavier than warm air, and this principle causes the air on slopes, as it becomes chilled by radiation, to flow down into the valleys, where it accumu- lates and becomes injurious. We thus understand why trees on the foot hills often escape injury from frost, while those in the adjoining valleys are damaged. Smudge fires are only effective on broad, flat expanses of land. In narrow valleys the cold air comes down from the hillsides and gets underneath the smoke. On windy nights the danger from frost is lessened by the warmer air above getting mixed with the colder air below. The above theories of the radiation of heat and the falling of the colder air are tolerably well recognized by all orchardists, but there is another and perhaps more important law of nature, which is but little understood, and this is the " dew-point " theory. Every one knows that the atmosphere holds a very considerable amount of water in the form of vapor, and that this invisi- ble vapor, which is invariably present in greater or less quantities, can always be condensed into water if the temperature of the atmosphere be sufficiently lowered. If the condensation takes place at temper- atures above the freezing point of water, the moisture is deposited as dew; if below the freezing point, the condensation is in the form of frost. To fully comprehend what follows, it must be understood that the temperature at which condensation begins is called the dew-point, and this varies with the amount of moisture or vapor in the air. The greater the proportion of moisture the less the fall of temperature required to condense it into dew or frost. When the air is saturated with moisture the dew-point will be reached at a higher temperature than when the air is dry. For instance, in a dry atmosphere the dew-point may not be reached un- til the thermometer falls to 28 degrees Fahrenheit, when frost forms. At this point peach buds are seriously injured. If, however, you can artificially add to the amount of vapor in the air by keeping the land moist by means of recent irriga- tions, then you raise the dew-point and frost may be formed at a higher degree of temperature, or say at over 30 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the amount of cold necessary to injure peach blossoms. If, therefore, you can prevent the tempera- ture of the atmosphere from falling to 30 degrees, you are safe. At first sight it may appear that if the vapor in the air freezes at 30 degrees and the indication of heat still continues, the temperature will continue to fall until injury results. But here a very wonderful natural law comes into play. Of course it is well understood that an enormous amount of heat has been re- quired to convert water into atmospheric vapor. This heat is latent in the vapor, and when the latter is condensed into frost 168 THE IRRIGATION AGE. or dew this great amount of latent beat is given off into the atmosphere, and tends to keep it at an even temperature. You have two forces at work. Firstly, the radiation or loss of heat is reducing the temperature to the dew-point, while the heat given off by the condensation of the vapor is keeping up the temperature just as fast as it falls to the dew- point. The re- sult is that unless the radiation is very great the temperature does not fall. Of course this theory does not work except in cases where slight frosts would otherwise occur. For instance, where in a dry at- mosphere the dew point would not be amount of heat that was expended in forming the vapor, and how enormous thi& is may be judged by the fact that the con- densation of a pint of water from its vapor state will result in enough heat being given off to raise more than five pints of water from the freezing to the boiling point. We thus arrive at the seeming paradox that the formation of frost from vapor produces heat in the at- mosphere. In using smudge fires it should be un- derstood that the heat of the tire has but little effect in diminishing the intensity of the frost, almost the entire protection WIND MILLS AND KESERVOIR OF E. E. FRIZELL, NEAR LARNED. KANSAS. 30 acres in alfalfa, 25 acres orchard, 10 acres Irish potatoes, 5 acres sweet potatoes, r. acres onions, 5 acres cabbages; total, 80 acres. reached before the temperature had fallen to 29, the dew-point may be reached at 31 in a moist atmosphere. In the former case the peach buds would be destroyed, while in the latter case they would escape injury. Hence the object of keeping the surrounding atmosphere moist, and this can be attained by frequent irri- gations or even spraying of the orchards at the critical period of blossoming. That this is not a fallacious theory has been proved over and over again by orchardists who have kept their land well saturated with water during the blossoming season, and who have escaped injury from frost while their neighbors who have failed to follow this practice have suffered. The heat given off by the condensation of vapor into dew or frost is exactly equal to the being gained by the screen of smoke pro- duced. The efficiency of smudge tires may be greatly increased by spraying them with water, thus adding vapor to the atmosphere and raising the dew-point, for as has already been explained the dew-point is reached at a higher tem- perature when the vapor in the air is in- creased. Moreover, by spraying the fires, the heat, which would otherwise establish an upward current of warm air that con- ducts the heat upward and beyond the space needing protection, is utilized in forming vapor and distributed through the lower stratum of air where it is most needed. As soon as this vapor is con- densed at the dew-point, this latent heat is set free and tends to raise the tempera- ture. Every quart of water thus evapo- THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 169 rated and again condensed in the sur- rounding air is sufficient to raise the tem- perature ten degrees throughout a space eighty feet square and deep. FERTILIZING ORANGE ORCHARDS. BY W. 0. FITZSIMMONS. IN no department of soil tillage does a knowledge of "book farming" pay better than in the production of fruits of various kinds. The question of fertilizing the soil in order to reach the best results in fruit production is one which few un- derstand fully, and none can wholly com- prehend without study and thought along the lines which science has traced as a guide to the intelligent horticulturist. Chemical analysis alone can properly de- termine the composition of fruits or other products of the soil, and it is by a study of results reached in the laboratory, that the orchardist is enabled to apply to his soil the proper ingredients in right pro- portions to produce a crop. The chief and most expensive substances entering into the necessary food for fruit crops of nearly all kinds are nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. Without definite amounts of these substances to feed upon, a full crop of perfectly formed fruit is impossi- ble. It should be understood by all orchardists that Nature is inexorable in her demands, and when she asks for bread she will not be satisfied with a stone. In other words, her call for nitrogen, phos- phoric acid and potash must be heeded, or no crop. There is no appeal from this, and no orchardist should delude himself with the hope of deceiving her by substi- tuting carbon, soda and magnesia or any other combination of ingredients, how- ever captivating the name or small the cost. Take an orange grove for example: At twenty four feet apart the trees would stand at the rate of about seventy -five to the acre. At ten or twelve years of age many trees will yield, say, seven boxes of fruit per tree, weighing about 500 pounds. Let us see then the amount and cost of the chemical ingredients which must enter into that 500 pounds of fruit, and without which it will be impossible to produce that amount on one tree. The principal chem- ical substances to be found in the orange and derived from the soil are: Nitrogen, potash, phosphoric acid, soda, lime, mag- nesia, and oxides of iron, alumina and man- ganese, also sulphuric acid, silica and chlorine. All save the three at the head of the list may generally be disregarded, since repeated analyses have shown most soils in which orange trees are planted in the United States to be fully supplied with the small amounts required save per- haps lime. But lime is abundant almost everywhere and cheap, hence we shall con- fine this discussion to the three chief sub- stances required. According to analysis made at the laboratory of the California Experiment Station, 500 pounds of seed- less oranges contain 1.6 pounds of potash, .27 pound phosphoric acid and .92 pound nitrogen. With the prices of 5 cents a pound for potash, 6 cents for phosphoric acid and 15 cents for nitrogen these in- gredients entering into 500 pounds of seedless oranges (presumably the product of one tree) would cost 23.6 cents; or, if lime be required, say 25. cents per tree. At the prices given, the absolute require- ments of the fruit in the way of plant food would cost at the rate of $18.75 per acre. If the soil already contains all or any part of these substances, it would, of course, lessen the cost of the annual fer- tilization. And right here is where many orchardists — in fact most of them — neg- lect an opportunity if not a duty. They should have their soils analyzed for the chief ingredients here mentioned, and thus learn what they lack or how long the present supply will last. In fact, without some such guide, the orchardist is at a great disadvantage and must in a certain sense grope his way in the dark to reach results. But this is the requirement of the seedless fruit only, and takes no ac- count of the growth of the tree itself and of the perfecting of the seed growth. For these purposes a further supply of each of the ingredients would be required, bringing the probable cost to 15 cents more for a tree large enough to bear 500 pounds of fruit* It is probable, therefore, that an orange tree producing as above stated uses each year some 40 cents' worth of fertilizing material. This must be already in the soil or must be put there by artificial means, else a crop to meet reasonable expectations cannot be pro- duced. It is useless to attempt to replace one of these essential ingredients with some other substance. That is, the lack of potash cannot be supplied by an excess. 170 THE IRRIGATION AGE. of nitrogen, and vice versa. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and a fruit crop will be measured by the prod- uct due to the smallest amount of any needed ingredient which may be present in the soil. It is, therefore, of the great- est importance that a well-balanced ration of fertilizer be used so that the best re- sults and no waste shall follow its appli- cation. If the soil be deficient in any one ingredient, putting on the others in excess will not bring a fruit crop. Most of these things are fairly understood by the fore- most orange growers in Florida, but in California, owing to a richer soil, growers do not generally comprehend the science of fertilization. It is a common custom to apply nitrogenous fertilizers, such as sheep manure and that of dairies and horse stables, without much regard to other substances which a proper orchard fertilizer should contain. These things will all be learned in time, no doubt, but the object of this article is to call present at- tention to the great need of intelligent action along the line of fertilizing or- chards, and if greater interest in the sub- ject shall have been aroused the purpose of the writer will have been accomplished. THE EASTERN STOCK FARMER SHOULD GO TO THE IRRI- GATED WEST. THE more I see of farming in the irri- gated West the more I am convinced that our Eastern farmers have failed to appreciate the great advantages which irrigation offers to the producer of butter, cheese and pork, writes F. C. Barker, of New Mexico. In the first place, more milk and pork can be raised from an acre of irrigated alfalfa than from an acre of any other crop and at less expense. In the second place, dairy products and pork in- variably sell for more money out West than they do in the East. For instance, in the town where I live fresh ranch but- ter is never worth less than 30 cents, and, although doubtless pure, will fall when we have a better supply, yet throughout New Mexico large quantities are still imported from Kansas, and it will be a longtime before butter will sell for less than Kansas prices plus cost of express. Enterprising East- ern farmers who understand dairy farm- ing ought to take advantage of this state of affairs and make their butter where it sells for the most money. That butter, cheese, pork, poultry and eggs sell for more money in the irrigated West than in the East requires no proof at my hands. The immense shipments from points far- ther east prove this beyond any doubt. The question which will naturally be asked by the farmer is, whether butter and pork can be raised as cheaply on an irrigated farm as in States like Illinois, Iowa, etc. Personally, I feel more cer- tainty upon this point than I do upon the question of prices. The latter are liable to fluctuation and beyond the farmer's control, whereas the only variation in the cost will be in the direction of further economy as the farmer gains experience. Enough has already been done to show that no crop is so suitable for dairy cows and pigs as alfalfa. Under irrigation it produces at least three and often four or five cuttings, making a total of three to five tons of hay for the year, the feeding value of which is at least equal to the best timothy hay, indeed it is considered supe- rior by every one who has had experience with both alfalfa and timothy. I give the estimates in hay because they are more easily compared, and after all hay must be the basis of all stock feeding. But alfalfa is not the only stock food raised here. Corn, sorghum and cattle beet can be raised with the greatest ease and under very favorable circumstances to the stock feeder, and bran is always obtainable at reasonable prices. And last, but not least, the open winters make stables quite super- fluous. Dairy Cows' Rations. — Experience by practical dairymen in each of the States mentioned show that the following are good rations for dairy cows: In Pennsyl- vania, 10 Ibs. corn fodder, 6 Ibs. hay, 3£ Ibs. wheat bran, 1£ Ibs. cottonseed meal, 1^ Ibs. oil meal, 2£ Ibs. corn rryeal. In Illinois, 7£ Ibs. clover hay, 7 Jibs, timothy hay, 12 Ibs. corn and cob meal, 8 Ibs. bran, 1^ Ibs. linseed meal, 1£ Ibs. cotton- seed, meal. In Colorado, 30 Ibs. silage, 10 Ibs. alfalfa hay, 10 Ibs. clover hay, 5 Ibs. wheat bran, 2 Ibs. corn meal. Kansas Fruit. — As a fruit-growing state Kansas is making a record. During 1895 there werein bearing?, 529,915 apple trees, 186,874 pear, 3,790,692 peach, 883- 874 plum, 1,451,716 cherry, making a THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 171 total of 13,843,071 bearing trees. la addition there were 6,646,560 fruit trees not in bearing. Siibirrir/ation.—The assertion has been made and reiterated that subirrigation is far superior to surface irrigation. To find out the results and differences of these different methods, experiments were begun in 1890 at the Utah Experiment Station and have been carried on five years. Following is a summary of the whole matter: First. —On a poor clay soil containing gravel, with the cobble rock drain, or on a better clay soil containing some sand, with the cement tile, the subirrigation was not so good as the surface. Second. — The experiment covers ten trials, and in every trial but one the sur- face irrigation gave the highest yields. Third. — During irrigation the soil im- mediately over the rock drains or the plugs in the cement pipes was over satu- rated, while that between the drains or pipes and between the plugs in the pipes was very dry. Fourth. — On the soil of the station farm the system of subirrigation has proved an utter failure for grain or grass. On soil containing more sand it may be possible and is highly probable that better results can be obtained. Fifth. — The system is so expensive that it is doubtful whether it could ever be ap- plied to general farming. The results are so discouraging that no one is advised to put it in except on a small scale for trial. Subsoiling.— There is every reason to believe subsoiling to be a valuable aid to the farmers on much Oklahoma soil. Ob- servations made at the Oklahoma Experi- ment Station at some points in the Terri- tory where subsoiling has been tried show, however, that it is very desirable to combine with subsoiling the growth of deep-rooted plants and other means of getting vegetable matter into the soil, not only at the surface but as deep as may be practicable. A good deal of soil in the Territory is of such nature that it will be- come overly compact again even after thorough subsoiling. The more roots or other vegetable matter it can be made to hold, the longer will it remain loose. More Ventilation.— The discussion of the subject of .tuberculosis in cattle neces- sarily involves the subject of the causes of the same which are often found in illy ventilated barns. The tendency of the farmer in winter is to get a large amount of warmth for his cattle so as to save the cost of feed. To secure heat he has sup- plied little room for his cows and has shut out the cold air as much as possible. An authority upon the health of the cow says that the stable, to be healthy, should be well ventilated and free from draughts, and to accomplish this air should be ad- mitted at the door line and sufficient space should be provided at the apex of the roof to allow the heated air to escape. Six hundred cubic feet of air is necessary for Shorthorns and their grades, and less, of course, for the smaller breeds. Has Its Limitations. — Bran is much more highly thought of as feed than it used to be. But it has its limitations, and should not be relied upon entirely when fed alone. It is an excellent feed to give to animals that have a surfeit of corn, and should always form a part of the ration of fattening sheep. It is not so good for hogs, as its coarse texture makes it unpalatable. But fine wheat middlings have all the excellences of bran, and will be eaten in greater quantities by fattening hogs. The bran and wheat middlings furnish a greater proportion of albumi- noids than corn has, and, therefore, sup- plement its deficiencies. Advantages of the Irrigation Fartn- w* — The farmers of many portions of Texas and the West, generally, made fine crops last year, but our Pecos valley farmers have the comfortable assurance of just as good crops every year, while those in the dis- tricts depending on rainfall know that such another season may not come again in ten years. The irrigation farmer cares little for either a drought or a flood, as he is independent of each. In the first place floods are rare in the arid countries, and when they do come, in off years like the present one, the irrigated farm sheds the extra water as readily as it takes it in flooding the fields by irrigation. In short, the same preparation for flooding the fields prepares them for bearing off flood waters, while the rain farmer has to stand help- 172 THE IRRIGATION AGE. lessly by and see much of his crop drowned by excessive rains. At many points corn is so plentiful that 15 cents is a good price for it, while here 70 cents is as cheap as any one has sold his crop of corn. The Pecos valley farmer can grow hogs enough on a few acres of alfalfa to use all the corn grown on a quarter section of ground, so that he can always market his corn at a good figure. The Pecos valley farmer who stays at home and attends to his busi- ness is the most independent man under the sun, for he is not mortgaged up to the eyes to the merchant, and he need never be. The Pecos valley farmer, one of whom we are which, is all right, with a bright and happy future. — Pecos (N. M.) News. Lecturing the Old Style Farmers. — Time apparently hangs heavily upon many of our farmers. Prices of most of the products are so low that the business but little more than pays the running ex- penses. A radical change the whole length of the line is indispensable to any- thing like fair success. Little less must be done, and accom- plished in a great deal better manner, says The American Cultivator. It is en- tirely idle to expect to secure a profit over the cost of production of ordinary to poor goods. The best horses, the best cattle, sheep, dairy products and the like usually pay a good profit, and why? Because it does not cost so much to produce good stuff as the poor stuff costs. The farmer who raises a good horse or a good ox wastes no feed. His feed is all food of production; he don't feed them a day without some grain. A good dairy- man will make as much product from two cows as a poor one will from six. The good dairyman not only feeds the food of support, but as much of the food of pro- duction as his cows will bear and respond to, while the poor dairyman rarely finds much above the food of support, and of course loses most of that. Farmers do not sell quite so much fer- tility when they sell stock as they do when they sell hay. If our farmers could pro- vide themselves with first-class stock and learn how to feed it and care for it, they would rise in the scale of being in short time. It is their only way out. As a rule, from three to eight horses are kept on a 'farm, and not a good one among them. All This and More too.— On the subject "What the Granges Have Done," Senator Chandler of New Hampshire says: " They have promoted and secured their most natural object, better and more profitable agriculture. They have taken up by many wise heads the various questions of importance to farmers; have investigated and studied those questions; have searched the world over for answers, and at last many quick hands have put into practice and proved the soundness of *the conclu- sions reached. There is hardly a method of farming which has not been im- proved through the influence of the granges. Better market gardening, bet- ter flowers, better staple crops, better forestry are the result of the inquiries, discussions, plans and experiments of the granges of America. * This most fruitful subject of the results of grange action I leave to be amplified by others." Butter and Eggs.— Poultry and eggs sold in Kansas during 1895 were valued at $3,315,067. During the same period but- ter to the value of $4,050,048 was sold. Exercise is of the utmost importance for laying hens. One ounce of salt per day for one hundred hens is a good pro- portion. Supply grit liberally. Give the hens plenty of room and keep them warm. Four hundred thousand sheep will be sheared in the pens around Casper, Wyo., this spring. The Warren Live Stock Company of Cheyenne, Wyo., fed their sheep at Dun- can, Neb., during the winter, shipping as many as eight carloads at a time to Omaha. The sheep were in prime condi- tion and brought top prices. The live stock industry of Kansas last year brought returns of $40,691,074 for animals sold. Fred Wachter raised 5,400 bushels of corn this year in this county from 120 acres, and did all the work himself, except six days' work cultivating. This beats the Iowa man and his two small boys, who raised 5,000 bushels, which is being so extensively quoted in the newspapers.— Aurora (Neb.) Sun. ^\\jU\^\jU\jU\jU\i/\jU\i;\fr\l/\fr \M\fr * MANUFACTURES AND TRADE NORFOLK, Nebraska, has a candy factory. BOZEMAN, Montana, wants a creamery. A LATE report says frost has injured the fruit iu Arizona. A COLONY of Dunkards is to locate in the Grand Valley, Colorado. IRRIGATION will be tried on 100 acres of bottom land east of Atchison, Kan. THE Western Nebraska fair will prob- ably be held the latter part of August. AMERICAN Investments rises to ask if we regard irrigation as an " art. " We do. CONNECTICUT claims to lead the New England States in the matter of irrigation. THE Iowa legislature has passed a bill forbidding the manufacture or sale of cigarettes. LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, will be the scene of the State Grand Army reunions for the next five years. THE creamery at Albion, Neb. , paid the farmers in that locality $17,500 for milk, butter and eggs last year. NEBRASKA, Missouri and Iowa are fol- lowing the lead of Kansas and planting a large acreage to Kaffir corn. IDAHO has repealed the law providing that the obligations of the State might be paid in either gold or silver. A NUMBER of settlers from Idaho have laid out a new town to be called Grand Teton, near the Gros Ventre river. A PARTY of 100 families from Arkansas and Iowa are going West to settle in the Jackson's Hole country, Wyoming. A VINEGAR factory has been started at Albion, Neb., by Sylvester V. Parrot. Sugar beets will be used exclusively. WASHINGTON has over fifty creameries, and the output for last year was about 2,500,000 pounds of butter, valued at $312,500. STATE Labor Commissioner Bird esti- mates that there are $100,000,000 in- vested in manufacturing plants and raw material in Kansas. THE Anthony salt plant has been sold at sheriff's sale for $4,000. The city of Anthony, Kans., invested $23,000 in this plant a few years ago. THE Bed Lake and White Earth Indian Reservations in Minnesota comprising 890,745 acres of land will probably be thrown open for settlement about June 1. SHALLOW artesian wells in South Dakota cost from $50 to $300. Deep wells rang- ing from 500 to 1,500 feet cost complete about $3.00 a foot. There about 400 shal- low and 150 deep wells in the State. PRESIDENT J. J. Hill of the Great North- ern Eailway Company has purchased 3,00 acres of land on the west side of Great Falls, Mont. This will no doubt be made the terminal grounds of this company. THE fast-thriving little city of Havelock, Neb., five miles east of Lincoln-, on the main line of the Burlington railroad, is sur- rounded by a very fertile agricultural re- gion, and is soon to become one of the im- portant manufacturing points in the West. The principal shops of the Burlington & Missouri River railroad are located here, employing about 400 men and maintained at an annual expense of nearly half a million of dollars. CANADIANS took the initiative in an international deep waterways convention held in Toronto during the summer of 1894. This was followed by another con- vention in Cleveland and more recently by one in Detroit. There is already un- interrupted passage from Chicago and Duluth to Buffalo for vessels drawing twenty feet of water, and the aim is to have the channel completed by deepening the canals between Buffalo and Montreal or New York. Community of interest among grain growers in the great West on both sides of the line has joined them or rather those who speak for them in a common effort to perfect water communication from the head of Lake Superior to the Atlantic seaboard. 173 MINES AND MINING OUTPUT ANACONDA, Mont., is to have a smelting plant. THE Salt Lake Mining Exchange is a success. SHERIDAN, Wyo., is to have a mining exchange. NEBRASKA has an acute attack of the gold fever. CRIPPLE CREEK now has a population of 60,000. In 1892 it had 1,500. IT is estimated that this year's output at Cripple Creek will reach 20,000,000 tons of ore. THE annual capacity of the three smelters already erected in West Kootenay is given as 164,250 tons. EXTENSIVE deposits of onyx have been dis- covered on the Big Laramie river within eight miles of the Cheyenne & Northern railway. THE mining fever has struck Wheatland, Wyo. Several discoveries are reported from the country surrounding the busy little town. IT is estimated that 500 claims in the Cripple Creek district on which the owners failed to do full assessment work in 1895 have been jumped. THE West has not a monopoly of the gold supply, although it has little to fear from competition elsewhere. The follow- ing is the gold output of Southern mines up to December 31, 1893: North Carolina, $11,726,629.90; South Carolina, $2,221,- 590.90; Georgia, $9,112,328.05; Alabama, $242.994.19, and of Virginia, $1,754,- 785.02. THE mineral output of Idaho in 1895 was as follows: Quantity. Value. Gold, fine ounces 125,517 $ 2,594,660 Silver, fine ounces 4,030,180 5,214,498 Lead, pounds 65,752,037 2,301,321 SHOSHONE county, Idaho, produced 63,861,660 pounds of lead in 1895. THERE is $96,325,122 of capital invested in the Lake Superior iron mines and their equipment; and in docks and railways and vessels for the exclusive transportation of ore, from the upper lakes to Lake Erie ports, etc., $136,916, 963, making a total of $233,242,085. THE largest gold brick ever cast in the Black Hills was recently deposited in the First National Bank of Deadwood. It came from the Cyanide Works, weighed a trifle less than 125 pounds, and was worth about $30,000. It was the result of a fifteen days' run. THE Golden Fleece Mining and Milling Company of Lake City, Colorado, reports: Production of mine from Sept., 1892, to Jan.. 1896 $729,252.19 Less expenditure. Sept., 1892, to Jan. l, 1896 $209.149.8* Less Insurance and Construction accounts 4,6*0.76 213.8S0.64 Total $10,110,485 This is an increase of $316,405 over the previous year. Balance profit $515,421 .55 Dividends paid 401,979.85 Surplus on hand Jan. 1, 1896 $113,441.70 THE Chicago Mining and Mineral Board have adopted the following rates: Per 100 Shares. Stock selling at 25c and under $ 25 Stock selling at over i>5c and under 50c 50 Stock selling at over 50c and under $1 l 00 Stock selling at over $1 and under $2 2 00 Stock selling at over $2 and under So 3 00 Stock selling at over $5 and under $10 5 00 Stock selling at over $10 and under $20 6 25 Stock selling at $20 or over 12 50 FOR the first time in the history of Colorado, the gold output for the year just closing exceeded in value that of silver. A careful computation of the mineral out- put for the year from the statistics attain- able shows the following: Gold, $17.- 340,495; silver, $14.259,049; lead, $2J- 955,114; copper, $877,492; total, $35,432,- 150. For 1894 the output was: Gold, $11.235,506; silver, $14,721,750; lead. $3,268,613; copper, $767,420; total, $29,- 993,290. The increase in gold production is almost wholly from the Cripple Creek district. 174 MINES AND MINING OUTPUT. 175 LIVINGSTON, Mont. , wants a smelter. THERE was no smelter in the Black Hills from 1876 to 1882. AN appropriation has been made to run the mint at Carson, Nevada, another year. THERE is a Held for the development of copper properties in the Yellow Jacket District, Idaho. THE waterpower plant at the mine of the Boston and Montana Company in Montana has a capacity of 7,500 horse power. THERE are two feet of solid copper ore and twelve feet of free milling gold ore on the Indian Claim in the Yellow Jacket Dis- trict, Idaho. IT is claimed that there are deposits of very rich gold quartz in Southern Oregon, although placer mining has attracted most of the attention heretofore. THE Western Mining World says it is scarcely possible to glance through a paper published anywhere in Idaho with- out reading of new mine discoveries or increased prosperity in the mining in- dustry. THE report of the Minister of Mines of British Columbia shows the output of gold by districts as follows: Gold min- ing engaged the attention of, on the average, 1,050 white men and 979 Chinese and Japanese, besides those en- gaged in Trail Creek division, the newest as well as the richest in the province, but for which unfortunately no gold returns were sent in. The output of the others was, by districts, as follows: Cariboo, $282,400; Cassiar, $22,575; East Koote- nay, $17,575; West Kootenay, $10,520; Lillooet, $40,663; Yale, $237,311, a total of $636,544 of the yellow metal, exclusive of the Trail Creek division, as previously mentioned. Of this total all came from placers except $135,000 from the quartz mines at Fairview and Camp McKinney. Even without Trail Creek the returns for 1895 are the largest since 1878, new methods having brought about a revival of the industry in temporarily abandoned fields. Since the beginning, in 1858, $55.000,000 in gold has been taken from the fields of this province. Appended to the gold statistics is the statement that in 1895 the gold, silver and lead in the ore from Kootenay was estimated at $2,176,- 000. BRITISH COLUMBIA also claims to have oil fields. ALASKA'S output of gold last year is estimated at $3,000,000. Of this $800,000 came from the Yukon placer mines. COAL mining made no progress in British Columbia during 1895. There are immense quantities of coal, but it can not be mined to advantage until the fields are reached by the railroads. THE production of the oil field for the past year was nearly three times as great as that of the previous year, amounting altogether to 1,368,750 barrels. The average price received was 50 cents per barrel, or $684,375 for the entire output. According to the estimate of the oil ex- change, there are 250 wells which have been operated during the year, the mean product of each being about fifteen barrels daily. The mineral bearing portion of the Belknap Indian reservation in Montana that Will probably be declared open for entry within the next six months, is lo- cated on the north slope of the Little Rocky Mountains, covering an area of nearly thirty-five square miles. This area is almost wholly made up of abrupt por- phyry buttes and steep, broken mountains. The drainage of the district is by tribu- taries of Milk river; three large creeks issue from this district out onto the vast plateau lying between the Milk river and the Little Rockies. SINCE 1890 the gold in European banks has increased by $623,200,000. Of this the Imperial Bank of Russia has gained $185,800,000, the Bank of France $167,- 400,000, the Bank of England $111,000,- 000, the Austro-Hungarian Bank $79,800,- 000 and the Imperial Bank of Germany $39,000,000.' The gold comes from the American monetary circulation and from the production of the gold mines. At the end of 1895 the Bank of France and the Imperial Bank of Russia between them held $776,600,000 in gold, a little more than half the stock of gold in the Euro- pean banks, and this does not include the gold in the Russian treasury, which is estimated at $510,400,000. The gold in Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy amounts to $336, 000,000 and that in the Bank of England to $580,800,000. y\Xfr\fr\fr\|,\i, Xfr\fr\fr\fr>fr \fr\fr \fr\fr \^ PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY EAST AND SOUTH CATCH THE IRRI- GATION FEVER. THE agricultural papers of the East aud South are discussing irrigation. Various experiments have been made dur- ing the past season in portions of Pennsyl- vania, Ohio, New York and New Jersey; also in North and South Carolina aud other Southern States. The results have also attracted the attention of the daily press, and lengthy articles are being pub- lished. Wonderful as these achievements are in the Southern. Eastern and Middle States, they are eclipsed on the former arid lands of Western America because of the more thorough irrigation there. An elaborate, displayed article of several columns in the New York Times will do a world of good in waking up the old style farmers of the entire country. The fol- lowing is an extract: Not the least remarkable of the many picturesque anomalies which the cosmo- politan population of Long Island City presents is a colony of Chinese farmers, located on a I'igh bluff overlooking Bowery bay. It was founded a few years ago by Shen Ho Joe, the son of a mandarin who made a fortune in the cultivation of every form of growing thing which nourishes within the great wall of China. Previous to the advent of Shen, the China- men of New York and the neighboring cities were forced to depeud upon the Pacific coast for vegetables of their own peculiar cultivation. Sheri's initial effort created a commotion among the truck farmers of Astoria. His beans were as large as an ordinary-sized radish, and all the other celestial vege- tables were the envy and admiration of the neighborhood. The gourmets of Mott street were in ecstasies of delight over the new venture and the demand for Sheu's vegetables far exceeded the sup- ply. In order to meet the growing de- mand for garden truck which came from Mott t-treet alone, five other Chinamen 176 started rival farms adjoining that of Shen Ho Joe a year afterward. Shen mean- while had established a prosperous line of trade and had saved a snug sum of money from the proceeds of the first year's crop. In the spring of the second year he sunk two wells on his farm for irrigation purposes and built a sausage factory and a large manure tank, from which liquid fertilizers are spread over the ground by means of a rubber hose. This innovation revolutionized Chinese farming in Astoria. The same kind of soil afterward yielded twice as much net for Shen as for the others. Of course, gradually, the influence of this progressive man extended through- out his neighborhood, and the old-fash- ioned methods of watering and manuring the ground soon gave way to new methods. The Chinese farmer from time immemorial has been a great believer in irrigation. At the end of the third year Shen Ho Joe had acquired a competence and sold out his farm. With the proceeds of his three years' venture he sailed for China, leaving Yu Lee, Yung Gee Tschiu, Chu Lick and Yumb Yab in undisputed pos- session of the field. The soil of the celestial farms is sandy and poor. The fields are divided into squares called wells, from their resem- blance to the Chinese character signifying a well, surrounded and furrowed by ditches. There are upward of fifty different kinds of vegetables grown on this celestial farm. DR. RUSK ON THE MORMONS. The Rev. Dr. John Rusk, of the Militant Church, Chicago, is not following the policy of the ordinary orthodox preacher. He is taking up live subjects of interest at present. In a recent sermon he re- ferred to the enterprise and thrift of the Mormons. "A man's share in what is go- ing on in this world" is not a dog's share nor a hog's share, but a man's share," he PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 177 CLESSON S. KINNEY, OF UTAH The author of the articles on •• Irrigation Legislation " now appearing in THE AGE. said. "How shall be get, a man's share? By getting a home. The Mormons settled that in a superb way. They traveled West till they came to the superb valley of Salt lake. Brigham Young's plan was to have every man at work and every man in a home. A home a man's share. Not only that, but he overcame the isolation of agricultural life by settling a town with farms about it. He kept his people from mines, the thirst for gold, and held them to land and home. In addition, he as- sociated his people FO that they operated factories, mills, railroads, telegraph lines, stores and all that pertain to life in a com- munity. Jt has become the example and pattern of the new colonial movement, and its success means hope for the city-bred man as well as the farm born. Whilst I must dissent from polygamy with all my being, I must say that it is the only re- ligion which compels every man to own his own home. It teaches that no man has a right to own one more acre than he can use, a great Christian lesson of un- selfishness. They found a desert and made it a paradise, because they taught that God made the earth for all and not for a few. Necessity taught them that no man had a right to waste one drop of the precious water with which they irrigated their lands; their religion and the religion of Christ teaches that a man has a right only to so much of God's land as he can use. The Mormons are not allowed to fence in a prairie, nor are they rewarded for keeping land idle by having taxes re- duced. It is a part of their religion to make the waste places blossom forth and to turn idle lands over to the industrious to improve and own what they do improve and use, but not one acre more. That re- ligion places a premium on industry and unselfishness; that part of it is Christlike, and they live nearer Christ in this respect, far nearer, than the vast majority of so- called Christian people. Fully 98 per cent of the Mormons own their houses and the land on which their houses stand. I want to see the time when every Christian owns his home. I want to see a practical use 6f the Christian religion as I believe Christ intended it. I have visited the Mormons and found them most delightful and companionable, all of them in- dustrious, and many highly cultivated." VALUABLE STATISTICS. The assessable property of Arapahoe county, Colo., is reported at $82,133,000. Nebraska has 352. 028 children of school age. According to the usual calculations this would indicate that the State has a population aggregating 1,760,000. The general land office report for the fiscal year of 1895 shows some very inter- esting figures relative to the business transacted by the local land office in North Dakota. At the Bismarck office 887 entries, covering 138.000 acres, were made. The total receipts were $14,116.09. Devil's Lake land office shows 1,067 entries, and total receipts of $19,441.56. The Fargo office shows 766 entries and total receipts of $9,755.25. The Grand Forks office shows 1,234 entries, and the receipts were $20,193.52. The Minot office shows 86 entries and receipts of $1,105.77. The total of land transfers for 'last year was 132 millions, an advance of twelve millions over 1894. There is a falling off of forty-eight millions as compared with 1891 or 1892, but it must be remembered that there was a great amount of specula- 178 THK IRRIGATION AGE. tive dealing in real estate during those years, and some property changed hands many times. There is no reason to find fault with the volume of business for 1895. In 1860 the assessed valuation of Wash- ington was $4,394,735, with a population of 11,694; in 1870 the valuation had in- creased to $10,642,863, with 23,955 popu- lation; in 1880 the valuation was $23. 810,- 693, with 75, 116 population; in 1892 the valuation was estimated at $400,000,000, with 375,000 population. To-day it is estimated at $450,000,000, with the popu- lation estimated by Governor McGraw at 415,000 January 1, 1896. The state is in good financial condition, with a low rate of taxation. The population of Nebraska is 1.058,- 910. Value of improved farms in 1890, $402,358,913. Value of property per capita. $1,205. Total valuation of real and personal property, $1,275.685,514. Value of manufactures at the last census, $93,037,794. Kansas has a native population of 1,206,332; foreign, 128,402, making a total of 1,334,734. The percentage of foreigners is very small. Over 30,000 peo- ple have moved to Kansas from each of the States of Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, Illi- nois leading with 145,449 and the others following in the order named. The total assessment last year on rail- road property of the Santa Fe alone was $68,309, 321 ; the tax paid on that, $ 1, 744, - 761, which, with the addition of the tax on town lots, lands and auxiliary com- panies, made the total amount about $2,000,000. The highest rate last year was 3.67 per cent in Oklahoma; the lowest rate, .97 per cent in Texas. The highest rate of taxes per mile, $504, paid in Iowa; the lowest rate per mile, $96, paid in Texas. The Company pays more taxes in Kansas than in any other State; the total sum this year will be about $800,000, a rate of 3. 5 per cent, or nearly $300 per mile. The assessed valuation of property in Utah in 1895 was $97, 983, 525. The total export value of the mineral product in 1895 was $8,312,352. Computing the gold and silver at their mint valuation, and other metals at their value at the sea- board, would increase the value of the mineral product to $14,519,959. There are 19.816 farms in Utah, and 17,684 of them are absolutely free of incumbrance. Total acreage irrigated, 417,455. The amount of ranch and range was $1,259- 566 in 1894. The number of industrial concerns was 880 in 1894, employing 5,054 laborers, paying in wages $2,275,118, representing a total capital invested of $46,417,246, and turning out a product of $6,678,118 annually. The population of the State is 247,326. WHAT THE TORRENS LAND TITLE SYSTEM IS. Chicago, in the recent election, adopted the Torrens land title system, and there is general interest throughout the West to know what that system is. It has been in successful operation for years in England, Prussia, Australia and in different parts of Canada, and it has proved wherever tried to be in the interest of the whole people. Sir Robert Torrens, from whom the system was named, once spoke of the benefits of it in this manner: "It has substituted security for insecurity; it has reduced the cost of conveyances from pounds to shillings, and the time occupied from mouths to days; it has exchanged brevity and clearness for obscurity and verbiage; it affords protection against fraud ; it has largely reduced the number of chancery suits by removing those con- ditions that afford ground for them." By act of the legislature last June, the Tor- rens system became a law of the State of Illinois "in such counties of the first class as shall approve of said act by a popular vote." Cook county (Chicago) so ap- proved. The evidence of a title regis- tered under the Torrens system is a single paper — a certificate of title. Abstracts are, under this system, done away with. Titles will be registered upon the public records upon the judgment of the registrar and two expert examiners that there is a good title. There is a tive years' limit for the contesting of the titles registered, and af- ter the expiration of this period this cer- tificate is a first evidence of ownership, and is incontestable. No one can deny your title. When a transfer is to be made, the owner presents the deed, together with the certificate of title, to the registrar, the deed merely authorizing him to transfer the property on the public records to the purchaser. All questions concerning the validity of that transfer are settled at that time and forever. The saving in expense and delay are great items. PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 179 SUGAR BEETS. A beet sugar convention was lately held in Fremont, Neb. Twenty-five hundred acres will be sowed to beets in the San Juan valley in Cali fornia. The people of Chadron, Neb., have raised $25,000 to give as a bonus to the establishment of a beet sugar factory. Over 450 acres of beets were raised in Clay c6unty, Nebraska, last year, bring- ing the grower the contract price of $5 per ton. The Oxnard Beet Sugar Co., of Grand Island, Neb. , agree to pay $5 a ton for all beets with 12 per cent of sugar, and a graded scale for beets that fall below that percentage. A bill has been introduced in the Iowa legislature calling for a bounty of one cent a pound on sugar manufactured from sugar beets, sorghum or cane grown with- in the limits of the State. The fifteen sugar factories in Sweden worked, in the campaign of 1895-96, 588, 708 ton of beets, and the refineries pro- duced, from October 1, 1893, to September 30, 1894, 03.650 tons of refined, and, in the same period 1894 to 1895, 72,298 tons. At the meeting of the Beet Growers Union in Chino, Cal. , recently, the perma- nent organization was completed by the election of W. T. Hay hurst as president; Elmer Scott, vice-president; W. Baker, treasurer; W. M. Monro, secretary, and E. M. Day, W. M. Monro and W. Baker as executive committee. In Utah it is stated that the average cost of cultivating, harvesting and deliv- ering a crop of twelve tons of beets per acre is from $28 to $35, and with the average yield last year of 11.54 tons an acre the farmer has an income of $49.05 an acre or a net profit of from $14 to $21, besides getting $28 to $35 in cash for his labor. NEBRASKA CANALS. Canals for irrigation purposes in Western Nebraska are making considerable head- way and quite a number are in successful operation for a part or the whole of their length. The best and latest estimate of the mileage of constructed and proposed canals is something over 2,000 miles, of which 1,250 are now completed and the remainder under way. This mileage is divided among 389 claimants of water under the State law. There are supposed to be almost or quite as many projects in existence or active preparation whose promoters have not yet made formal appli- cation to the authorities, but it is presumed that these are generally of small size and of less general importance. More than a million, dollars has already been expended in irrigation works, and as much more will be required to complete the State's system. The number of acres of land covered by constructed ditches is about 854,000 — by this is meant land to which water may be applied. The area really in crop under ditch for 1895 is less than 150,000 acres, but it will be more than doubled this year. BOOKS AND MAGAZINES. No publication that comes to our table is more welcome than that special ex- ponent of Southern California most ap- propriately named " The Land of Sun- shine." We may also add that no publication with which we are acquaint- ed has a more distinctively local color and flavor than this, and the color and the flavor are both well pleasing. One fault we must allege, if it be a fault; and that is the habit so common among politicians during election times of claiming every thing in sight. It does not seern at all probable that an All- Wise Providence ever intended that all the good things of this world should be packed away in one corner thereof to the exclusion of all the rest of creation. As we study this great law of compensations, which seems to pervade the whole universe, it seems much more likely that when we put every advantage and disadvantage into the balance, the • sum total of the differences between men and places is much less th&n we are gener- ally willing to allow. However, when every item is set down on both sides of the book, California of the South is still a land of beauty and richness; a land of corn, and wine and oil; a land to which all of us who have ever lived there hope some day to return; and meantime we have many a backward glance over the shoulder, and many a long drawn sigh of discontent. It is a land of eternal beauty and '' The Land of Sun- shine," is worthy of its habitat. Dr. CHAS. STIRLING. 180 THE IRRIGATION AGE. The April number of Scribner's Maga- zine contains an article by Henry Norman on the "Quarrel of the English-speaking Peoples. " Mr. Norman was the corre- spondent sent to this country by the London Chronicle during the Venezuela affair. There are a number of very interesting articles in the April issue. The April McClure's will contain what is about the first really authoritative and direct account yet given of Professor Rontgen and his discovery of the cathode rays. Immediately on the announcement of the discovery, the editors of the maga- zine cabled Mr. H. J. W. Dam, of Lon- don, to hasten to Wiirzburg, and talk with Professor Rontgen in his laboratory, and learn all there was to be learned of the new marvel in photography. The paper will be illustrated with a portrait of Pro- fessor Rontgen and numerous photographs by the new process. A supplementary article by Cleveland Moffett will tell what has been done in America with the cathode rays. The Lincoln paper in McClure's for April will describe Lincoln's first de- bate with Douglas — twenty years before the famous debate of 1858 — with passages from an almost unknown speech of Lin- coln's in reply to Douglas. It will also contain the true story of Lincoln's court- ship and marriage, clearing away forever a mass of scandal and falsehood that gossip has piled up regarding these incidents in Lincoln's life. Portraits of Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln and numerous other pictures will accompany the paper. THE CATHODE RAY. It may be briefly explained, without going into the details of a very technical subject, that ordinary light is regarded as due to vibrations which are at right angles to the direction in which the ray travels, but that in the mathematical theories of light, other vibrations, in the direction of the ray, are indicated, though wholly un- known in experience hitherto. If the new rays prove in fact to be of this character, so as to realize indeed the long sought longitudinal vibration, the discovery is of the first importance in science, and will hardly find its equal in interest since the discovery of the law of gravitation; for it reveals a new mode of action of force, governing a wide range of phenomena and effects which, until now, have lain en- tirely outside the bounds of our cogni- zance.— Prof. A. W. Wright, in the April Forum. SIR JOHN MOORE'S RETREAT. The tale of Moore's splendid retreat, of his courage and calmness in loss and dis- aster, of his superb control of his men in their disappointment when Corunna was reached and no fleet was found there, of his brave tight with Soult on January 16, of the mortal wound which struck him down in the hour of victory, and of the self-forgetfulness which enabled him in the agonies of death to make all necessary arrangements for his men to embark on the belated ships — Lall this is a brilliant page of English history, perhaps the finest record in its course of glory won in re- treat, of patience, moderation, and suc- cess in the very hour of bitterest disap- pointment. It was the spirit and example of Moore which made possible the victo- ries of Wellington. — Prof. Sloane's " Life of Napoleon," in the April Century. The American Book Co. , of New York, have issued a valuable little book on the trees of the Northern United States. It gives the name and characteristics of each tree, describing in detail the bark and leaves. It is fully illustrated. The title is ''Apgar on the trees of North America." F. W. Woll, of the Wisconsin experi- ment station, is the author of a valuable work entitled "Agricultural Calendar for 1896," issued by John Wiley and Sons,of New York. It is tilled with information for the farmer, fruit grower and stockman. The Review of Reviews for April is an unusually full and complete number. Some of the features are the most inter- esting that have appeared in many months. DURING the year just ended, gifts to the value of $28,943,549 were made to churches, colleges, libraries, charities and the like, aside from their ordinary income, as against $19,967,116 in 1894. THE new state of Utah will start in by making a jury consist of eight persons in- stead of twelve. ! THE EDITOR'S DRAWER THE Kansas oil fields are being de- veloped. MONTANA shipped 306,460 head of cattle in 1895 valued at $11,032,560. A BILL has been reported favorably by the committee on territories of the United States Congress to admit a delegate from Alaska, thus making it a full-fledged terri- tory. THE Canadian government has decided to continue the Chicago immigration office under the control of Peter F. Daley who has been doing such good work in behalf of the Northwest Territories. SENATOR HANSBROUGH and Representa- tive Cooper have introduced bills in the Senate and House respectively, to incorpo- rate the Maritime Canal of North America to connect the Great Lakes and Hudson river. The capital stock is to be $10,- 000,000. IRRIGATION has proved itself the one great necessity for Idaho and the press and the people are co-operating for ex- tensions of the great improvements already established. Numerous new irrigating companies have been incorporated the past season. JAMES B. ANGELL of Michigan, John E. Russell of Massachusetts, and Lyman E. Cooley of Illinois have been appointed by the President as commissioners to make inquiry and report upon the feasibility of a deep water canal between the lakes and the Atlantic ocean, under the act approved in March last. THE Torrens Land Law is proving a success in Cook county, Illinois. It is the means of saving a great amount of time, annoyance and expeuse in the trans- ferring of real estate or in borrowing money thereon. The abstract companies are naturally opposed to it but its utility has now been practically demonstrated. THE Western Mining World comes out in a bold stand against the statements of the Northwest Magazine that the West is destined to be an arid region forever. The Northwest Magazine has nearly always been inclined to look with disfavor upon anything tending to develop the irrigation possibilities of the Western States. THE Burlington railroad has 50,000 acres of land for sale in Nebraska, princi- pally located in Webster and Franklin counties in the,.southern part of the State, and in Antelope, Sherman, Greeley and Valley counties in the North Platte dis- trict. The land commissioner ,at Lincoln, Neb., is disposing of these lands on very reasonable terms. THE following prices show what the choice grain lands of the San Luis valley are worth to practical farmers. Ten quarter sections were sold bringing about $20,000, without improvements. The best forties sold as high as $25.25 per acre for the bare land, and the poorest for $6 per acre. The average of 1,600 acres was $13.32 per acre for the land only. KANSAS has again come to the front in spite of the retirement of Mary Ellen Lease. This time it is a corporation in which membership is conditional upon being in debt. It is named the Mont- gomery County Mortgage Relief Associa- tion. It is intended to accumulate a re- serve fund by regular assessments and this fund will be used by such members as are particularly hard pressed by creditors. RUSSIA has a system of government banks for loaning money to farmers. They number thirty-six, all but three be- ing restricted to specific territory. There is, no competition of any kind, and the rules and regulations are carefully drawn. The last statement shows $600,000,000 loaned on land and $250,000,000 on build- ings, in mortgages of periods varying from one to sixty years. These banks are authorized to issue bonds to ten times their capital, but never to exceed the loans on real estate made by them. They are issued at par and to a certain extent pass as currency, being frequently used to can- cel mortgage obligations. 181 TOPICS OF THE TIME £ The Bills There are now pending be- in fore the Senate and the Congress. House of Representatives a number of bills pertaining to arid lands, reservoir sites and water supply and the preservation of the forests. One of the most important of these is the bill for the appropriation of funds to carry on the work of surveying and gauging the flow of Western streams. The question of water supply is of all others the one most important. ' This must be definitely ascer- tained and found to be adequate before there can be any security either for the capital which makes possible the building of the canals; or for the settler who tills the soil and to whom every drop of water is precious. Should Congress appropriate a half million dollars or more for this purpose it would not be out of harmony with its im- portance but to expect results from the expenditure of the diminutive sum of $700 in such States as Colorado or California is ridiculous. The men who have this work in hand are energetic, intelligent engineers and every dollar which is spent in the hydrographic survey will be returned many fold in the benefits which will accrue to the Western States. jLn Educate the people. It is Educational an old axiom that an edu- Campaigtt. Cated people will not be serfs or slaves. The ancient Saxon gloried in the fact that his long hair waved over the neck of a "free man. " One of the needs of the American people today is an educational course in irrigation. Could they but rise to a full understanding of the benefits derived from the application of water in the proper quantity at the right time, and the possibilities of an im- proved industrial and economic system which radiate therefrom, the cry of hard times, of the unemployed, of suffering women and children would soon cease. Within its scope, irrigation comprehends not alone the giving to thirsty plants a drink, but it opens avenues through which 182 will tramp an army to reclaim and settle the vast areas of arid land, to build there- on comfortable homes; to engage in every form of industry, and to erect social in- stitutions which as nearly as possible will place men upon an equality. ^f+ i There has been an inclina- Must Work ,. . out its own tlon m certain quarters to Salvation. sit idly by and wait for the National government to take up on an extensive scale the work of reclaiming the arid lands. While it is true that it is the duty of the federal government to undertake a large portion of this work, it is also true that until the representatives in Congress from the States east of the Mississippi can be brought to a full reali- zation of the needs of the West it is use- less to hope for much assistance from this source. But this is no reason why nothing should be done. Cannot the West work out its own salvation, even though the tools at command are not what might be desired? They will do good work if in proper hands. There are innumerable things that can be done, and when these are accomplished if a united front is pre- sented it will be much easier to obtain a favorable reply to the requests made of the Congress at Washington. Water Power The constant improve- and ment in the methods of Electricity, utilizing electrical force in the numerous industries is opening a wide field for the development of the mountain regions. The vast water power which goes to waste is being harnessed and placed at work. Already in some por- tions of Colorado, California and Utah the tremendous fall of the mountain streams is turning water wheels and tur- bines, and the electric current generated is carried for miles on wires until it is finally used for turning the wheels of factories, propelling the cars on the street railways, and furnishing light and TOPICS OF THE TIME. 183 heat for homes. Through this one me- dium alone the development of the West will receive an impetus which will carry it forward with giant strides. Its full significance can scarcely be realized at the present time. The Revival The wave of irrigation fever, AT in.*he which has swept over the Northwest. ,T . , , • ,, Northwest during the past few months, has resulted in the organi- zation of numerous associations for the purpose of developing and ex- ploiting the resources of the individual States and thus inducing the immigration of a class of progressive and intelligent people. South Dakota has already put in practical operation the machinery for the carrying on of this work. Committees have been appointed and instructed to go to work immediately. Arrangements have been made to publish a large volume giving, in detail statistics and a full de- scription of the resources of the State. The leaders of this movement are ener- getic men, prominent in business, pro- fessional and political circles, and they have the welfare of the State close at heart. What ivill the The work to be done both next before and at the Fifth Congress Do.' National Congress is of the utmost importance to the irrigation cause. The cession of the arid lands to the States is not a live issue at present, but the questions of interstate and inter- national waters, reservoir sites, the pres- ervation of the forests are resting uneasily and some definite action should be taken. There are a number of questions relating to both State and federal irrigation legis- lation which must be discussed and a defi- nite policy decided upon. It is to be hoped that the State commissions will pre- pare full and careful reports, setting forth the needs of each particular State and some practical method of accomplishing the desired end. It is also to be hoped that little if any time will be devoted to lengthy papers on the proper methods of irrigating cabbages and topics of a simi- lar nature. While subjects of this kind are of importance to the practical irriga- tor, they should not be allowed to occupy the time of the National Congress to the detriment of matters of far greater con- sequence. Above all, if the next Congress is to be a success it must not result in mere talk. Action, quick decisive action, is demanded, and if it is not forthcoming, the cause of irrigation and the West will be retarded instead of assisted. Patronize The key to prosperity, whether Home in a town, a country, a state Industry. or a nation is, Patronize Home Industry. This doctrine is par- ticularly applicable to the Western States. WKy should Washington export lumber and import furniture made therefrom? Why should Montana export cattle and import canned and cured meats from the packing houses of Chicago, Omaha and Kansas City? Innumerable instances might be cited of the same peculiar con- dition pf affairs and it is time that an or- ganized movement was instituted in each State for the encouragement of local in- dustries. Is it necessary for the people of Colorado to go outside the limits of the State for articles which can be pro- duced advantageously at home? Why pay freight both on the raw material and the finished product? The Eastern manu- facturer is merely waiting for an invita- tion to move nearer to the source of ma- terial supply and a market. Will he be invited ? ! MACHINERY AND APPLIANCES WATER POWER AND ELECTRIC PLANT. POULTRY RAISING. The accompanying cut illustrates a special water power plant constructed by The Stilwell-Bierce & Srnith-Vaile Co., Dayton, Ohio, for the Consolidated Canal Company, Mesa, Arizona. The water is taken from the Salt river and carried by 48-inch feed pipe across the Utah canal to a pair of 21-inch cylinder gate Victor Tur- bines on horizontal shaft, developing 400 h. p. under 40 feet head. One end of shaft is connected by friction clutch to a 200 h. p. dynamo which furnishes light and power for the town of Mesa, Arizona. The other end of the shaft is connected to a pumping plant for irrigating purposes. This novel plant is suggestive of further possibilities in this line. The raising of poultry for profit has long since passed the point where chance was a prime element. In these days the success- ful man or woman is the one who is will- ing to adopt improved methods. The old "Biddy," hen, has given way to the incu- bator, which can hatch a hundred or more eggs as easily as a dozen. The Reliable incubator has been on the market for many years, and each succeeding year has seen it improved in every particular. It gives satisfaction wherever used, because it ful- fills all the claims that are made for it. The manufacturers of these incubators have recently issued a large and handsome catalogue, which, in addition to a full de- scription of the incubators, gives much valuable information in regard to poultry SiATiOJN 1.N UiNJi, Al MktiA, AK1ZU.NA. THE IRRIGATION AGE. VOL. IX. CHICAGO, MAY, 1896. NO. 5, PUMP IRRIGATION ON THE PLAINS. BY H. V. HINCKLEY. (Consulting Irrigation Engineer, Topeka, Kansas.) THE only limit to the profitable devel- opment of the billion acres embraced in the " Great American Desert " is the extent of the available water supply. The mountains and the plains afford hydro- graphic conditions which are entirely dis- similar. The "little farm well tilled" and watered, when compared with the bonanza wheat farming of recent years, is a step toward agricultural independence. The community in which the individual secures water from an unlimited supply under his own land is free from the con- trol of bonded syndicates. It is not within the province of this arti- cle to discover the various causes of finan- cial embarrassment which have come upon many of the landed and bonded canal and water supply systems in, or originating in the mountains. The most practicable plan for the conservation of mountain waters for use in mountain parks, or on the plains in immediate proximity to the mountains, is that of mountain or canon reservoirs with open channel or pipe con- veyors, and failures of such systems to pay the anticipated revenues have not been due to the fact that they have been so con- structed. Upon the prairie plains, however, natural reservoir sites or favorable dam sites are scarce, evaporation reaches high max- ima and artificial reservoir storage of sur- face run-off is, in general, impracticable. The plains streams are generally inter- mittent and are often dry during the sea- son when water is most needed for plant growth. Where the plains break geolog- ically into high rolling lands, as in Eastern Kansas and Nebraska, storage in a small way is practicable (that is to say, in reser- voirs smaller by far than those which are or would be built in the mountains) as by a dam, across a ravine, holding back a lake of say ten to 100 acres. Some of the val- leys within these broken plains and a large area of the prairies have beneath them a never-failing water supply, moving con- stantly but slowly under the influence of gravity toward the sea or toward natural surface channels in which it may flow oceanward or be evaporated. This under- flow is replenished by rainfall sinking through the sandy soils of the plains in general and, in the valleys, by the down- ward lateral flow, from natural channels, of storm waters or mountain snow waters. It is generally conceded that to dam a plains river, like the Platte or the Arkan- sas, having a practically bottomless bed of sand, and to thereby hold back and divert the floods either into service canals or into side-hill or other reservoirs, is impractica- ble. Numerous canals have been built for the diversion from these rivers, during the flood season, of the portions of the flood represented by the carrying capacity of such canals. The general result is an annual washout of cheaply constructed head-works, an unseasonable, unreliable and, consequently, unsatisfactory service to patrons. The writer will not say that the con- struction of canals upon the plains proper is in no case justifiable. Local conditions may be, and in places are, such that a canal may be an unqualified success, and such that no other service will fit them as well as that of a canal system, but the fu- ture water supply for plains irrigation will not come from the surface flow of rivers. The entire contents of THE IRBIGATION AGE are copyrighted. 186 THE IRRIGATION AGE. MONEY WASTED IN CANALS. One of the Western Kansas canals repre- sents over a million dollars of wasted cap- ital, which was invested with a lack of knowledge regarding the hydrography of the region. Failing in attempts to main- tain a dam for the diversion of the floods (into a canal having a capacity of only a small per cent of the flood flow) its com- pany built a long, easy diversion dike. This failing, an attempt was made to tap the underflow by an open channel extend- ing up stream, with lighter grade than Nature gave the river. Other companies are even now following suit, and failure awaits most of them. The development of underground water- supplies is properly a problem of engineer- ing, not of financiering nor politics, and the man who attempts to develop the un- derflow by guess would go to law without a lawyer, and he must expect to be fined for contempt in Nature's court. Probably two thousand individuals in Western Kan- sas have erected pumping plants of various styles and capacities within a few years past. So far as known the rate of progress is illustrated by the following comparison of the number of plants erected: 1891, 18; 1892, 33; 1893,55; 1894,224; 1895, 1,241. The State Board of Irrigation reports that six of these men pronounce pump irriga- tion a failure. Is this strange ? Irrigation is a new feature of agriculture on the plains. It has taken the writer over two years of investigation and study to get even a fair idea as to water duty on the plains, the cost and methods of underflow devel- opment, the relative cost of pumping by various powers and other kindred prob- lems, all of which concern every irrigator, be his farm large or small. It is wonder- ful, then, if only a fraction of one per cent of the farmers who have attempted pump irrigation have made mistakes sufficient to cause them to pronounce it a failure. COMMON ERRORS. It is so easy for a man to put in a pump for raising two thousand gallons a minute from a well that can only supply five hun- dred gallons a minute, and whose capacity could have been told before erecting the pump; so easy for a man to assume that with an average annual rainfall of twenty inches he will need but a very little water, forget- ing or not knowing that it is the minimum of two inches in the first six months of the year, or the minimum of five inches per annum, upon which his needs should be based; so easy for him to find in manufac- turer's catalogues the indicated and actual H. P., and so think he has made all neces- sary allowance for friction when he buys the necessary "A. H. P." computed from the water lift; so easy for him to base his windmill computations on a fifteen-mile wind given in catalogues, when the aver- age is but eleven, to forget the law of squares and to forget that the wind blows lightest when he needs the most water. A FEW INSTANCES. Let us now look at a few fair represent- ative cases of what is being done in one season in a section of country that has been nearly depopulated on account of insufficient rainfall to produce crops. Eugene Tilleux, Tribune, Greeley Co., Kan- sas, uses an eight-foot mill; well 130 feet deep to water. Planted one acre of garden vegetables; three-quarters of the area was a total loss. Mill was only good for a quarter acre, and furnished not over six inches in depth of water during the season to that quarter. Besides all vegeta- bles needed for family use, received from sale of surplus ninety dollars, which paid for the pumping outfit. 1. L. Diesem, Garden City,Finney Co.,Kansas. Fourteen-foot mill; seventeen feet to water. Cost of plant, including reservoir, $200. Irri- gates twelve acres. Two acres sweet potatoes, 303 bushels; four-tenths acre onions, 400 bush- els; half acre sugar-beets, 128 bushels, etc. " Have made a living this year and paid off a three hundred dollar mortgage." J. M. Cramblett, Kinsley, Edwards Co., Kan- sas. Twenty- eight feet to water. Irrigates one- half acre with small windmill. Yield : 160 bushels of tomatoes, sold for $40; four tons of cabbage, sold for $160. Cabbage yielded at the rate of $640 per acre. -Onions and other vege- tables for family use not measured. V. Q. Billings, Kinsley, Edwards Co., Kan- sas. Twelve-foot mill; cost of plant $150. Put in too late; could not irrigate till June, when crop had begun to suffer. Had several mishaps with mill and reservoir, but still sold from one and a quarter acres, potatoes, $300; cabbage, $100, besides family supply. N. O. Waymire, Garfield-on-the-Arkansas, Pawnee Co., Kansas. Reservoir is filled with an eight-foot steel mill located over 200 feet away. Cylinder is a 4x12 brass-lined Morris Perfection with 1% inch stroke. Sheet water is found at a depth of ten feet, and is drawn through a two-inch sand point. Pump is hand- made, of two-inch pipe, with large air chamber and stuffing box. Conducting pipe is 1^ inch laid on the ground, and goes over the embank- ment with 45° elbows, forming a siphon. This makes the lift thirteen to 18 feet, according to amount of water in reservoir. Ground irri- gated in 1895, with reservoir shown, was one acre subsoiled, and )^ acre not subsoiled. PUMP IRRIGATION ON THE PLAINS. 187 EC; v p r i A N T v M r ANUM. Reservoir of 1896 is 50 feet on outside at base and five feet high. It is over two feet below the surface, will hold, when full, seven feet of water, and has nearly twice the capacity of one shown in engraving. Crops grown in 1895 were largely experimental but were satisfactory. F. L. Kichter, Garden City, Finney Co., Kan- sas. Seventy acres alfalfa and orchard, income seven thousand dollars. A. L. Parson, same address. Five acres fruit and produce, six hundred dollars. E. E. Fri/ell, Lamed, Pawnee Co., Kansas. Reservoir 130 feet in diameter, banks eight feet high. Can draw out of it (at one time) over a half-million gallons, or seven acres three inches deep. Two fourteen-foot steel mills on thirty- foot towers. Ten-inch cylinders. Twenty-six- foot lift. Fill resprvoir in three days on an average. Have successfully irrigated 25 acres of orchard, 20 of alfalfa, 13 of potatoes, 16 of beans, cabbage and onions. Spanish onions yield 400 to 1000 bushels per acre.* The mistakes that have been made — the disappointments resulting from less acre- ages being irrigable by given plants than their owners had anticipated — have been more than balanced by the phenomenal yields under reliable water supply and thorough cultivation. The mills above mentioned are the common form of radial fan windmills on towers. Hundreds of similar cases could be cited. Suffice in a general way to say that windmills of ten to sixteen feet diameter (mostly steel mills) on towers 30 to 40 feet high are success- fully irrigating from 6 to twenty acres with 20-foot lift, or 1 to 3 acres with 150 foot lift, and an investment of $150 to $300 is enabling the farmer to realize generally from $20 to $100 per acre per annum. No definite statement can be made as to aver- age results obtainable from such invest- ments. Intelligence and muscle are as essential as water. The man who still in- sists on growing wheat and corn does well if he nets $12 to $15 an acre above expenses. He who grows alfalfa and feeds it nets $20 to $50 an acre. He who has a handy market for vegetables or has a bear- ing orchard or vineyard often nets $100 to $200 an acre and occasionally very much higher figures are given. THE MOGUL WINDMILL. As the price paid for a pair of pants frequently depends upon the amount which the purchaser has to spend, regard- less of the real economy of the purchase, so, many farmers on the plains who have trusted for years in the possibility of an increasing and more reliable rainfall, only to be disappointed, and who have lost crop after crop, and seed after seed, have been obliged to economize in the extreme in pumping plant investments and, in the absence of credit, to buy or make what they could. This has resulted in the experi- mental and limited use of the Mogul. This machine is generally set for a north or south wind, working equally well with either, and diminishing in power as wind veers toward east or west. A Mogul 12 feet in diameter, 14 long, with 8 fans 2 x 14 feet, will irrigate from 1 to 2 acres with 20- feet lift. The cost, if built new and all work paid for, is from $100 to $200. If made by the farmer, of old stuff on hand, the cash outlay may be as low as $25. This machine is some- times made with fans of one board only, say 1x10 feet, for irrigating small garden. D. M. Frost, President State Board of Irrigation, has on his farm at Garden City a Mogul, diameter 18 feet, shaft 12 feet, fans 3 x 10 feet. Cost $175. Irrigates 3 acres in summer or six during the year. Also a steel tower mill, diameter 14 feet, cost $300. Irrigates 10 acres in summer or 20 during the year. Water lift 15 feet. PERSIAN WHKKL. From 12th Annual Keport U. S. Geological Survey. Part II, Irrigation. *See Illustration of Mr. Frlzell's reservoir in April numbe- of THE AGE. 188 THE IRRIGATION AGE. "MOGUL" WINDMILL. Pumping into a Reservoir at Garden City, Kansas. The Mogul is less reliable than the tower mill. The direction of the wind is not controlled by the irrigator and the wind is not as strong at the surface of the ground as it is 30 or 40 feet in the air. From seventy to a hundred tower mills can be counted from the train as one passes Garden City. The windmill is the popular pumping machine; that is to say there are, on the plains, several times as many windmills on towers as there are of all other kinds of pumping powers com- bined because wind per se is cheap. Con- trary to popular opinion, however, cheap wind does not necessarily furnish the cheapest power. OTHEE FORMS OF POWER. Following in order of power, after the Mogul and tower windmills come the gasoline engines, driving centrifugal or auger pumps for low lifts from creeks or open wells; rotary pumps (positive) for higher lifts, or reciprocal (cylinder) pumps for very high lifts, as at the Groodland state pumping station. These plants, complete, " DEFENDER " WINDMILL. A sample of what inventive (?) genius is doing on the plains. PUMP IRRIGATION ON THE PLAINS. 189 F. W. KICHTER'S PUMPING PLANT, GAKDEN CITY, KANSAS. Tliree ten-inch cylinder pumps toeing operated by one 16-foot Aermotov. Engraving shows frame of foot of tower. cost from $500 to $1500 or more, though the average cost is more nearly the lower than the higher figure. Then come the compound duplex (or high duty) steam pumping engines of usual water-works type, pumping from reservoirs or rivers. These large steam plants being expensive are not in gen- eral use, parties who could well afford the investment preferring to await the ex- perience of others with similar plants. A STEAM PUMPING PLANT. Geo. M. Hunger, of Eureka, Greenwood Co., Kansas, has 500 acres of orchard. He built an earth dam behind which he impounds 700 acre feet of water. He proposes to increase the storage capacity to 1600 acre feet. He has two boilers, each 35 H P. com- pound duplex pumps, capable of lifting four million gallons a day against a lift of 49 feet above the pumps. Cost of plant to date something over $15,000. Esti- mated cost of enlarged plant $25,000. He says he prefers not to give publicity to his figures as to gross value of crop, profits from water investment, etc., as "these items vary so widely in practice that it would not do to publish them." However, he said to the State Board of Horticulture, very recently, "The question of whether or not it pays is the vital one to be considered. Should a man obtain by irrigation 100 bushels of corn per acre and get 15 or 20 cents per bushel for it he would not l>e making headway rapidly, but if a man has a bearing orchard that is yielding an occasional crop of from 50 to 100 bushels per acre of which one-half to three fourths must be classed as seconds or culls, and if by irrigating that orchard STATE PUMPING PLANT AT GOODLAND, KANSAS. 10 Actu.-il H. P. Gasoline Engine, operating a 5'^-lnch cylinder with 36- inch stroke, in a 6-inch well. 170 feet deep and raising from tlie underflow O.OOU gallons per hour. 190 THE IRRIGATION AGE. PUMP IRRIGATION ON THE PLAINS. 191 ATYPICAL PRAIRIE IRRIGATION PLANT. D. M. Frost, Garden City. he can increase the crop to three times the quantity and have it all grade fancy, it is easy to see that, at any prices for fruits that have been known to prevail, he could afford to spend a very considerable sum per acre to install an irrigation plant. " Then if, in place of an occasional crop, the irrigation will give him regular annual crops of this class, it requires no book- keeping to discover that it is profitable." Gasoline has taken a notion to advance since it has come into considerable use as a pumping power. Coal sells at from four to six dollars on the plains and the need of a cheap, reliable power for pumping offers inventive genius a prolific field. The "Defender" and the "Mo- gul" do not supply the need. The wind is lightest and the sun strong- est during the driest months. • Who will give us a practical helimotor and reap the reward that awaits him ? THE AVERAGE KETUKN PEE ACRE. Pump irrigation, or anything else, is a failure if it does not pay. The following table gives returns from certain crops as reported by quite a number of prominent irrigators on the Western Kansas plains. Each item, being the average of those re- ported to the writer, would seem to be en- tirely within the reach of any intelligent and industrious irrigation farmer. Annual Keturns— Dollars Per Acre. Crop. Average Bottom Land Not Irn 'gated. Average Irrigated. Best Results Irrigated. (Average.) Alfalfa Hay and Seed. Alfalfa Hay only Corn 21 14 5 36 23 11 61 36 24 Wheat . 7 18 29 Potatoes 25 137 250 Sweet Potatoes 25 172 333 Onions 50 275 550 Small Fruits 100 625 1,100 Orchards 50 537 1,000 Allowing for exaggerations or over- enthusiasm of the honest farmers furnish- PUMP1KG PLANT OF PKKSTON \VYCKOFF, HOME. KANSAS. 192 THE IRRIGATION AGE. ing the data from which this table is made there is still enough margin to justify the erection of pumping plants when water is at any depth at which it is ordinarily found in abundance. Good judgment dictates in general the cultivation of various crops on the same farm — for example early potatoes and late cabbage — thus making a given monthly supply of water do double duty. In favorable soils deep plowing and winter irrigation (storing the water in the sub- soils) still further increases the duty so that all the year irrigation may be made to cover three times the acreage of ninety days' summer surface watering. In general the larger pumping plants of either class are the more economical for reasons which it seems not necessary to explain. By reason generally of a saving in first cost other combinations are in occasional use: a second-hand steam thresher engine belted to centrifugal pump, animal power geared to endless chain or belt of elevator buckets or board buckets lifting in box spouts. The whole matter of pumping water for irrigation is so new to our people that they often adopt make-shift arrangements till they can see with their own eyes what a little water does for them. How many New York farmers pay $10 or $20 an acre annually for fertilizers and then reap, on an average, only a half or two-thirds of a maximum crop because of a partial drought at some time during the growing period. Unreliable water by canals has been cost- ing the average irrigator of the United States almost exactly one dollar a year per acre. Reliable water by pumps, properly planned, costs from one to three dollars in the valleys proper and as high as five or even ten dollars on the higher lands — including interest. Where is the fruit or vegetable grower who does not, nearly every year, realize that he could well afford to pay five dollars an acre or even more, rather than to have suffered from the deficiency of water that visited him at some time during the grow- ing season? (To be continued.) THE ART OF IRRIGATION. CHAPTER XII. IRRIGATING BY FLOODING (Continued). BY T. S. VAN DYKE. r*HE size of the checks to contain the A water in irrigation by flooding will also depend upon the head of water at your service. Suppose you have two cubic feet a sec- ond, or one hundred miner's inches for ten acres. This is head enough for most any orchard work on almost any soil worth cultivating at all, and though for alfalfa much more may be used, it is quite ample if no more can be had. Suppose the checks are twenty feet square, which would give them an area of four hundred square feet. It would then take two cubic feet a second but two hundred seconds to fill one a foot deep. But you rarely want more than the equivalent of three inches of rain at a time, or one-fourth of an acre foot. This would till the check in fifty seconds. A line of checks to watch and let the water from one to the other as fast as filled and have no breaking away of the water will keep you and two other average men hopping about pretty lively. And the chances are you will find any kind of waterproof boots too slow as compared with bare legs. There is no room for style in this work. It is very strict business, and often there is a very short time in which to do it. If you want to hire less help, you will make the checks larger. But here you may be limited by the nature of the crop as well as by the slope of the land. If it is an orchard it will probably be more convenient to have the ridges in the center between the. trees. It is impos- sible to lay down any rule. The right thing is a see-saw between several ex- tremes. In some cases it will pay to use a smaller head to avoid making too large checks, and on the contrary you may have to make them large because you are lim- ited to so short a run that you have to use a very large head to get over the ground THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 193 within the time allowed you to run the water. It is best to decide at the outset how much water you will put on a tract in a given time. Two cubic feet a second will cover ten acres to an average depth of three inches in about fifteen hours. On account of mistakes in printing you had better figure over for yourself all such matters, and not rely on printed figures anywhere. But you will rarely need to put on even that amount of water at once. A depth of two inches, which can be put on in about ten hours, is equal to three inches of rain, as it generally comes, and this is enough at a time for almost any- thing, unless the ground is very dry, or it is to be a long time before you can get water again. On a square ten- acre tract there will be about eleven hundred checks of twenty feet square, or thirty-three rows thirty-three checks long. Ten hours' run of two cubic feet a second, giving the equivalent of two inches in depth, would be six hundred minutes or but a trifle over half a minute to a check. But if as small as twenty feet, you do not turn the whole head into one check, but take them in tiers of several. A tier of six would thus give you a little over three minutes to a check. But, then, time is lost in dividing the stream and letting it from one check to the next as soon as one is filled. On the whole it is lively work, but when everything is well arranged, flooding beats the capricious clouds so much that you readily forgive it for keeping you up some- times in the middle of the night while the man who has small streams trickling down small furrows is serenely snoring. Checks are generally so arranged that when one is full, or nearly so, the water flows from it to the next one. Sometimes this flow will need help, and where the land is to be broken up again after irrigat- ing they had better be made sometimes so that one will not feed the next one as there is danger of the bank cutting out too soon. How strong or high to make the bank will depend much upon the nature of the soil as well as of the crop. Where the soil is very light it is best to make the ridge so that you have to break it. This is not much of a task ?s you have to be there anyhow, and if the water gets away from you, a dozen men may not stop it before it has done mischief that will cost you much more labor than opening the checks. But if the ground is not to be broken up after wetting, as in alfalfa fields, then the lower ridge may sometimes be made so as to feed the next check, and so on to the end of the line, unless you feed each from the ditch direct, which is often done where the checks are large. But it is safer to cut the checks so as to discharge all water quickly. In any case the ridges, if permanent, must be made very strong and very broad at the base. When the roots have taken posses- sion of the top soil a very light stand will prevent cutting of the soil and accidental breaking of the check. All trouble is, however, best avoided by a wooden gate large enough to feed properly from check to check, and it can readily be seen so as not to be in the way of driving machinery over the land. With these properly set, a breach of a well-made check is almost im- possible. MAKING THE CHECKS. A common way of making the checks is by throwing up ridges with a plow or scraper. On some soils two plow furrows running in opposite directions, so as to throw the sod to the center, are enough for almost all temporary checks. This, of course, means very level ground, and it may be so nearly level that it is not neces- sary to throw the two furrows together. And some ground is so near a perfect level that one furrow will often do. Stubble is often wet in this way to prepare it for plowing, and by making the furrows only a few feet apart, land quite sloping may be well wet. This is a good enough way to prepare some ground for plowing. But in all cases where the ground is already so loose that a scraper may be used, it is best to throw up a good ridge, for with that a larger amount of water may be put into the ground with much less danger of un- even wetting. What is probably the best scraper for this purpose can be made by any one. It is called a "ridger" and is nothing but a sled with solid board runners. These converge at one end and diverge at the other according to the ease with which the soil will scrape and the size of the ridge you are to make. One five 'feet long with the opening between the runners a foot or so wide at one end and three at the other will make checks strong enough on most soils to hold water five inches deep if the soil is in good cultivation to scrape. But the size of the ridger will vary with soils 194 THE IRRIGATION AGE. and other things, so that no general rule can be given. If the ridger is not heavy enough with a man on it, it may be weighted with sacks of earth. When dragged over loose earth with the large opening forward, this will throw the earth to a ridge in the center behind. On rebellious ground, and often on any ground, it is advisable to have two ridgers, one larger than the other running ahead to gather earth, the other attached immediately behind to concen- trate it. But to work well, this, or any other form of scraper, must have the ground in fair condition from harrowing from either side there will be openings to- be filled with the hoe. This is not as much of a task as it would seem, and for some work you may so arrange the lines according to the slope of the ground that you can use those places to let the water from one check into the one below it and thus not have to fill it so completely. TURNING IN THE WATEU. When all is ready, the head of water is turned in and divided among as many tiers of checks as can be comfortably handled at a time. If the stream is too large for the number of checks, it will VERY FINE FLOODING WORK. Line of checks filled and head of water in lateral passing on to next line. Water all of uniform depth with checks filled and emptied in less than three hours. Checks made with "ridger." or plowing, and sometimes both. If the ground is hard or tough the plow furrows above described are about the best made available. In all cases heavy clods and big flakes will interfere with your work by letting the water through the ridges if too plenty. Where the checks are to be permanent, as for alfalfa, they may be made well enough on many soils with the ridger. More care must of course be taken, and generally they should be rolled or dragged down into shape. A very effective scraper called the '* Fresno scraper" is used in the large alfalfa fields for making these ridges, and does very perfect and rapid work. But for ordinary fields it is not necessary to buy any machinery. When made with a ridger at each junc- tion of a ridge with another crossing it keep you jumping too rapidly to keep it from breaking away. If you have too many for it to fill at a time then you will do too much leaning on the hoe, and, as you generally have to hire help at this time if working much ground, you want to save time as much as anything. You will soon find the right medium by trial. Also when and in how many places to break a check so as to let the water quickly into the next one, and also how to build the lowest place in a ridge so that the water will flow out when you want it to and not before. No rules can be given for this work that are not subject to so many ex- ceptions as to be almost worthless. The time required to get the water over a ten-acre tract with a head of two cubic feet a second or one hundred miners* inches under four-inch pressure will vary THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 195- from six to fifteen hours, according to the nature of the soil and the necessity of rushing the water over it rapidly, and also according to the number of the checks and the freedom of passage for the water through them and out of them. With larger heads you can do it in less time but will need more help, and vice versa. But slow flooding is generally bad, especially where the water stands deep, and gen- erally all that remains in a check after doing its work is a detriment and no longer a benefit. "Sometimes checks are fed from a main at the upper side exactly as in orchard work with fine furrows. And where the checks are numerous and small this is often best, dividing the head so as to take the checks in blocks or tiers. Often it may be better to have the ditch run through the center feeding to right and left. The trouble in such case is to empty the checks fast enough without wasting the water. Where one feeds another there is little waste. The ditch must in all cases be high enough to ensure rapid and cer- tain feed of water. The time required to soak the ground will also vary greatly with the nature of the soil. If the checks are so made that they do not break and let out more water than you intend, the soil will be well soaked in two or three hours, and often less time after the check is covered on the bottom. If it takes much longer than this, it is pretty strong evidence that the texture of the soil is so close that fine fur- rows would do better for all orchard work. For in such case you are quite certain to be troubled with the soil baking too much and making it difficult to cultivate and keep the soil open with cultivation. There is also danger of scalding tender stuff in hot weather. As the upper checks feed the lower ones and are thus full for a longer time in a long series, one would suppose that the upper side of the field will be much wetter than the lower. The same would be ex- pected from fine furrow work. But in general no difference can be seen if the work has been well done. And it is not difficult to arrange the breaking of the checks in such way that the water will re- main longer in those at the lower side. But you need not at first trouble yourself with such points, but concentrate all your talents on getting the water over the whole as quickly as possible without having it stand too deep or too long in any one place. When once you have mastered this you will find all the rest easy enough. And if you have laid out the slope right and made the checks with care, and have plenty of help to handle the rush of water when it comes, you will find no trouble even with this. PROTECT THE TBEES AND VEGETABLES. Flooding may be used for all sorts of vegetation. But where possible, the stalk or stem of everything should be protected from contact with the water. In the case of trees it is easy to leave a little mound about the trunk so that there is no excuse for the water touching it. But with many vegetables and small tender stuff it is gen- erally impossible to do this at any reason- able cost. If the plants cannot in such case be set up on a little ridge above the water it should be spread over the whole in a thin sheet with the greatest speed possible. And if possible it should be done in the afternoon or evening so that the sun cannot strike the stem until it and the ground around it are comparatively 'dry. Plants differ much in the ability to endure the baking of the ground around the stem and the scalding of the stem from having the hot sun strike it while wet. Young melons, for instance, are quickly hurt, while young radishes seem unaffected. As a rule the evil is exagger- ated by many. Not much harm will be done anything if the water is not allowed to stay around it too long, or too hot a sun allowed to strike the stem too soon after the water is taken off. In cool, cloudy weather there is little danger. As it would take you years to find out just what different things will bear in this way it is best not to risk it, but keep the water away wherever it does not cost too much in labor or money to do so. ALFALFA AND GRAIN. Many things such as alfalfa or grain that will stand considerable water about the stem and baking of the ground when old will not endure it when young. Cer- tain loss will follow neglect on such things. The remedy is often simple where you can get a long run of a large head of water; and, if you cannot, you have little business trying to raise such things. It is to wet the ground so thoroughly before planting that the plants will need no more 196 THE IRRIGATION AGE. water until old enough to shade the ground and become tough euough to en- dure considerable baking and scalding. The soil should be well soaked before plowing even if it takes two or more flood- ings to do it. Then, when in condition, it should be so well plowed and harrowed that it will retain moisture and remain mellow. Then your stuff can grow two or even three months without more irrigation and in many places will make a crop of grain without any more. But to flood it just after it is up is always to hurt it, and often to ruin most of the stand, however good it may be. The great problem in flooding is how to make a number of checks feed each other without having the water stand too long in each, or having it run so fast through the upper ones as to cut or other- wise damage anything in it, and at the same time to use up the whole head in the series so as to have little or none to waste at the lower end. If checks do not feed each other, then you have the expense of more laterals and gates, and more care in watching each check so as to get in just enough water to soak away quickly, and no more. If you have to have a waste ditch at the lower end to empty the check completely and see that it is done, then you might as well have one feed another at once. If you can run just the right amount into a check at once and be sure that it will soak away quickly enough to avoid scalding, or such puddling as is sure to result in bad bak- ing, even if no sun strikes it, then, every- thing else being equal, it is best not to have one check feed another. But it often costs more in time and labor. Suppose, then, you are feeding a line of ten checks, one from the other. You want to have each soak an average of two inches in depth. If you let twenty inches in depth into the first one, with the view of letting it all out when it has settled down two inches, you may press down and puddle the soil too much in a very short time. Many soils, such as a fine granite soil, will rarely stand this, and in some such a depth of water will by pud- dling stop the soaking instead of hasten- ing it. You must then start with less water and run in more after you have cut the check to let it into the next one. But this in- volves the danger of keeping deep water too long in the first one, or else cutting the soil or injuring vegetation by running the stream over the bottom of it after it is emptied. And whichever way you try to avoid these troubles you may find your- self at the end with a large amount of waste on hand which should have gone in the ground. For you want to learn at the outset that waste hardly ever pays. There is no royal road out of these dif- ficulties, because each case must be de- cided on its own peculiar state of facts. But if you bear in mind the main princi- ples you will soon find your way out of the woods with a little patience. (To be continued.) FLOODING WITH TEMPOKAKY CHECKS. Checks made with ridger. Checks just emptied showing ground puddled where water stood too deep and too long- For orchard work to be followed by cultivation this does little harm if not too great, but it would greatly injure young grain or tender vegetables and destroy many of the plants. WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION. CHAPTER V. STORAGE RESERVOIRS AND DAM SITES. BY F. C. FINKLE, C. E. MANY of the large and important irri- gation systems of the world derive their supply of water from storage or im- pounding reservoirs. A storage reservoir is the artificial lake bed or basin formed by closing the outlet or outlets to a valley or canyon. After the outlets are closed by means of artificial barriers called dams, water entering the valley is retained in the basin and accu- mulates, thus forming an artificial lake from which water can be drawn as desired. The object of storage reservoirs therefore becomes apparent, the water entering the basin at times of the year when it is not needed for irrigation, being conserved to be drawn off and used at other times when irrigation is practiced. A storage reservoir for developing a water supply for irrigation purposes is ex- pedient and useful only in regions where such a large proportion of the precipita- tion takes place during the proportion of the year, when no irrigation is practiced, as to render the natural water supply in- adequate for the purpose of irrigating when irrigation is necessary. There are certain requirements making a storage reservoir practicable, or at times even possible. These we will now enum- erate and proceed to discuss in the natural order. They are as follows : (1.) A suitable valley or basin. (2.) A favorable dam site. (3.) An adequate water-shed. (4.) Proximity to irrigable lands. It is always necessary that these re- quirements be all combined in such a de- gree as not to have the failure of an enter- prise due to the absence of either one of them. At the same time it is not to be expected that they are all to be found present in a perfect state, nor even in a relative state of perfection for that matter. The first and most necessary essential to constitute a valley or basin suitable for storage purposes is sufficient area. As will be seen later on the cost of building dams is always great so that it is necessary to have a considerable area which can be flooded in order to make an undertaking of water storage profitable. Of course no fixed area can be stated as a minimum for the reason that the figure must correspond to the amount of invest- ment required for dams. Extreme cases are sometimes encountered when small tracts of only 300 or 400 acres can be profitably utilized as storage reservoirs. This is only the case, however, when the other requirements are developed in such a marked degree as to render the cost of constructing a dam very small and the average depth of water nearly if not quite equal to the height of the dam. The locality also tends to influence the ques- tion of whether a reservoir site of limited area can be profitably improved or not. The value of water varies so much in dif- ferent localities that an enterprise, which would prove profitable in one place, might possess no value at all in another locality. Next to sufficient area the most impor- tant requirement in a reservoir site is that the slope or pitch of the land included in it be light, uniform and gradual. Abrupt descent toward the dam site or steep side slopes from the middle of a valley toward either side often render it unfit for a reser- voir site although it be of very large area. In order to make the flooding of a consid- erable area possible, where the slope is abrupt, a very high dam must be con- structed, and the cost of dams increases so rapidly, in proportion to their height, as to condemn such propositions from a financial point of view. The value of water for irrigation pur- poses in the particular locality in question is also an important factor to be carefully considered as well in this connection as has already been suggested in connection with the question of area. In localities where water is very valuable a grade of seventy- five feet per mile in the reservoir site may not be objectionable, while in other localities where water is cheap a grade of twenty-five feet per mile may be sufficient to condemn a storage project. Should the soil in a proposed reservoir 197 198 THE IRRIGATION AGE. site be of such a loose and porous charac- ter as to not be capable of retaining water, but such as would allow it to sink and -escape too readily from the reservoir, that would be a fatal objection. In all cases under consideration, thorough examinations should be made to determine the condi- tion in this particular. Another matter of importance is the liability of the reservoir to till up with materials having a specific gravity greater than water. Such materials are usually ibroughtdown from above by heavy floods, and the checking of the current when the water charged with them reaches the reservoir causes them to settle. This ob- jection can sometimes be overcome by intercepting the materials before they reach the reservoir site or by sluicing them out after they are in. The former method is practicable when the materials are coarse, provided that a suitable place can be found in which to intercept them, and the latter when they consist of fine sand or soil and an opportunity exists for con- structing scour or sluice gates for removing them. Materials having a less specific gravity than water cause no difficulty as they will float on the surface and escape over the waste weir. REQUIREMENTS FOR A DAM SITE. The conditions which make a site desir- able for the construction of a dam are a narrow passage to be closed, a reasonable depth to material suitable for a founda- tion, good opportunity for draining the foundation, and proximity of suitable mate- rials for constructing the dam. All of these things materially influence the cost of a dam and in this way affect the feasibility of a project. Before any recommendation of a storage project is made, surveys and borings to determine the exact length of dam required, the depth to a foundation and the amount of water to be handled in draining the foun- dation should be completed. Then the class of materials required for a dam can be settled, the data already obtained enabling us to decide what type of dam to build. Next the point from which the materials for construction are to come ought to be ascertained, after which their cost can be accurately estimated. Finally comes the estimate of the total cost of a dam based on all of the above by taking into account the contents of the foun- dation and section of the dam, the amount and cost of handling the material to be excavated for the foundation and the cost of cuts, tunnels or pumping water for drainage, together with the cost of finish- ings, gate tower, other equipments, super- intendence and other incidental expenses. SUFFICIENCY OF WATER -SHED. In order to derive the greatest profit from a storage reservoir its tributary water- shed should be capable of filling it at least once every year. If the water-shed is limited so that the reservoir cannot with certainty be de- pended on to fill every year, a portion of the water has to be carried over each year, so as to ensure an ample supply for the ensuing year. In a case of this kind a large reservoir may lose a very consider- able portion of its value, as the duty which it can perform wiil depend entirely upon how much of the reservoir will fill in years of minimum precipitation. Thus it will appear that a large reser- voir site and an easy dam site are not the only things to be sought, but that an ade- quate water-shed for supplying it is of quite as much importance. An examination of the water-shed tribu- tary to a reservoir site is therefore a mat- ter of great moment and in the following articles we will briefly discuss the points to be investigated and the lines upon which these investigations ought to be carried out. All of the territory draining into a reservoir site above the location of the dam is known as its tributary Avater-shed. To determine the area of this water-shed is the first matter of importance in investi- gating it. Surveys from which the number of square miles or acres can be calculated should be made. These surveys should also be topographical in a measure, as the differences in elevation are important, so if the water- shed differs very much in ele- vation it should be classified accordingly. The exactness with which it is necessary to determine the area of a water-shed must be left entirely to the judgment of the en- gineer. Sometimes it may be so much larger or smaller than necessary that only a fair approximation of its size is required for making a report. In such cases it is usually sufficient to locate the principal points along the boundary lines of the WATER SUPPLIES FOR IRRIGATION. 199 water-shed by a system of triangulation and then approximate the boundaries from these. More frequently it is the case that close figuring is required to determine the suffi- ciency of the water-shed, in which case its area must be ascertained with great exact- ness. It is then necessary to traverse the boundaries with a transit line and calcu- late the latitudes and departures in order to check the correctness of the work and calculate the contents of the water-shed. AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION. The amount of moisture falling on the tributary water- shed in the form of rain and snow should be observed and a record kept. The method of making these obser- vations has already been discussed herein in connection with natural streams and the same rules will apply to observations on the water-shed tributary to a proposed storage reservoir. Stations at which ob- servations are taken should not be over a mile apart. These stations should be correctly located on the plat of the water- shed, so that a daily record of the results of each observation with the number of the station at which it was made can be kept for future reference. The value of such observations even made for only one year is considerable, but in order to fix a minimum and maximum rainfall they should be kept for a number of years. Statistics show that dry and wet years occur in groups of from three to ten years. Hence observations must be made for a period covering half a score of years or more in order to ascertain the fluctuations of rainfall with certainty. (To be continued.) CASE WHERE AN INJUNCTION DID NOT LIE, BY CLESSON S. K1NNEY. I SEE by the reports that my friend A. J. Chandler of Phoenix, Arizona, has finally won his case in the supreme court of that Territory by reversing the judg- ment of the district court. Well, he ought to have won. In the face of ex- press statute of Arizona, and in the face of the almost universal decision of the supreme courts of the Western States and Territories upon the subject the district judge must have spent many a sleepless night in digging up an old common law theory which he thought would fit the case. " Water should, and by right ought to flow where it has been accustomed to flow." A theory so ancient and mil- dewed that it smells of the peat bogs of England, where the principal question is how to drain the water off from the land and not how to permit to run over them in such a manner that it will do the greatest good to the greatest numbers. In the case before us, the plaintiffs and appellees were the prior appropriators and users, as between themselves and ap- pellants, Mr. Chandler and associates, of certain water of the Salt river and con- ducted the same through what is known as the " Tempe Canal" to where they used it for the purposes of irrigation, and turning a grist mill. Appellants having appropriated, and otherwise secured, the use of water from the river, subsequent to the appropriation of the appellees, at a point in the river several miles above the point of diversion of appellees, for the purpose among other things,of ' ' creating, generating, and perpetuating, for public and private use, a water power of not less than 800 horse power," then sought to mingle the water of the appellees with their own, and run it from the river through their canal over a precipice having a fall of forty to fifty feet where their power plant was located, and afterward delivered it back to the appellees' ditch at a point above any place where the water was used by them, and at the time when this action was commenced to enjoin ap- pellants they were so actually running and delivering said water. An injunction was issued by the district judge and upon the final hearing of the case the injunction was made perpetual, and restrained ap- pellants from interfering with the water of the appellees, except to use it for 200 THE IRRIGATION AGE. mechanical purposes, and provided that said water should after such use be re- turned by appellants to the natural channel of the river above the mouth of appellees ditch. This requirement was, of course, in strict conformity with the provisions of the common law relative to riparian rights, and upheld the doctrine that water after being used by any person to the extent permitted by common law must be re- turned to its original channel not per- ceptibly diminished in quantity and un- deteriorated in quality. The Supreme Court held that the com- mon law had no application whatever to the use of water in Arizona. And in the case at Bar it held that an injunction would not lie at the instance of a prior appropriator of the water of a river through an irrigation ditch to restrain a subsequent appropriator further up a stream from diverting water from the river and after using it returning it into complainant1 s ditch, where it appears that the water is turned into such ditch above the point where it was to be used by complainant and where the complainant had the same quantity as he would have had if de- fendant returned the part used by him to the river. Judge Bethune, who rendered the opinion of the Supreme Court, in the course of his remarks said: " It seems to be admitted that there could be no ob- jection to the use by a subsequent ap- propriator of the waters of a stream already appropriated, should the water be returned uninjured to the channel above the point of diversion of the prior appro- priation. But, as we have seen, this rule springs from the common law, which, as already stated, has no application in regulating our water rights. We cannot perceive any reason why, under our system of the use of water, a person en- titled to the use of a certain quantity of it should receive it at oae place, instead of another, provided his rights are in no way affected or curtailed. The appellees claim a certain quantity, of water for the irrigation of their lands and to run Hay- den's Mill. If they get it, why should the manner in which they get it matter to them, especially when one may add useless burdens upon the exercise of absolute rights of the appellants, and either way would equally subserve the rights of ap- pellees ? "In our view of the case, no rights of appellees are invaded by reason of the delivery of the water claimed by them into their ditch above the point of use by them. The evidence fails to show that any damage has accrued, or will accrue, to them by having their water delivered to them at the point to which appellants were delivering it at the commencement of this action, or that their remedies against appellants for a failure to so deliver the quantity of water, to which appellees are entitled, or for any damages otherwise suffered, would be in any manner different from those appellees would have should appellants be required to deliver the proper quantity back into the channel of the. riv^r. We are of the opinion that the appellants were exercising an absolute right in the use of the water, of course subject to any penalty they may incur by the use of such right. We therefore do not think this is a case for an injunction, but that the appellees have ample modes of redress at law for any damages which may be occasioned by an improper action of appellants in the use of the water, or in delivering it back to appellees. The judgment of the lower court is reversed, and the cause remanded for a new trial." The case of appellees was simply another example of the selfishness of man. Not injured in any manner themselves they wished to prevent Mr. Chandler and his associates from using the water and thus preventing the greatest good to be done to the greatest number, and the further development of the country. But the district judge who granted the injunction, what shall I say of him ? His audacity is only equaled by the district judge of Idaho who rendered that remark- able decision upon the theory of "equitable division " of waters in the case of Hillman vs. Hardwick and others (reported in the 28 Pac. Rep., 438). In that case the evidence was that there were about eighty to 100 inches flowing in a certain stream, and the plaintiff claimed by virtue of a prior appropriation 125 inches of water. But in spite of the fact that his claim to this amount and his actual application of all of the water for the purpose of irriga- tion were both proven, the trial court ren- dered a judgment giving the defendants permission to divert something like 800 inches over and above the amount claimed A CASE WHERE AN INJUNCTION DID NOT LIE. 201 by the plaintiff. Of course the supreme court of that State reversed the judgment below, and Mr. Justice Huston, in render- ing the opinion, said: "We then have this anomalous condi- tion of affairs: A creek or stream flowing 100 inches of water, with appropriations of that water to the amount of 800 inches, in addition to the prior appropriation of the plaintiff of all the water of the creek and its tributaries. To the ordinary mind this might, and perhaps does, present a some- what difficult problem for judicial solu- tion, unaided by the statutes, but the learned district judge found no difficulty whatever in reaching a conclusion as unique as it is unprecedented. We say unprecedented, because this question, un- der statutes identical with that of Idaho, has been decided so often in favor of the prior appropriator. th \t it has been gener- ally considered, by both professionals and profanes, as a settled question ; as, for in- stance, the question has been decided up to 1889, twice by the Supreme Court of the United States, seventeen times by the supreme court of California, five times by the supreme court of Colorado, six times by the supreme court of Nevada, twice by the supreme court of Montana, once by the supreme court of New Mexico, twice by the supreme court of Utah, once by the supreme court of Oregon and repeatedly by the supreme court of Idaho; in fact, the decision of the learned judge in this case stands alone. We have been unable by the most diligent search to find a prece- dent or parallel for it. Heroically setting aside the statute, the- decisions and the evidence in the case, he assumes the role of Jupiter Pluvius, and distributes the waters of Gooseberry creek with a benefi- cent recklessness which makes the most successful efforts of all the rain wizards shrink into insignificance, and which would make the hearts of the ranchers on Goose- berry dance with joy if only the judicial decree could be supplemented with a little more moisture. The individual who causes two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before is held in highest emulation as a benefactor of his race. How then, shall we rank him, who, by judicial fiat alone, can cause 800 inches of water to run where Nature only put 100 inches? We veil our faces, we bow our heads before this assumption of judicial authority. "Evidently the court assumed that Gooseberry creek was as inexhaustible as the widow's crust, or else that its decree possessed the potency of Moses' rod. All the provisions of the statute in regard to priority of right incident to priority of appropriation are ignored, as are the sources and volume of supply." From the rulings of these two district judges in these cases it is evident that in some parts of the West all do not under- stand the arid region doctrine of the ap- propriation of waters. The rights of the first appropriator must be respected. But water is too precious an article in this part of the country to be permitted to run to waste, or to prevent its use to its fullest capacity. The great weight of modern authorities hold that where a person has diverted a certain portion of the waters of a stream and permits a part of the water so diverted to run to waste, or fails within a reasonable time to use a certain portion of the water for some beneficial use or pur- pose, he can only hold that part of the water diverted which has been actually applied to some beneficial use, and his priority extends only to the quantity so used. Also the authorities hold that in such a case there has been no appropria- tion as to the water not used and which ran to waste, but that that part might be subsequently appropriated and held by other parties, provided they took the prop- er steps, and they, themselves, applied it to some beneficial use or purpose. The final test in all cases is, whether or not all of the water diverted is actually applied to some useful or beneficial purpose. CORN AND ITS CULTIVATION. BY H. R. HILTON. IF we have fairly ascertained the habit of growth of the corn plant and the conditions most favorable to its best de- velopment, we can more intelligently adopt methods of cultivation that will most nearly supply these conditions. The studies so far made in corn roots suggest that the food gatherers love a finely-pulver- ized soil well supplied with humus, in the zone from the third to the tenth inch in depth from the surface. In valley soils containing sand this zone may be increased to 12 to 16 inches in depth. As the sur- face roots or food gatherers do their principal work in the first 40 days of growth, we are led to doubt whether all the essential conditions can be supplied by listing old corn ground each spring, and preparing the soil for root growth while the plant is growing. This method in- volves heavy root pruning, or, in avoiding this, leaves a small area of pulverized soil for the feeding roots to work in. Assuming that all obstruction to free entrance of water into the subsoil by use of a subsoil plow (if such obstruction ex- isted) has been removed, I would favor fall plowing, about 8 inches deep, turning under a green catch-crop of cow-peas, soy- beans, Kaffir corn, or sorghum. If the implement is not specially designed for pressing the soil around the vegetable matter turned under to gather the moisture and start it rotting^ follow the plow promptly with a disk h'arrow, and the disk with a drill that admits of the shoe being elevated so as to allow the wheels to sink down into the loosened soil to the greatest depth possible and pack the lower soil while leaving the top soil loose. The harrow should be passed over the ground after every heavy rain till winter sets in, to keep the top soil dry and prevent baking of the surface soil and evaporation of the water. In the spring open lister furrow, keeping,if possible,above the layer of green manure turned under the previous fall. In order to get as much of the butt end of the stalk below the level of the ground as possible so that more joints may be covered and more circle roots developed, care must be taken not to let any loose irt roll into the furrow till after the plant *[In the Kansas Board of Agriculture Quarterly.] appears, as the first roots which form the base of the stalk develop as near .the sur- face as they can find moisture after the first green leaf appears. Hence the farther below the level of the ground the first leaf comes through the soil, the longer will be the section of the stalk below the surface and the greater the number of roots that can be developed. As the plant grows in the lister furrow only the finest soil should be allowed to sift in around it, till the ground is all brought to a level, to facilitate the develop- ment of new roots as new joints are formed in the stalk and covered by the soil. If the soil is very fine textured and warms up slowly in the spring, or if the planting is done very early in the season, then a deep cultivation of the hill between the rows may be helpful in warming the soil to a greater depth, so as to make more favorable conditions for root growth at a greater depth, and prevent the first roots from coming so close to the surface early in the season, within the range of the cultivator tooth. After the plant is six inches high, and the soil warm enough for root growth to a depth of one foot, the cultivation should not exceed three inches in depth, and should all be for the purpose of drying out the top soil to conserve the moisture. With many the object of culti- vation is simply to destroy weeds, but if the ground is promptly cultivated after every rain there will be no weeds, as small weeds cannot develop when the top soil is kept dry for two inches in depth. In wet seasons large cultivators may be needed to destroy weeds, but for dry-soil mulch- ing a small-toothed cultivator, or one with narrow spring teeth, the points set well forward, so as to cut the top soil clean from the soil below, and to run shallower beside the corn row than in the middle of the furrow, will usually mulch the soil best. The forward reach of the spring tooth brings the clods and coarsest material to the surface, and sifts the finest soil under- neath, lessening danger of loss by the wind, and leaving the surface roughened, so as to break the force of heavy rain-drops that tend to compact the surface, a con- dition favorable to baking as it dries out. CORN AND ITS CULTIVATION. 203 The rule with a majority of farmers is to cultivate four times and quit. One good rain after corn is "laid by," if fol- lowed by dry weather, will do more harm to the crop, on a fine-textured soil, than if no rain at all had fallen after the last cultivation. The plant needs its greatest supply of moisture at the time of bloom- ing, and to insure favorable conditions shallow cultivation, with single-horse, five- or 12-tooth cultivators, or an "A" har- row, is essential till the crop is practically made. Late cultivation makes a fine seed bed for winter wheat to follow corn, and take up the nitrogen made available too late in the season to be taken by the corn plant and in danger of being wasted. If a wheat crop is not desired, sow rye for this purpose, and plow under in the spring. Figure 2 shows the root of a corn plant uncovered in 1895 on Scott Kelsey's farm, in the Kaw valley, Kansas, just east of Topeka, grown in the track of a tree-dig- ger that, in taking up nursery stock in the fall of 1894, had pulverized the soil 18 inches deep and 20 inches wide. The track of the tree-digger in its width and depth was a mass of fibrous roots. In the zone between the tree-digger furrows, where the ground was hard, there were few fibrous roots, and a limited number of large, smooth roots. This field yielded 84 bushels per acre in the season of 1895. The subsoil roots were followed 4J feet down, but the ends were not found. By way of contrast, see Fig. 3, on upland, four miles north of Topeka, never plowed over six inches deep. All the fibrous roots (food gatherers) were found in the lower two inches of the cultivated soil. A culti- vator tooth running four inches deep would leave only two inches in depth of culti- vated soil for the food gatherers to work in between the rows — entirely too limited an area to secure good results. The root de- velopment was small, and only two joints were covered sufficiently to send down subsoil roots. The yield was under 40 bushels per acre. As corn roots use the water in the soil to a depth of five feet at least, this would give 25 cubic feet of soil for each plant to root in, and, when fairly moist, would con- tain about 20 gallons of water, available for the use of the plant. This would be more than two- thirds of the quantity need- ed to make a 60-bushel-per-acre crop, and 204 THE IRRIGATION AGE. equivalent to a rainfall of nine inches. How much the plant gets depends on the cultivation given the soil to check evapo- ration. On a majority of Kansas farms all corn-stalks in excess of 8,000 per acre are weeds, robbing the 8,000 plants of the moisture they so much need to perfect the grain. If one stalk in five square feet of ground can not perfect the seed, how much less likely are two stalks occupying the same territory to do so? Every surplus plant is a "dog in the manger," that can not bear fruit itself and prevents its neigh- bor from doing so by stealing its moisture. Seed corn should be selected from the stalks that have shown best adaptability to their environment and best withstood adverse conditions. This selection should be made when the ear is ripening, and stalks marked by tying a red tag on each one. When corn is ripe these marked ears can be picked and put away for seed. Study the growth of roots and soil con- ditions where the best corn-stalk on the farm grows; also the roots and soil where the poorest corn grows. A comparison will help to a better knowledge of what the corn plant needs and to better methods of cultivation. THE ELECTRIC PLOW IN GERMANY. BY W. C. FITZSIMMONS. IN the October Consular Reports, Mr. Otto Doederlein, United States consul at Leipsic, Germany, gave a most interest- ing account of the practical operations of a plow propelled by electrical power, and giving great satisfaction. The details cannot be here given, but it may be stated that electricity as a prac- tical feature in the most important of all farm work, that of hauling the plow, is fully established. To show this it is only necessary to give the final figures of cost as compared with that of plowing by means of animal power and steam. As- suming that the farmer has a ten-horse power threshing engine to run the dynamo, the cost of plowing an acre of land to a depth of 9.24 inches is given at $1.29 per acre, as against $2.74, the cost of doing the work with oxen. Under favorable conditions the expense could be reduced to $1.14 per acre. In all cases it was less than one-half that of doing similar work with oxen. It was also found that, as compared with plowing by steam, the cost by electricity was less than half. Whether for work on a large or small farm the Ger- mans have found electricity much the cheaper motive power for the plow. In this connection we quote the words of the consul as follows: "It is thus evident that the working expenses of the electric plow for extensive husbandry amount to less than half of those incurred in working the steam plow. This contrast is readily explained, for the capital sunk in the plant is only one- third of that required for the steam plow; the expenses connected with the genera- ting of power are materially lower than is the case with the steam plow, in which a very considerable surplus power has to be raised in order to work the pulleys and brakes and to overcome the stiffness of the rope. "I have been informed by the director of the Haale factory that electricity will shortly be also used in digging potatoes and sugar beets." Bight here is an opportunity for West- ern manufacturers as well as for those in- terested in the development of electrical power. We have almost unlimited water power in the arid States in the mount- ain streams which can be and at no distant day will be utilized for hauling plows and doing other farm and ranch work on our great plains and in our fertile valleys. The door to an immense industrial de- velopment stands wide open before our men of capital and enterprise. Will they enter and reap the rich rewards ? I THE DIVERSIFIED FARM In diversified farming by irrigation lies the salvation of agriculture THE GENTLEMAN-FARMER. BY F. C. BARKER, OF NEW MEXICO. NEARLY every one knows what is meant by the term gentleman-farm- er, although the meaning is somewhat difficult to define; for the fact is there are many kinds of gentleman-farmers. In the first place we have the gentleman who is farming for pleasure only. So long as he is content with the pleasures to be de- rived from the occupations of a rural life, he is likely not only to be satisfied with himself, but his neighbors will benefit from the many experiments which gentle- man-farmers are prone to indulge in. Such men are the most useful members of an agricultural community. There are, however, other classes, of whom we have unfortunately too many specimens in the irrigated districts of the West. We have the gentleman-farmer who wishes to combine pleasure with profit, too often lured on by the roseate hues of the boom literature of this new country. Now I am by no means deprecating the idea of deriving pleasure from one's busi- ness, indeed I can hardly imagine the successful man who does not do so. But far too many men are anxious to engage in agriculture or horticulture without hav- ing the previous experience which will en- able them to form any idea of whether such a life is likely to prove pleasurable or otherwise. When such men find that life on a farm is not a continuous round of pleasure, but that there are many diffi- culties to be ovei'come, disappointments to be borne and hard work to be done, they are apt to be soon discouraged. The fact is that the successful farmer has longer hours to work and harder work to do than falls to the lot of almost any other man, and this holds good on the irrigated farm perhaps quite as much as where the advantages of irrigation are absent. The farmer, however, has this advantage over most other men. He can perform his work cheerfully knowing that he is not working for any other man, but that the whole produce of his labor will be enjoyed by himself or by those he loves. His is an independent life and he is not at the beck and call of any boss or at the mercy of any capricious customer. Every evening he has the pleasing satisfaction of feeling that he has accomplished something of which he himself will see the result and reap the benefit. He knows that good work will bring him not only financial suc- cess, but, that which man esteems above money, the approbation of his neighbors. Thus the good farmer gets to take a pride in his work, and what to others may be merely toil is to him a pleasure. I fear that very few of our gentlemen-farmers look upon the matter in this light, but when they do not, farming is likely to prove a curse to them and they a curse to farming. Lastly we have the gentleman-farmer who expects to spend the money while the other fellow does the work. This class is especially numerous on irrigated farms. Call at his farm and ten to one you find him absent. Either he is on a hunting expedition, or he has gone for the mail or is in town on some small shopping errand that might well have been left to his wife. If by chance you find him at home he is either reading the daily papers or smoking a cigar on the piazza. The last thing he ever thinks of is to take off his coat and go to work with his hired men. If he keeps a cow, a hired man does the milking and a hired girl makes the butter. If he has a vegetable garden, the hired man does the hoeing and digging. No wonder he tells you that he can buy butter and vegetables cheaper than he can raise them and that pigs don't pay. He who expects to lead a ' ' sweet do nothing " life as a farmer is apt to have his castle of indolence rudely shaken to its very foundations. It is of course possible to make money on a farm where the labor is done by hired help, but the farmer himself will have to work as hard as any of his laborers. The hired man does not as a rule feel any pleasure or take any pride in his work. He will need constant watching, and the farmer who not only watches his laborers, but sets them the example of good work is as a rule the suc- cessful farmer. »«-, 206 THE IRRIGATION AGE. COST OF RAISING CORN IN KANSAS. KANSAS is certainly a great corn State. Statistics show that the average annual yield for all the thirty-four years, bad seasons and good, since 1861 has been twenty- seven bushels per acre for the entire State, ranging in different years from 9 to 48 f- bushels. The product for twenty-five years ending with 1895 has had an annual home value averaging more than $31,000,000 and a total value in that time exceeding $776,000,000. Secretary Coburn, in the March quarterly report of the State Board of Agriculture, presents a detailed showing from 68 long- time extensive growers, in 45 counties which last year produced 140,000,000 bushels, giving from the-ir experience "on such a basis as others can safely accept" each principal item of cost in growing and cribbing an acre of corn, estimating the yield at 40 bushels. About two-thirds of those reporting prefer planting with listers and the others use the better known check- row method, after the land has been plowed and harrowed. The statements of all the growers summed up, averaged and itemized show as follows: Seed $0.07 Plowing 1.03 Harrowing 24 Planting 25 Cultivating 98 Husking and putting in crib 1.18 Wear and tear and interest on cost of tools 80 Rent of land (or interest on its value) 2.35 Total cost $6.40 Cost per bushel 16 Commenting on these figures Secretary Coburn says: "In none of these calcu- lations has there been made any allowance for the value of the corn-stalks, which ordinarily, under the crudest management, should offset the cost of harvesting the grain, and under proper conditions should have a forage value much in excess of such cost. Taking these into every esti- mate, as should rightly be done, the show- ing of cost per bushel would be very sensibly diminished. In the results of this investigation it will likewise be noted that the rental for these Kansas corn lands, or the interest figured by their owners on the investment represented, averages more than 8^ per cent, or a net rate higher than the capitalist, general banker or money-lender dreams of realiz- COST OP RAISING AN ACRE OF CORN. a d "Further, it should be understood that Planting (with' lister,' or' with check-row the thrifty Kansas farmer does not measure planter including cost of previous the profit of his crop by the narrow plowing and harrowing) 77 margin shown in such statistics between the items of ' cost ' and ' value. ' He does Husking and putting in crib 1.18 -. ... „. ,. Wear and tear and interest on cost of not» as a rule> anticipate selling his corn tools 25 by the bushel at the figures given as Rent of land (or interest on its value). . 2.41 'value,' nor expect more if he did so than m t i t - _ a moderate return, one year with another, Cost per bushel." !l4i ^or his labor and investment; it is the Average value of corn land per conversion of it, on his farm, into beef, acre $29.25 pork, poultry, dairy and similar products The condensed showing made by the 43 from which comes the surplus to make growers who plant with listers, or have the comfortable homes and build the found that method preferable, is thus: school-houses, colleges and churches that gee(j $0 07 are 8UCh common objects on his hori- Listiug 44 zon and so largely the measure of his Cultivating 1.06 ambition." Husking and putting in crib 1.16 Wear and tear and interest on cost of CALIFORNIA LEMON GROWING. tools 25 Rent of land (or interest on its value) 2.44 THE Azusa Pomotropic has the follow- — 1 ing interesting and instructive article Total cost.. $5.42 On lemon culture: Cost per bushel 13i c j "A large number of our readers are Statements of cost, where the land is engaged in lemon culture, therefore plowed, well harrowed, and planted will read with interest anything that with the ordinary check-row machine, bears upon that industry in this lo- summarize for each item as follows: cality. It seems strange that the forecasts THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 207 of extremely low prices early this spring are not being verified. Scarcely any one believed there would be much sale for the fruit at remunerative prices till July or August. Advices from the East have predicted the usual depression in the lemon market, but we notice both the lemon companies at Azusa keep busy re- ceiving and dispatching the fruit. Furthermore, we are informed that the demand is brisk and the supply inade- quate and that good prices are prevailing. No one doubts that the better care in growing, picking and curing has much to do with better markets, for the trade is learning that it is getting less and less precarious to order California lemons in large quantities and that they can be supplied in satisfactory quantities from this State. "Before experience taught our growers, they did not suppose that a warty or ridgy lemon was more subject to decay than a smooth lemon of exactly the same internal texture. Now they know it is next to impossible to preserve the oil glands in the rough lemon during the picking and curing period. Experience has shown that a smooth lemon properly matured, gathered and cured escapes in- jury much more thoroughly than a rough one of the same class otherwise. By ob- serving common sense methods, the Cali- fornia growers are putting forth a grade that the trade is getting to rely upon and firmer prices are maintaining wherever the fruit has been tried. "An examination of the lemons now curing in the association packing house at Glendora shows a very large majority of them grown with smooth skins, and invariably they stand the curing ordeal better than the corrugated and lumpy fruit of the same general quality. Mr. Scott, the manager, attributes the pro- duction of finer fruit to closer soil assim- ilation, greater age in the trees and common sense pruning, with great em- phasis on the latter clause. ' Put on the tariff and lop off the water sprouts,' might be nailed to Scott's office door as the theme of his daily discourse, varied with reflections on ripe-lemon pulling, carelessness in handling, over-irrigation and — lopping off the water sprouts again. "Since his advent at Glendora he has interrogated every sentence with a prun- ing hook. He believes in his theme — it may prove to be a mission to this valley, where lemon trees grow like eu- calyptus— and he stays with it every day in the week. It is well to have a mon- itor in the association for it cannot select the good and refuse the bad that comes to a lemon curing establishment, and its success is dependent in a good meas- ure on securing as little poor fruit as possible, for its members have a right to have their entire output cared for. Agi- tation for better methods should be the association's watchword and is, and while Mr. Scott's theories on pruning are most radical they are rational and are produc- ing results to be proud of in their appli- cation.'' Feeding Cattle.—^. L. Koy, of Topeka, Kan., has recently made a careful test in feeding flaxseed meal to twelve rough cattle. They weighed when bought 10,340 pounds. In seventy-five days they gained 4,610 Ibs. The shrinkage before sale on the market was 710 Ibs., partly due to bad handling. The ground meal cost about one third more per ton than corn. The cattle were in such prime con- dition that they brought 40 cents per hundred more than other cattle of the same weight sold the same day. The summary as made in Colman' s Rural World shows: This very valuable feeding test estab- lished beyond question several new points in feeding, and strongly emphasized some others. Among them are the facts that ground linseed meal Makes meat quickly. Makes meat at less money than other feed. Makes more meat than other feeds. Makes absolutely healthy meat, which is worth much in the steer or hog, and worth infinitely more to the person who eats it. Makes a loose hide, a good digestion and the best possible general appearance. Makes meat that sells for more money than animals fed on other feeds. You can feed without danger, as much of it as the animal will eat. The more you feed the more meat you get. Do not be afraid to feed it liberally. It is feed, and not medicine. It contains three times as much nour- ishment as corn, and does not cost much, more than corn. Therefore, it is cheaper than corn. vj Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis \tt\b Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis *fc Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis Vis lV , ^ I MAXIMS FOR THE IRRIGATED FARM Push your work; never let it push you. It is the early spraying that will prevent the worm. There is never lack of demand for the best butter. Theory and practice must go together in good farming. Potatoes must have loose earth in which tubers may expand. There is greater explosive power in an idea than in a bomb. Read critically. There is much written that is not Scripture. You cannot compete in butter making these days with poor cows. It is easier to keep out than to drive out insect pests from the orchard. Good horses command the best prices even though less than formerly. Stick to the crop that pays you well, to what you are successful in doing. If a cow's attention is attracted she immediately lets down her milk. It is better to coax than to beat a nerv- ous cow. You will get more milk. 4 A boy should be educated to make a farmer as much as to make a doctor. Business principles are just as impor- tant to the farmer as to the merchant. Whatever you do if done well stays done and saves time, trouble and worry. Turning under green crops is one of the cheapest and best methods of fertilizing. Even bacteria have their uses. You can- not make cheese without their assistance. Co-operative enterprises need good management, or they will fail as others do. Be careful in the selection of seeds. It will improve the crop and increase the profits. It is necessary to mature your lambs for the market, as well -as to give them growth. A chief advantage in dairying for the farmer is, that it causes no depletion of the soil. The reading farmer may profit by the experience of others, and it contributes to his success. Never rush the cows from pasture to stable, and never set a dog on them. It means money loss. 208 Free discussion of methods among neighbors will improve the general neigh- borhood conditions. Feed your strawberry beds early and well, and they will give you bounteous re- turn of luscious fruit. Ensilage is not only nutritious but appe- tizing. The silo is an excellent provision in the farm equipment. It is the duty of the farmer to live bet- ter than anybody. He has only to im- prove his opportunities. A man need not work himself to death because he is a farmer. Mind may do a share as well as muscle. A horse is more liable to scare with than without blinders. He is seldom afraid of what he can fairly see. Not all knowledge is gained from books. With an open eye and mind the man at work will get a good education. Do not use too much water. Your thirst may be satisfied without drowning you. It is the same with a plant. The meannesses of human nature are a bar to co-operative effort. There is too much pig nature in the combinations. Nothing pays better on the farm than to keep accurate accounts — to know what is raised at a loss and what yields profit. Be sure to get the bulletins from the agricultural experiment stations. They are doing important work. Keep in touch with it. Governments are too apt to be great machines for robbing and oppressing the people. If ours is so used it is the peo- ple's own fault. Be careful in selection when buying trees. One variety will bring profit, an- other will cause you loss. Foresight is better than hindsight. Don't waste the straw. It may not be as nutritious as good hay, but it contains enough food and fertilizing properties to be well worth husbanding. Never forget the duty of the good citi- zen to vote. You cannot have success without good government; you cannot have good government unless each man contributes his share toward putting the best men at the helm. ^ \bVls\is \M^\^VbW\t' XfrVislUVir Vis X^XisVls^ 1 PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY I PRACTICAL CO-OPERATION. THE Owybee Canal in Malheur county, Oregon, is an example of what can be accomplished by practical co-operation among farmers. The canal is twenty-five miles long and carries 20,000 inches of water. It is twenty-two feet wide at headgate, twenty feet wide on bottom for first ten miles, and cost $100,000. It covers 25,000 acres of land, all of which has been located, and of the company payable in eighteen months, the stockholders accepting the notes in payment for work the same as they did stock, thus enabling the company to complete the canal and turn the water in for irrigation. The property was then bonded for $50,- 000 and the notes redeemed with proceeds from sale of the bonds. The canal is now substantially built throughout its entire length, all fluming being avoided, and every dollar spent in THE OWVIIKE CANAL IN OKKGON. the locators of these lands are the owners of the capital stock of the company. The capital stock of the company is $100,000, divided into 10,000 shares of the par value of $10 each, 8,GOO shares of which have been subscribed by, and are in the hands of actual settlers under the canal, and on which about $6 per share have been paid into the treasury of the company in labor on construction of the canal. The excess of cost above amount obtained from subscriptions to the capital stock (about $50,000) was raised by notes its construction was represented in honest work by the owners and their teams. The company has never had any money, and this great canal simply represents what men with honest hearts and willing hands can do. After they had exhausted their own resources they took the company's (virtually their own) notes which resident merchants magnanimously accepted in payment for supplies, and this enabled them to complete the work. The Owyhee river is a perennial stream which perpetually flows a much larger 209 210 THE IRRIGATION AGE. volume of water than the canal is able to carry. From this stream, at the mouth of a rocky canyon through which it flows for sixty miles above, the water for this canal is taken and no ditch can ever be taken out above it. Thus the complications arising from conflicting rights to the waters of this river will forever be avoided. This enterprise was undertaken a few years ago when the farmers of Eastern Oregon realized that irrigation was neces- sary. Under the able management of Mr. T. T. Danilson of the K. S. D. Fruit Land Company the work was rapidly pushed forward in spite of the fact that many of the farmers were discouraged and failure seemed imminent. Mr. Danilson had great faith in the ultimate outcome of the enterprise, and for months the farmers who were building the ditch obtained their supplies from his general store in Ontario, paying for the greater part of the same in work. This canal is at the present time fur- nishing an abundant supply of water for the farms and orchards adjacent, and its one great feature is that every owner of an acre of land watered by it is a stock- holder and has a voice in the management of the canal company. IRRIGATION IN WESTERN CANADA. BY A. H. FOKD. IRRIGATION is taking thousands of 1 settlers along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Canadian govern- ment has recognized the value of a constant supply of water for the farmer and has issued a volume descriptive of the work already accomplished. It is because of its remorseless energy in promoting every practical reform of real interest and use to the farmer that the Canadian Pacific railway successfully draws settlers from not only Europe, but from our own prairie States. An example is set which should not be fought by legis- lation adverse to the great system of rail- way, across the border, but which should be emulated by our own government and railroads. The Canadian Pacific railroad is de- termined to make the territory through which it passes known to the world as a cultivated garden 4,000 miles long and several hundred wide. No expense seems to be spared to improve the fertile fields through which the great lines of iron run. The Canadian Pacific railroad stretches across the continent and is striving to be- come the highway of travel and traffic be- tween England and Japan, with facilities for the tourist, who can sail from Liverpool in a Canadian Pacific steamship and never leave the care of the company until he is landed in China. Selfish motives may govern this great corporation, but if it will assist in the irrigation of its territory and make the great Northwest even a greater garden spot than it is, no one should find fault if the railroad is also a gainer, and many American railroads would do well to study a system which will convince settlers that they will be treated as friends of the transportation company near whose line they locate. The people of British Columbia and Alberta have learned that irrigation doubles crops even where there is abundant rainfall, and vast tracts of formerly arid land in this region are being opened up by irrigation and proving to be the richest lands in the world. The eyes of the home seeker will be turned to the Northwest as long as the Canadian government and the Canadian Pacific railway make the prosperity of the farmer a part of their business. A MONTANA CONVENTION. AT the Montana Mining and Immigra- tion Convention held in Helena a month ago the resources of the entire State were taken up and ably discussed by a number of the leading' men who were present. An invitation was extended to those in the over-crowded portions of our own country to assist in developing Montana which with the vast area of 146,- 000 square miles has a population of about 185,000. J. C. Auld, of Glendive, secretary of the Arid Land commission, stated that irrigation would be the greatest source of power and riches. In the smaller valleys of Montana the question would naturally solve itself, as the land was fertile and the water supply ample and easily obtainable. Individual or co-operative ditches could be built with a limited amount of capital. In a general way Mr. Auld stated that it PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 211 at this time to correctly estimate the value of Governor Jones' work, or to befittingly express the sense of loss at his untimely decease. THE LATE GOVERNOR JOHN E. JONES, OF NEVADA. was possible to construct reservoirs by building dams across coulees or ravines, and thus impound large bodies of water capable of irrigating immense areas of land. The water now going to waste in the larger rivers, the Missouri and the Yellowstone, as well as their tributaries, the Sun, Milk, Big Horn, Tongue and many others, was simply enormous. Other speakers were Governor J. E. Rickards, Prof. S. M. Emery, of the Ex- periment Station at Bozeman, Jerry Collins, Jas. M. Mills, commissioner of the bureau of labor, E. Larssen, Chas. S. Fee, General Passenger Agent of the Northern Pacific, J. K Foote, T. E. Collins, D. R. McGinniss, Moses Folsom, of the Great Northern Railway, Judge Strevell and C. R. Middleton. THE DEATH OF GOVERNOR JONES. IN the death of Governor John E. Jones, of Nevada, not only the State but the entire West has lost a true friend and an honest and faithful worker for its best in- terests. Governor Jones was an ardent advocate of irrigation, and probably to his efforts more than those of any other indi- vidual is due the firm foundation which has been laid for the future development of the State of Nevada. It is impossible FOURTH NATIONAL CONGRESS REPORT. I HAVE frequent applications for copies of the Proceedings of the Fourth National Irrigation Congress, held at Al- buquerque, New Mexico, September, 1895, but am compelled to refuse all applicants, because the proceedings of the congress have never been published. A word of explanation at this point is due to the members of the congress and is also due as a matter of justice to the members of the National Executive Com- mittee of 1895. The proceedings of all previous congresses have been published by the Convention cities. The National Committee has no funds for such publica- tion. No assessment was ever made on delegates to the congress, and the ex- penses of the meetings, usually from $3,000 to $4,000, have always been borne by the city in which the congress met. The citizens of Albuquerque and New Mexico spent a large sum of money in advertising the congress, in providing a place of meeting, in badges, program, etc. , and probably do not feel justified now in expending an additional $500 to $800 in printing the proceedings. The local press at Albuquerque, though hampered by limited facilities and hin- dered by the existence of the Territorial Fair during the same week, gave most excellent reports of the proceedings of the congress, printing much of the dis- cussion and many of the papers in full, so that the delegates, by saving the local papers, were all able to take home with them reasonably complete reports of the meeting. I have made this explanation thus lengthy and in detail in order to silence, if possible, the criticism which seems to exist in some quarters against the old Executive Committee for not publishing the proceedings of the Albuquerque Con- gress, for it is a matter with which the Committee has had nothing whatever to do. FRED L. ALLES, Los Angeles, Cal. Secretary Fourth National Irrigation Congress. 232 THE IRRIGATION AGE. HOW ONE WOMAN FIGHTS THE DROUGHT. One of the farmers of large areas in Kansas is Miss Mary Best, of Medicine Lodge, says the Kansas Farmer. English by birth, she naturally cast her eyes over the Queen's dominions, when the trouble with the dry weather came on, to see if anywhere under the government on whose lands the sun never sets a remedy for drought had been found. Yes, in India irrigation is old and irrigation is new. Millions have recently been invested in its development. The subject was thoroughly studied and the first practical result on Miss Best's farm was the reconstruction of an old dam in the Medicine river. The next was the construction of a num- ber of Jumbo windmills and home-made pumps. Water was turned on during the winter. A large tract was kept flooded about a foot deep for several days. After the spring opened it was a long time be- fore this flooded land got dry enough to list. Sixty acres of it were finally listed to corn. This land was rather too wet to cultivate easily, but the corn prospered. The lashing of the hot winds did not affect it. Those winds did, however, drive the " Jumbos" at a furious rate and lifted great quantities of water. Miss Best's farming is considerably di- versified. With her present knowledge of how to fight the drought it will be sure in its results and profitable. MINES AND MINING OUTPUT. IT is claimed that the mines of Idaho have added $300,000,000 to the wealth of the world. IT is estimated that 10,000 people will go into the Yukon country this spring, and steamer loads are going from all the Pa- cific coast ports. THE Hematite mining district in North- ern New Mexico is attracting attention, and they are claiming it to be the Cripple Creek of that section. THERE is a considerable development of gold mining in the Cache valley, Utah, where good finds are being made and con- siderable work is in progress. THERE is a steady cheapening of the cyanide process, and within a brief time it is thought it will be possible to treat four and five dollar ore successfully and prof- itably. THE Flagler smelter, at Silver City, New Mexico, which has been a long time idle, has been started again under vigor- ous management, and has ore in sight for a long and profitable run. IT is reported from Bakersfield, Cal., that a very rich discovery of gold quartz has been found in the desert region south- east from there. Experts pronounce the mines very rich, and a rush of miners has set in. THERE is unusual activity in the Eliz- abethtown mining district of Northern New Mexico. It is an old camp and has yielded a large amount of gold in the past. It seems to be improving with develop- ment. A TOWN SITE outfit, said to be backed by the Santa Fe road, started from Trinidad recently for the Baldy mining district, and a branch line is said to be talked about to leave the main line near Maxwell City, New Mexico. ALL the mining districts of Arizona claim to be sharing in the general pros- perity of the industry. The resumption of work on old properties, the discovery of new ones, and important strikes in every direction, is the rule throughout the Territory. THERE is intense activity in all the min- ing districts of Utah, both in the gold and silver districts. It has been possible to operate the silver mines of this State prof- itably despite the heavy decline in the price of that metal. The chief public in- terest centers about the Mercur district where the adoption of the cyanide process is rendering the mining of low grade gold ores exceedingly remunerative and with a comparatively small investment for the necessary plants. The ore bodies are being found over a wide area and in immense deposits. IT is fortunate for Cripple Creek that the wholesale business of organizing and floating wild-cat mines has met a check, even though it may throw some measure of discredit upon the legitimate and well- managed properties temporarily. The great number of strikes that are being re- ported from all parts of the district, and PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 213 more than all the vast output of high grade ores that is steadily growing in vol- ume insure a finally satisfactory outcome. There is no camp in this country, if in the world, which has made or is making so large return for the money actually in- vested there as Cripple Creek. AN INDIANA IRRIGATOR. The original irrigator of Indiana is Captain Orville T. Chamberlain, of Elk- hart, who has recently been presented by Congress with a gold medal for gallantry upon the battlefield of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863. Captain Chamber- lain is a thorough believer in irrigation and has adopted it upon his large farm near Elkhart. A BANNER COUNTY. Scott's Bluff still continues to be the banner irrigation county of Nebraska. In a recent letter to the Omaha World- Herald, J. W. King states that he has farmed in Indiana and Iowa, but prefers Nebraska and irrigation to uncertain crops under rainfall. Charles H. Simmons is also one of the original irrigators of Scott's Bluff county, and he is enthusiastic on the subject. " Better crops, larger crops, and above all they are sure," is the way he puts it. ARIZONA. A hotel to cost $150,000 is to be built in Phoenix by J. C. Adams, a Chicago man. The Butte reservoir site has been with- drawn from public entry. It is in Final county and covers 1640 acres. The property of the Agua Fria Con- struction Company was sold under attach- ment April 2. It is evidently a movement toward reorganization — a freeze-out of small share-holders, probably. Governor Hughes was knocked down in the presence of at least three others. A newspaper man named Clark was the only one near enough to have done it, but no- body saw the blow, not even the governor, and Clark was declared "not guilty." The Rio Verde canal company of Phoe- nix, Arizona, report that they have sold bonds to the amount of $2,400,000, which will insure the completion of their irriga- tion system and is the most encouraging news that irrigation promoters have heard since the panic of '93. The Phoenix Gazette summarizes the local conditions as follows: "Cattle men are happy, stock brings better prices than ever before, and the ranges have, in most localities, excellent pasturage. Every canal in the valley is full of water, and there is some to spare." With the expen- diture of $2,000,000 for the Rio Verde canal within the next fourteen months and the probable starting of other large works, there is reason for good times in Arizona. The latest news regarding the status of the Gila Bend irrigation works is that all the interests, including the various con- struction companies and Governor Wolfley, have combined against the Peoria crowd. The litigation now goes to the U. S. Su- preme Court, where a few years will be required before a decision is handed down. From what appears to be reliable author- ity, the Peorians tried to manipulate the irrigation enterprise a la whisky trust style, and are about to get the worst of it. CALIFORNIA. It has been a favorable winter for stock in most parts of the State. The Producers Raisin Packing Co. of Fresno, is enlarging its plant. A total of 488,710 tons of fruit were ex- ported from the State last year. Four hundred acres of olives are being planted at La Mirado near Fullerton. The spraying of fruit trees is being done systematically at Fresno with excellent results. There are ten Washington Navel trees being planted to one of any other variety of oranges in Southern California. Moreno irrigators are being charged 35 cents an inch per day, the highest rate of any irrigation district in the State. Redlands is prospering, having obtained fancy prices for its fine orange crop, which escaped the frost this year as it has here- tofore. The Sacramento Packing and Drying Company will pack the product from 230 acres of peas now growing in and around Acampo. Japanese hemp is proving to be adapted for profitable cultivation. A fair yield, is two tons per acre, and the market price 8 cents a pound. 214 THE IRRIGATION AGE. It is predicted that in two or three years California will have enough English wal- nuts, of superior quality, to supply the United States. It is claimed that a million olive trees have been set within the last two years. California olives are steadily gaining favor in the markets. The San Bernardino rock pile is short on labor. The industry is so little appre- ciated by tramps they are giving the coun- try a wide berth. It is stated that from forty to forty-five per cent, of the West-bound tourist travel this season have gone to make their homes in Southern California. Higher prices for oranges at Redlands has created such a demand for trees as to exhaust the nursery stocks, and planting seed beds is again in vogue. A poultry ranch with a capital of $25, 000, with capacity for an annual production of 90,000 broilers and 2,000,000 eggs, is being established near San Francisco. The year's planting of orange trees has been unexpectedly large, and the demand for olive trees has been so enormous that the supply is practically exhausted. Cahuenga vegetable growers have reaped a rich harvest this winter, shipping string beans, green peas and tomatoes to San Francisco. Tomatoes fruit there all winter. The Redlands Citrograph says the "Damascus Town Site" is a "gigantic fraud, a tremendous fake, and a scorching swindle," being located out on the Salton desert. The big storage reservoir of the Poso Irri- gation District has been completed and the water turned in. It will take six weeks to fill it at the rate of 30,000,000 gallons daily. The application of the Alta Irrigation District for the cancellation of its county assessments, on the ground that it is a municipal corporation, has been granted. It raises a point of wide-spread public interest. Good orange lands are in active demand in Southern California at round prices, it being generally comprehended that the area of such lands, of good quality and safe from frosts, is comparatively very limited. A subscription of $3,000 has been made to a cannery company at Redlands, con- ditional on a total local subscription of $5,000 and payable when two acres of ground and a plant capable of packing 50,000 cans of fruit, and costing $12, 000, has been erected. COLORADO. Medford is sending 600 boxes of New- ton pippin apples to the London market. A large ice plant is being erected at Grand Junction, and is expected to be in full operation early in May. Colonel R. J. Hinton, of New York, has been recently in Colorado examining a number of projects for Eastern capitalists. The Greeley Tribune proves pretty con- clusively it will not pay to feed lambs for market in that section on alfalfa hay at $2 per ton. The scarcity of snow in the mountains prompts the State engineer to caution water consumers to save and economize the probably limited supply. Of the 250,000 acres of land that will be available for cultivation in the Grand valley when brought under irrigation only 75,000 acres are now under ditch. It was estimated that in the Grand valley holes were dug for the planting of between 750,000 and 1,000,000 fruit trees when the water was turned into the irrigating ditches. The Rio Grande Railway Company are arranging to erect a large fruit warehouse near the depot at Grand Junction to facili- tate fruit shipments. The business has outgrown the usual methods of handling and present accommodations. Professor Carpenter of the Agricultural Experiment Station is planning to make an irrigation survey of the San Luis val- ley during a portion of the summer, with the help of the water commissioners and ditch companies of that valley. The Pawnee Pass Canal and Reservoir scheme, which will cover much excellent land on the north side of the South Platte river in Colorado, is expected to be built. There are now a number of corps of sur- veyors at work on the enterprise, among them being Messrs. Walters, Preston and Stimson, former students of the Agricul- tural College. PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 215 The supply of snow at present in the mountains of Colorado seems to be less than the usual amount. This does not necessarily mean that the streams will be low, but unless the rains of spring and of May and June are more abundant than usual, it will follow. With late snows the high waters are usually early, as the snow melts soon. The cutting off of the forests, and their destruction by fire, has caused the loss of the natural covering which formerly preserved the snow until much later in summer than it is now com- monly found. NEBRASKA. IDAHO. Squirrel-shooting parties are necessa- rily popular in the Palouse country. The construction of an irrigation plant is in progress for the Asotin flats in the Snake River valley, near Lewiston. The Idaho Canal Company, under the presidency of Mr. Frank W. Smith, has commenced work, and 100 teams are now engaged in construction. Two colonies of Iowa Dunkards, num- bering about seventy in all, have recently located in Idaho. This is the beginning of a considerable movement. The Electric Light Company of Boise has doubled the capacity of its plant. It now has 660-horse power, and will furnish power for manufacturing purposes. A statement was recently made under oath in court by a well-known fruit grower of Lewiston that the average profit from his farm in a year was $700 an acre. An immigration congress has recently been held at Boise City, which resulted in a permanent organization to promote the general welfare of the State. An effort will be made to raise $10,000 for that pur- pose. KANSAS. Arrangements have been made to ex- tend the Amity irrigation canal twenty miles in the western part of the State. It is one of the best ditches in the West. The State school fund has an accumula- tion of $208,000. The officials are anxious to invest this in school bonds, but none are offered, and it will probably be invested in United States bonds. There will be a great many trials of windmill irrigation in the western part of the State this year. A butter and egg station has been es- tablished at Niobrara, one of several along the Milwaukee line. The Beerline and Smith irrigation ditch, near Hedberg, is completed, and they are counting on full crops this season. The average yield from the sugar-beet industry in Nebraska is fifteen tons an acre. The producer is paid $5 a ton. The tops, also, have a value. NEW MEXICO. A vigorous horticultural society is pro- moting fruit culture at Hagerman. A beet- sugar factory is to be built at Eddy, $185,000 having been raised for it, of which $15,000 was a local subscription. Efforts are again being made for the ex- tension of the Pecos Valley railroad from Roswell to the Texas panhandle, to a con- nection with the Santa Fe\ The Taos valley, the garden spot of Northern New Mexico, is feeling the im- petus from new capital introduced for both mining and ditch building. The Maxwell Land Grant Company is doing a commendable work in getting out two carloads of cottonwood trees from the lower Rio Grande, to distribute among the settlers along the Vermejo canal. Three extensive dams and irrigation sys- tems are projected on the Rio Grande river. The International dam, just north of El Paso, Texas, which is to be built in order to insure water to the farmers in the Isleta valley, Texas, and to the Mexicans in Mex- ico on the other bank of the river, both of whom complain that they have a moral if not a legal claim against the United States for diverting the water higher up on the river, and so depriving the people around El Paso of their water rights. The Mexican gov- ernment shows a disposition to provide half the necessary capital, and Congress will be asked to appropriate $1,000,000 as the share of our government. A second dam is contemplated near Rincoe, the capital for which is being sought in London, but so far without success. A third dam is projected near Fort Seldon, and is in the hands of Chicago capitalists, who are mak- ing the necessary preparations to raise the 216 THE IRRIGATION AGE. capital. The two latter dams will irrigate the Bio Grande valley north of El Paso, Texas, but as only one will be needed the first one to be built will make the other superfluous. OREGON. The K. S. D. Fruit Farm Company is pushing the work on its large farm at Ontario. A dangerous skin disease has broken out among the Indian ponies near Fendleton, Oregon. It is in the nature of a mange. Many hop yards are being plowed up in the Willamette valley. Low prices and vermin have made a discouraging combi- nation. Eastern Oregon stockmen are in rebel- lion against orders of removal from the forest reserves recently issued from the Interior Department. Immense herds have been feeding there. UTAH. The Mormon church property has been restored by act of Congress. A large acreage of fruit trees is being planted in the Bear River valley. A railway grade is being made through Provo canyon; nobody knows for whom. The Bear River Irrigation Company are planning for a large movement of settlers to their lands this year. Brigham gardeners and fruit growers report an absence of the usual worm pests, and anticipate a large and superior crop. Sheep men are happy this spring. Their flocks have wintered well, there has been plenty of feed and the fleeces are large and of good quality. Work has begun in earnest on the great power dam in the Ogden canyon, and the Union Pacific company has put in a branch track to facilitate the delivery of material. The governor and legislature have mem- orialized Congress to set apart and donate a portion of the abandoned Fort Cameron reservation for the establishment therein of a State normal school. Salt Lake City is gratified by a reorgan- ization of the Oregon Short Line and Utah Northern railway, which makes it an inde- pendent line with headquarters there, and under the management of a Utah railway man. Almost an entire section of land has been sold in five and ten acre orchards by the Bear River Valley Orchard Company under a system which insures the delivery of a well-grown bearing orchard at the end of six years. Payments are made in monthly installments and the non-forfeit- ure plan, first adopted by this company, makes the investment a popular one. WASHINGTON. Spokane finds it necessary to curtail the use of city water. The Spokane Poultry Show was a suc- cess financially and as an exhibition. About seventy-five per cent, of the 50,000 trees that are to be set out in the vicinity of Ranier this season will be prunes. Robert Scott has plowed up eight acres of hops on his ranch near North Yakima, and will plant 1,000 peach and apple trees, with which he has had great success in the past. The Walla Walla Water Company has checkmated the city in its plans for ob- taining its own water supply by buying the property and rights which it expected to utilize. The corporation counsel of Spokane says he has 500 cases pending, and is about to commence no less than 2, 000 new cases on behalf of the city. He asks al- lowance for a typewriter. It looks as though he might need more than one. Professor Harry Landes has been ap- pointed State geologist. The office was created many years ago, but was grossly misused and was abandoned as a dead let- ter. There is no State appropriation in its behalf, and the university assumes all the expense of an excellent equipment, and the official conduct of the office. WYOMING. The flock masters are preparing for the largest crop of wool on record. Russian wolf hounds are being used successfully to run down coyotes. A large immigration from Europe is ex- pected in the Big Horn basin this year. The Cody Canal Company has the first contract that has been signed by the Pres- ident under the Carey act, for 70,000 acres to be irrigated. \^ \fr\fr\fr\fr\fr \fr\fr \fr\fr\frVU\Mrtfr \fr\fr V^^ TOPICS OF THE TIME Forest The theory upon which leg- Preserves. j8iation has been enacted for the preservation of forests in many por- tions of the West has been that by their destruction, either for commercial purposes or by fires, the absorption of the rainfall into the earth is retarded, and the snows melt more rapidly for lack of tree shelter. In a communication to the Fresno Repub- lican, Mr. H. F. Dunnington cites the ex- perience of mountaineers to controvert that theory, and asks attention to the following facts: That the snow lasts longer and is much heavier above the forest belts than under the shelter of the trees; that around and beneath the trees the snow melts and runs away sooner than where there is no shelter from the sun's warmth; that the glaciers and great deposits of snow and ice, which are the chief source of the river supply, are nowhere found within the wooded belts, and there is no eternal snow except where there are no trees. He in- stances that the valleys of Switzerland are neither burned up by droughts nor swept by floods, although surrounded by vast barren mountains. He maintains that the practice which prevailed during all the past among the Indians of an annual burning of the undergrowth and grass was not detrimental to the strong and healthy growing timber, and that the great injury has chiefly come since short-sighted enthu- siasts have interfered to prevent the burn- ing until the undergrowth has become so rank that an accidental fire causes the greater damage. He makes the sensible suggestion that legislation might better compel and direct the planting of new trees for each one utilized commercially. His article offers food for thought and sug- gests that there are two sides to this as to most questions. An It is a matter of more than Unfair passing concern that the Advantage, beet sugar industry should be brought prominently to the public at- tention throughout the entire country. With Cuba's production reduced to almost nothing, and our legislation favoring the German producers, we are sacrificing one of the greatest opportunities ever presented to our Western people. The irrigated sec- tions are especially interested in this mat- ter. Mr. T. R. Cutler, manager of the Lehi, Utah, sugar factory, was before the ways and means committee at Washington a few days ago representing the sugar beet producers. He made the point that the Germans were gaining an unfair advantage by reason of bounty. It was neither "free nor fair trade," and in his opinion the in- dustry and capital of our country were en- titled to protection against it as much as they were against the guns of a foreign nation. Germany was taking advantage of the Cuban war to crush our sugar in- dustry, and he appealed to the committee to recommend an additional duty on German sugar. Chances The Idaho Statesman would for not discourage the poor man Poor Men. from settling in that State. If he thinks he can see the opportunity to utilize his energy to good effect, he is wel- come to come and try. It pertinently suggests that many of the leading men of the future will probably be from those who entered the State short of this world' s goods, and who grasp the opportunities which are now presented, as they will not be when the development is further advanced. Look where you will, most of the wealthy men in all Western communities are those whose foresight led them to acquire prop- erty at its lowest value, and have seen it grow according to the wisdom of their selection. Tired of The Cheyenne Sun -Leader, the commenting on Secretary Treatment. Hoke Smith's nullification of an act of Congress, which provides for opening of the Uintah and Uncompahgre reservations in Utah, says: " The West is getting very tired of this kind of treatment, and unless it is changed there will come a time when the men of the West will not have it any longer. It has reached that point now when they are 218 'JHE IRRIGATION AGE. asking themselves: ' How much do we owe these Eastern people anyway?' From their mines, the few people in the West have turned a stream of probably five thousand millions of dollars into the cof- fers of the East during the last forty-six years. When that big stream began to flow the East was so poor that it had no better credit than Egypt. Because of that stream it has become the foremost power in all the world, and in return these East- ern people treat the West as an encum- brance, inhabited by barbarians only lit to be governed by the strong hand of the iederal power, and only tit for the work of the earnest missionary. In contemplating it, Western men reflect that when civiliza- tion goes to seed, and its utmost exertions are turned solely to making more money, it is worse in its effect upon the world than absolute barbarism." Fencing It goes without saying that In or Out. if there had been a universal principle by which fencing could be regu- lated, and laws had been based on that principle, an immense expenditure, in the aggregate, would have been saved to the farmers of this country. The point has re- cently been raised and good argument pre- sented why the fencing in of all stock kept by the farmer should be the rule. It does seem an injustice that a man should be per- mitted to let his stock run at large and tres- pass on his neighbors, perhaps unruly an- imals at that, and compel a dozen of them to build fences for their protection and his benefit, when there is no other necessity for such structures. If each farmer fenced such fields as he needed to pasture and that alone, and could be held legally re- sponsible for damage caused by his stock he would certainly see that his fences were kept in order, and that the gates should be kept closed. He would have option as to how much land he would enclose, and would build only as necessary. It would involve no more care than is now necessary, and it would certainly require far less fence than is now in use, for which there is not only a large first cost, but a constant an- nual charge for repairs. False The secretary of agriculture Economy, is making a hobby of saving money out of the appropriations for his de- partment. He even ventures to ignore the specific acts of Congress, and, when com- pelled to execute the law as it stands, does it with the worst possible grace, and evi- dently with a view to making the seed de- partment odious. Instead of seeking to carry out the law in its true spirit, which would be vastly beneficial to the farmers of the country, he is apparently willing to let his department become of actual dis- repute among the people for whose espe- cial benefit it was created, after a long and earnest struggle on the part of broad-mind- ed and public-spirited men. The There are no crops more Sugar worthy the attention of our Industry, people than are those adapted to the production of sugar, whether cane, sorghum, beets, corn or the maple tree. European countries have been forced to abandon wheat growing because of the low price, and they are finding it to their advantage to encourage, even by liberal export bounties the culture of the sugar beet. Our market absorbs immense quantities of their sugar and it is a pertinent question which hardly permits more than one answer, can they overcome the disadvantages of worn out land, long shipments, and pay the bounties and still derive a greater benefit from that crop than is possible to our own people with our fresh, strong soils, good transporta- tion facilities and improved implements for the cultivation ? The answer surely must be a negative. Good No subject is worthier of sturdy Roads, thought and none of greater practical importance to the farmer than is the improvement of the roads over which he must transport his products. For this he must provide both the vehicle and the motive power. If it costs one dollar a ton to haul over the present soft and badly-kept roadway, there is a saving equivalent to that amount, if the road be put in condition to double the load upon each ton of traffic. A ton of corn to the acre is a fair yield and a saving of forty dollars on a forty-acre field is ten per cent upon four hundred dollars. A road tax for that amount would be startling, wouldn't it? And yet, measured on a business basis, as the banker, merchant, or railroad man would estimate, it would be a good investment. But that would TOPICS OF THE TIME. 219 be only a single item in the account to the owner of a 160-acre farm. If the reader will but compute in his own case the several items of saving in money, time and labor, to say nothing of the satisfaction of driving over good roads and the very considerable enhancement of value to the farm itself, he will find a complete justification for paying twice the amount that will be necessary to effect the percentage of saving suggested. Gradually Although the larger irriga- Itnproving. tion companies whose in- vestments amount to hundreds of thou- sands or millions of dollars are not yet se- cui'ing the full number of settlers which their original plans contemplated, and which are necessary to make their in- vestments profitable, there is a steady onward movement which only needs two or three years of normal conditions to bring about a fairly satisfactory situation. The science of practical irrigation is steadily advancing, and each year makes the proof yet more conclusive that it is the most perfect method of crop culture. To the individual farmer, it is almost uni- versally profitable, and it is only neces- sary to make the company investments equally so that the lands shall be fully occupied. Several of the larger com- panies have been unable to pull through the long period of depression without such defaults as compelled re-organization, and in nearly every case there has had to be some indulgence exercised on the part of creditors. As a whole, however, the im- provement of the situation is encouraging. Changing It is an altogether erroneous Sentiment. idea that the necessity for irrigation is an objection to agricultural lands. No fruit grower having once ex- perienced the positive advantages which the possibilities for irrigation afford would ever be willing to forego them, and the general farmer will find a positive saving in time, labor and money if he is in position to control the water supply and apply it at his own convenience. From all over the country we get reports of ex- periments being made within the rainfall area, the primary object being, of course, to insure against the effects of drought, which though of brief duration often oc- casions heavy loss. The results of such experiments are generally most encourag- ing, and those who make them ought to see that the experiment is properly re- corded as to its cost and effects, with a view to publication for the benefit of the general public. Farmers' There was never a time when Institutes. farmers' institutes, clubs, societies and granges were so actively dis- cussing practical topics of local interest and relating to their vocation. The papers, many of which are given a wide- spread utility by publication, are gener- ally well expressed and indicate careful thought. The preparation of such papers cannot fail to be twice blessed in their in- fluence— upon the writer and reader alike — and it is such study that adds efficiency and dignity to the farmer's calling. Chauncey "Irrigation's the thing," Depew says Chauncey M. Depew, Converted, after a month' strip through the Western States. Like every one else who once enters the domain of King Water, Dr. Depew was converted quickly and easily, and he has now returned to the East to tell the farmers of that section a few of the ' ' Blessings of Aridity. " What matters it if the water does cost some- thing, it's cheaper than fertilizers, and a crop is always assured. More power to the silver tongue of the renowned doctor in teaching the Eastern public of the advantages and possibilities of the Great West instead of the Greater New York. Garden The farmer who will give just Luxuries, a little thought and care to his garden may have almost every table lux- ury that is obtainable by the wealthiest. Instead of being the least important feat- ure of the farm it may easily be made the means of the greatest possible satisfaction and comfort for the entire household. More than that there may be berries and fruits of the choicest varieties from earliest spring to the midwinter if the good housewife will pay a little attention to drying and pre- serving. Don't neglect the garden. I MACHINERY AND APPLIANCES Duro D.HlLL 0 DUNDEE ill EVERGREENS. The accompanying cut will give a very good idea of the advantage of growing evergreens by the method employed by the Dundee Nursery of which D. Hill, the evergreen specialist, is the proprietor and manager. Fig. 2 shows a Norway spruce as grown under ordinary conditions and without the proper transplanting and cul- tivation. Fig. 1 shows a tree of same va- riety and same age, but one which has had the advantage of the special knowledge and treatment of Mr. Hill. Every man who has had any experience knows that the prime essential in the selection of young plants or trees is a strong healthy root growth such as is shown in Fig. 1. A good deep green and healthy color in ever- greens, that which is so much prized by growers, can only be imported by an un- derstanding and intelligent course of treat- ment. Those who wish to buy anything in this line can obtain a catalogue with full description free from the Dundee Nursery, Dundee, Ills. WATER TANKS. In a climate like that of California, where it is dry eight months of the year, dripping water tanks are a common spec- tacle as to excite but little comment except by those who have the care and expense of keeping them in repair, says the Pacific Rural Press. And this is no small item, where tanks are generally used. The cause of the trouble can nearly always be attributed to shrinkage of the staves when the water is low. This necessitates driv- ing down the hoops, requiring constant attention and expense, also damaging the tank, to say nothing of the loss of water. It is seldom possible to keep a tank full all the time and they frequently have but little water in them. Consequently the trouble is. common. To overcome this, the Pacific Tank Company is manufacturing, at its works on Channel street, between Sixth and Seventh, San Francisco, a pat- ent "non-shrinking" tank. This tank is made with a deep channel or groove in the top of the staves. This groove is filled with water from pump discharge, which, by absorption, passes into the pores of the wood, keeping the entire tank moist at all times and preventing shrinkage. A cata- logue will be mailed on application if you mention THE IRRIGATION AGE. CARRIAGE CATALOGUE. A very handsome and elaborate illus- trated catalogue of Buggies, Surreys, Phae- tons, Farm Wagons, Road Carts, Harness, Saddles, and Horse goods, showing a great variety of styles and shapes, has just been issued for 1896 by the well-known Alliance Carriage Co., of Cincinnati, O. This en- terprising company prints the prices in plain figures (factory prices) in their cata- logue and send goods anywhere subject to examination. Any horse owner can have a catalogue free if he mentions THE IRRI- GATION AGE. A SATISFACTORY FILLING. Tramp (at dentist's door) — "Please, sir, could yer fill me teeth this morning?" Dentist— " With silver or gold?" Tramp — "Cold roast turkey would do." — To Date. THE IRRIGATION AGE. VOL. IX. CHICAGO, JUNE, 1896. NO. 6. IRRIGATION IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.* CHAPTER I. GOVERNMENT AID. FORMATION OF DISTRICTS. BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. SOIL eminently suited to the growth of cereals and fruit trees is found over a large area in Victoria where the climatic conditions are unfavorable. The average annual rainfall varies from seventy inches on the coast ranges to nine inches over the northern and western plains. The fine sunshine and dry air of these interior plains are well adapted to mature fruit to perfection, but the deficient rainfall makes fruit production uncertain. To render producers independent of rainfall and to enable them to make the most of the soil at their disposal, irrigation trusts have been formed, a brief description of which, with a more detailed account of one or two as types of the east, may be of interest to your readers in America. Victoria is divided into two portions by a high range running generally east and west. The humid air currents from the south deposit their moisture on this range, thus forming a large gathering ground, from which are fed numerous streams which run north to the Murray River, the northern boundary of the colony. The plains to the north of the divide are thus deprived of much of the rainfall, which under other physical conditions would have been deposited on them, but in compensation have ample supplies of water running through them in the form of streams sufficient, if prop- erly conserved and directed, to furnish all the moisture necessary for the production of cereals and fruits. To this conforma- tion of the country is attributable the fact that the majority of the trusts are situat- ed near the northern center of Victoria. *A11 rights reserved. Prior to the formation of the trusts private owners of property had erected windmills or provided small steam plants, for raising water for stock, and incidental- ly for irrigating gardens and small areas of crop, etc., but it was not until 1881 that the Victorian 'legislature passed an act authorizing the constitution of water supply trusts. This provided that nine councils, into which the colony is divided for the purpose of local government, could form themselves into such trusts, subject to the approval of the government from whom they could borrow money necessary for the works, repaying principal and in- terest by the revenue received from rates levied within the area under their control. The trusts formed under this act were not only for agricultural and horticultural purposes but also for providing water for stock, for which purpose existing water- courses and depressions were made use of, to fill which, water was conserved at con- venient places and permitted to run into them at stated times during the dry season. VISITED AMERICA. The bill was found to be only partially successful and was amended in succeeding years, until at the close of 1884 a royal commission was appointed "to inquire into the question of water supply and into other matters relating thereto." The chairman, Mr. Alfred Deakin, member of the legislative assembly, visited Amer- ica for the purpose of studying irrigation ' in its latest application, and information was also obtained on the subject from var- ious countries of the old and new world. The entire contents of THE IRRIGATION AGE are copyrighted. 222 THE IRRIGATION AGE. IRRIGATION IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. 223 The result was a valuable report upon which was based a comprehensive measure, called the irrigation act, 1886. This provides that any district, upon applica- tion to the executive government, giving plans and full particulars of the proposed scheme of irrigation and water supply, including cost, maintenance, probable revenue and necessary rating power, may be constituted an irrigation trust, pro- vided that the opposition to the scheme in the proposed district is not greater than a specified minority, and provided that the minister and chief engineer of water supply report favorably on it. The government having approved of the ap- plication the scheme has then to be laid before parliament with all documents, etc. , relating thereto, for its sanction. A specially authorized loan is then granted to the trust from a fund specially set apart for the purpose to enable the neces- sary works to be carried out. A small rate of interest is charged and a sinking fund provided to extinguish the loan. It is also enacted that certain portions of a scheme may be denominated "national" works and paid for solely by the state; or "joint" works, payment being made by both state and trust; or "trust" works, for which the trust alone is responsible. The trusts are managed by commis- sioners elected by ballot of the ratepayers in each district, who have full financial control and responsibility in connection with the undertaking, and who appoint the necessary officers for carrying out the works and controlling the supply of water. Great facilities were thus afforded to districts in which the rainfall was deficient of obtaining an adequate supply of water. The value of this boon was soon recognized, no less than thirty trust districts having been formed since the passing of the act, comprising a ratable area of 2,700,000 acres, to which advances have been made by the state to the extent of £974,000 or about $4,870,000. The total sum auth- orized by parliament to be lent to the trusts is £1,364,000 ($6,820,000). In addition the State has expended the sum of £799,000 ($3,995,000) on national works, thus the total amount advanced to and spent on the behalf of irrigation trusts is £2,163,000 ($10,815,000). AREA IRRIGATED. All the acreage mentioned as conferred in the first district is not irrigated al- though ratable. Some of the schemes have been allowed to lapse and several are merely commenced. There remains, how- ever, fully 1,300,000 acres which may be brought under irrigated culture when all the schemes are in full working order. The annual returns to end of 1895 given by the department of water supply show that 76,600 acres have been watered dur- ing the past year. Of this total, 30,000 acres consisted merely of grass, 20,000 acres of cereals, and not more than 2,900 acres of vines and fruit trees; the balance being made up of lucern, vegetables, flax, maize, tobacco, etc. This leads to the conclusion that the expenditure has been much in advance of present require- ments. That this is so is also shown by the fact that the returns to the state in the shape of interest for money lent is greatly in arrears, the sum outstanding exceeding £160,000 ($800,000). In many cases the trusts saw no more than the advantages likely to accrue to their districts through possessing a suffi- cient water supply, and did not consider seriously enough the large liability they assumed for the repayment of principal and interest of the loans they had re- ceived from the government, or if they did understand the position they probably relied upon the leniency of their creditors to postpone the day of reckoning until it was quite convenient for them to pay up. Further, at the outset few knew anything of irrigation in a practical way, and es- pecially were they ignorant of the large expenditure necessary to bring land into a fit state to be irrigated. When it is con- sidered that most of the land included in the trust districts is held in blocks of at least 320 acres, it will be seen how large an amount would be received before any considerable area could be utilized for " intensive irrigated culture." The result has been that the available water has not been made use of to anything like the ex- tent contemplated when the schemes were first proposed. The situation, indeed, had become so serious in 1894 that a royal commission was appointed to in- vestigate the affairs of the various trusts, and make recommendations for this ameli- oration. This body has not yet completed its report. The methods of rating are not yet uni- form; in some trusts each acre is rated 224 THE IRRIGATION AGE. the same, in others there is differential rating according to distance from the channels. According to the water act, 1890, which consolidated previous stat- utes, and therefore superseded the Irri- gation act, 1886, all water used for irri- gation purposes must be paid for by measure, but for watering stock and domestic supply, payment may be made as the commissioners of the trust direct. For irrigation therefore a rate of either 6d per inch, 6d per inch per acre or Id to %d per 1,000 gallons is charged in addi- tion to the general rate which varies from 1 to 3 shillings in the pound of actual value. Looking at the present position of the irrigation scheme in this colony, although the expenditure was at the outset on a scale far too lavish for the limited popu- lation likely to avail themselves of its ad- vantages, still there is no doubt but that the value of the land within reach of the water channels has been largely increased, and it has been made evident that by means of an artificial water supply the arid plains of the interior are capable of supporting a very large population. With an arrangement to relieve to some extent the heavy liabilities lying upon the trusts, and an increased settlement of people on the land, which such an ar- rangement would facilitate, the future of irrigation in this part of the world is by no means gloomy. We are a young colony, both enterprising and sanguine and not to be dashed by the clouds of temporary depression, as the returns of our exports clearly prove. In future papers, some of the more im- portant trusts and their works will be dealt with in detail. IRRIGATION BY PUMPING. THE RECLAMATION OF THE GREAT PLAINS. "A WAY OUT." BY H. V. H1NCKLEY, C. E. CIFTEEN to twenty years ago, when Providence smiled upon the Great Plains to the extent of thirty inches, or even more, of rainfall, immense crops were grown wherever anything was planted, for the richness of the virgin un- washed soils needs only water and labor to speak miracles to the New England agri- culturist. But the newcomers who de- pended upon such annual rainfall being furnished by Uncle Sam along with the land titles were disappointed and a million homesteads have been abandoned which with water would produce bountifully. Many cities (real cities which had hotels, banks, etc., ten years ago) are now marked only by cellar holes and corner stones. These are blue statements, but they are facts. As in all arid or semi-arid countries since the beginning of history so in West- ern Kansas and Nebraska, for example, a lack of appreciation of the need and ad- vantages of an artificial water supply has resulted primarily in destitution and de- population. The densest populations of the world have been founded upon irrigation agri- culture, but they irrigated only when they had to irrigate to live, and only then have they been aroused to a realization of the immense benefits, the profits accruing therefrom. Under the new order of things some of these abandoned home- steads are already becoming valuable. It •will not be possible to irrigate all the plains country. Probably between fifteen and thirty per cent, of the area can be finally brought into successful agriculture. The irrigable per cent, varies from none on some divides to one hundred in some valleys. Land values in the Arkansas and simi- lar valleys having an abundant and reli- able underflow are bound to advance, while the high lands without water must be de- voted to alfalfa and cattle. Alfalfa is a very deep rooting clover that responds handsomely to irrigation, and yet lives and produces fair crops where all other grasses fail — where water is at a premium. It is already being extensively and successfully grown even without irri- IRRIGATION BY PUMPING. 225 gation on quite high lands. It frequently nets $15 to $40 an acre above all expenses, and needs but little attention except at harvest — three to six times a year; the average net income officially reported by Fiuney county, irrigated and unirrigated, being $21.45 per acre per annum. The plains need pumps and people in the val- leys and cattle on the high lands. The plan of the Alfalfa Irrigation and Land Company of Topeka may be cited as presenting the writer's ideal of the cor- rect ' ' Way Out " for the Great Plains. comers (each tract to have its own pumping plant) and into sugar beets and alfalfa for hogs and cattle. Thus will the present un- fortunate land owners realize upon the pro- ductive value of their investments instead of paying taxes and getting no returns. Capital will do the developing, but each irrigator will be independent. The handsome profits on alfalfa have brought forth from the conservatives the cry that the supply must soon be greater than the demand, and prices and profits must go down. L. L. DUTY'S CABBAGE PATCH. IRRIGATED. WHAT IS BEING DONE. Lands are being secured from non-resi- dents, to whom they are without value, in exchange for capital stock, the higher lands at nominal figures, for their pas- turage value can not exceed $1 or $2 per acre, and the valley lands at figures de- pending upon local demand. The high lands are to be consolidated and fenced as large pastures with an occasional quarter of alfalfa. The valley lands are to be pump irrigated and put into small or- chards and vegetable gardens for new- A company that feeds its own alfalfa to its own cattle and hogs and gets a hun- dred pounds of best beef for the Lords of London from each ton of alfalfa, can regulate its own demand and supply and obtain spring instead of fall prices. In the corn belts of Eastern Kansas the cat- tle are "finished" for the Kansas City and Chicago markets, which handle five million cattle and ten million hogs an- nually. The era of the dry farming lottery is passing. Crops are no longer scratched 226 THE IRRIGATION AGE. ALFALFA STACKS. in upon unbroken lands by the square mile, but are being planted, subsoiled and watered, and are yielding surely and abundantly. A maximum crop beats a stinted crop. A maximum crop every year beats a fair crop occasionally, when the rain happens to fall just right. Irrigation is the only insurance that provides against droughts, hot winds and frosts and that pays to the policy holder annually the full face of the policy and pump irrigation is the most reliable of all. COST OF IRRIGATING VALLEY LANDS. Millions of acres of valley lands now held at $5 to $12 an acre, having under them the most reliable of all inland water supplies, can be supplied with pumping plants at $5 to $10 an acre, and can be irrigated with an annual expense of $1 to $5 an acre (power, repairs and interest), and be made to pay ten per cent, net on $100 to $200 per acre, and often several times these figures. The pump irrigator is free from monopoly control of water, from canal and reservoir management and from the vexatious and costly delays re- sulting from water supply uncertainties and canal failures. He erects his own pump on his own premises, pumps his own water into his own reservoir, irrigates at his own pleasure, and does his own su- perintending and adjudicating. While the millions of acres of high lands must be devoted mainly to alfalfa and cattle, the man who is fastened there by other business than farming can, by pumping water, grow at least the garden produce necessary for family consumption and perhaps sell some to his neighbors. For each locality and for each size of farm in each locality there is but one style of plant, one kind of pump and power and one size of reservoir that results in the best capitalized pumping investment and, while the writer has been collecting and tabulating data on this subject from ex- periments and actual results on high and low lands for two and a half years, the relative merits of the various pumping plants is intentionally omitted from this article. While the purchasers of high lands on the plains, "unsight and unseen," are losers, I am convinced beyond question that lands in the Arkansas valley or any other valley having as reliable an under- flow, are among the best investments in the country at present prices. They must be worth $50 to $100 an acre when sup- plied with pumps and people; and when the water supply and the cost and advan- tages of pump irrigation become better understood, the valleys will be contin- uous gardens, vineyards and orchards; the high lands will be pastures of native grass and alfalfa. In British India three million acres are irrigated with water pumped from wells. In the United States of America, and not alone upon the plains, pump irrigation is in its infancy. [NOTE.— The author requests us to state that the photo of the Way mire reservoir on page 190 and the reference thereto on page 186 were inserted by us with- out referring the matter to him. —En.] DITCH FROM FKIZELL'S KESEKV OIK. THE ART OF IRRIGATION. IKKIGATED APPLE OKCHARD IN KANSAS. THE ART OF IRRIGATION. CHAPTER XIII. THE GREAT FLOODING SYSTEM OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. BY T. S. VAN DYKE. THE immense scale on which water is 1 handled in the great central valley California is worthy of a special study because there is no other place in the United States, and probably not in the world, where water is so intelligently used m such vast quantities on so large an area. At the same time the methods can- not be recommended in all respects for the small farmer, though for extensive work with plenty of water at command they are hard to improve upon. Kern Kiver, draining the lofty country south of Mount Whitney, rolls out upon the great plains of Kern County over two thousand cubic feet average flow for the dry season, or over one hundred thousand miner's inches. This is generally much increased when the snow is melting, making the summer supply very large and reliable. This with the winter flood-water once made about a quarter of a million acres of shallow lake and swamp covered with reeds and tule and willow bordered sloughs, exhaling all summer long a malaria almost as deadly as that of Panama. Bordering this on the east side the valley were half a million acres of fine granite soil drifted in the course of ages from the hills and lying on a slope 228 THE IRRIGATION AGE. of about fifteen feet to the mile though looking level as a floor. No finer soil for all around purposes is to be found in America; but twenty years ago it was the most hopeless of all deserts, for the average rainfall was a trifle over four inches, the Coast range on the west and the continuation of the lofty Sierra Nevada to a junction with the Coast range on the south, cutting off most of the winter rains. The same stroke that would turn the waters of the river upon this arid land would reclaim all the swamp which was the richest soil imaginable. But it was a job no state would undertake, and it was absurd to expect private capital to build canals in such a country and wait for settlers. The few jaundiced hog-and- hominy settlers that lived by fiddling and fighting along the river and claimed all its waters could not even handle the river so as to take out enough for themselves. Messrs. Haggin, Carr and Tevis had the desert land act passed, it is said, so that that they could grab this land. If so they deserve the thanks of California, for it has added a rich county that would otherwise have raised little but scenery, dust and malaria. They spent some twelve millions of dollars in building canals of which there are now twenty-seven. The diversion of the water brought on the great riparian suit with Miller & Lux, who were very wealthy and were attempt- ing to drain out the swamp below so as to take that under the swamp and overflowed land reclamation act. It is said that litigation cost each party nearly a million of dollars. The total cost to both parties could not have been far short of that. The outcome was a compromise by which Buena Vista Lake, a shallow lake cover- ing over a township, was turned into a reservoir. By this the entire flood flow of the river is stopped, the canals taking all the ordinary flow. It now covers twenty- seven square miles to an average depth of ten feet, making a store of water which hardly shows the great draught for Miller & Lux's immense farms below. Thus was added to the state more water than was then held by all its other reservoirs com- bined. As I hunted ducks over these immense properties last winter I remarked to a friend that there were two sides to the monopoly question. ' Miller & Lux have under this water over one hundred thousand acres mostly reclaimed swamp of which over twenty thousand are now in a solid block of alfalfa. The Kern County Land Com- pany, composed of Tevis, Haggin and Co., have under the ditches on the dry side some four hundred thousand acres with one patch of about thirty-five thou- sand acres of alfalfa. The difference between this reclaimed swamp and the land that was once desert must be kept in mind on account of the different ways of irrigating hereafter men- tioned. On the reclaimed swamp, which is a black muck of tule roots running into peat in many places, the level of the water below is from eight to ten feet. On most of the upland reclaimed by the ditches it is from sixty to almost as much more as you wish. The method of preparing the land is the same in both cases. The slope is so nearly uniform that on the greater part there is no leveling. Where it dips into swales or old dry slough beds it is terraced roughly with scrapers to very nearly a level, the shape and size of the terraces varying continually with the con- tour and dip of the land. No rule is fol- lowed except the uniform method of having one check enough below another to permit the rapid emptying of the upper one into the lower one if the water is to go there at all. They vary from half or quarter of an acre up to five acres or even more, and though they look like a set of plats running through all shapes from the crescent to a square they are really terraces. LAYING OUT THE CHECKS. On the land having a very even slope the checks are almost invariably made on contour lines laid out with an engineer's level. Starting at the upper side of the field the level is swept around and stakes set every few yards on a line about a foot below the instrument. If the slope is uniform the line of stakes will be a cres- cent and will vary from this in all manner of wavy curves according to the change from a regular slope. The level is then moved down to the line of stakes and an- other line of stakes set below that, care being taken not to leave ends or horns on the crescents in which the depth of water could be too slight. Rather than do this the shape is changed and a square or THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 229 other figure thrown in between true con- tour lines. As thus run, some of these check lines are nearly a mile long. The checks thus formed run from about twenty acres up to two hundred with an average as near as I could judge of about forty acres. Near Pozo, in Kern County, are several thou- sand acres laid out by the eye by a China- man who was an experienced irrigator. I saw it under water and it was well enough done, so well done that I am certain that with a carpenter's level fitted with rifle sights and a common tripod any one with sense enough to take the height of the instrument on a rod marked plainly into feet and tenths of a foot, and with enough arithmetic in his head to add or subtract the readings from the height of the in- strument, could lay out any ground well enough for good flooding. The embankments made on these lines vary in height from fifteen inches to twenty or even twenty-four inches, the average being nearly eighteen for the central part of a whole line so as to allow a foot of water behind it with no danger of its being breached by wind or defects. At the lowest point the water is often deeper than a foot and at the shallowest points much less, but the general aim is to have it everywhere as near a foot in depth as possible though it by no means follows that that amount of water will be run into it at every irrigation. At the bottom these check lines are often as much as eighteen feet in width though twelve to fifteen feet are more common widths for the high parts. They are round upon the top with both sides on such a slope that any kind of machinery can be run over them and cut anything that grows upon them as well as if it were on the level. The alfalfa, grain, or what- ever is in the field is planted upon them the same as in the bottom of the check and, as far as can be seen, grows as well. At the lower part of some of the checks is a large gate in the embankment large enough to discharge the water quickly into the next check below. But in most cases the reliance is on cutting with a hoe. It is conceded by the superinten- dents that the gate is much the better and in the long run probably more economical, though more expensive at first. These embankments are made with a buck scraper or a Fresno scraper and are too large to make with a common plow in any case. With a movable moldboard about ten feet long a common plow may be used to make them if they are not too large. But this makes a heavy drag and for some of the largest checks takes ten horses in heavy soil. In place of the moldboard five or six revolving disks like those on the disk cultivator are set on an axle eight or ten feet long inclined ac- cording to the slope and the whole fitted to a well braced frame of a Stockton Gang Plow. One of these was being tested the day I was there and I saw four horses do the work of eight with it in throwing up a ridge, the whole difference being in the friction of the solid mold- board, the disks turning over instead of resisting. A slip scraper or any kind that bounces will be too slow to do such large work economically. Even the machine above described must have broad wheel- braces rolling against the face and bottom of the cut to relieve the extra friction, or more horse flesh will be needed at once. All this would be too expensive for a small farmer, but for flooding on a large scale it would pay any one to begin check- ing in that way. It must be remembered that there is plenty of water here and some things are done that might be inexpedient elsewhere. If you are sure to have water to fill them it is best to have the checks high enough, provided your soil or crops will stand a considerable depth of water. But if you have not the water or have it in heads too small then your high checking is useless ex- pense. The depth of water you may put in a check will depend not only on the soil and the crop, but greatly on the length of time you hold the water in the check. This you should determine in ad- vance by experiments on a small scale if your neighbors' places will not show what it will do. Under the hot sun of the San Joaquin summer, alfalfa will often scald in less than three hours, and if the irrigating water is very warm two hours are none too safe on some spots. Hence the water must be put in and let off quickly. But unless the soil is porous enough, too great a depth of water will puddle it and retard the soaking instead of hastening it, and if porous enough to be wet more quickly by greater depth of water then vou must have a considerable 230 THE IRRIGATION AGE. depth so as to leave water to run into the next check. For on this big scale laterals cost money and it is strict economy to make one check feed the next one for a pretty long series. Checks thus made will last practically forever, the alfalfa or grain preventing their washing. They become in time as hard as any canal bank, and the only weak spot is the place where they are cut. This is purposely left weak to avoid the labor of cutting every time which is conr siderable where they are of full strength. TURNING IN THE WATEK. When all is ready to turn in the water, eight or ten men, armed with hoes, take a line of checks, and a head of about thirty cubic feet a second or 1,500 miner's inches is turned into the upper one. If a large one, there is considerable waiting to do, but if a small one it is not long before it is time to cut the lower bank to let the water into the next one. In a small check one cut is generally enough, but in a long one, two or three, and even four cuts, may be necessary to empty it fast enough. These cuts are quite large and let a great volume of water through. Ten men can handle this head of water and irrigate 200 acres a day with it on an average. Gen- erally seven can do it, unless there are a great many small checks to fill and empty. Where they are very large two or three men can do it, and there are places where one can do it. There a single man on the line of bank between two checks of 200 acres each reminds one of the old hymn — " Lo, on a narrow neck of land, 'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand." I tried to get a picture of one of these, but it is too large for a common camera to bring out well. At the rate of one man a day to twenty acres this is very cheap flooding, and it can hardly be done on tile scale requisite for good orchard work, to be followed by cultivation. For the only safe way to do that well is to make the checks small and have the water shallow in them. For handling these with a head of two cubic feet to ten acres, two and generally three men are necessary for very good work. A piece of land so fiat that ten acres can be managed by one man on a small scale is not likely to be well enough drained to be good orchard land. Sometimes enough water is at once let into the upper check to feed the whole line of which that is the first, and sometimes more water is allowed to run through it to add to the first instalment. This depends on what is in it and how it will stand the run of water; old alfalfa standing a good deal if there is no danger of scalding. The whole is so arranged that any surplus at the lower end has a waste ditch to receive it. When these checks are emptied plenty of wet spots remain, with water an inch or two and often three or four inches deep. These are depressions which it was not thought worth while to fill by leveling off the tract. Probably the results would not, for low-grade crops, justify the expense where land is so plenty and water so cheap. But this will not do for the small farmer to imitate, and the effects of it can be quickly seen even in winter, when the sun is not hot enough to scald the plants or to bake the ground much. Of barley, wheat and young alfalfa about one-third of the stand is destroyed by a depression of about two inches, and about two-thirds by three or four inches. In some places where the water had been so deep that it was impos- sible to make an estimate, it was practi- cally all destroyed. That is, if the whole field were in that shape it would be too thin to be worth cutting. Old alfalfa seemed uninjured. There was no grain old enough to show the effect on old grain, but it would not have been as bad as with the young grain, though anything but good. In hot weather the effect would have been much worse. It is due princi- pally to the water standing too long and deep. On account of the pressure it would take the water that remained in the de- pression much longer to soak away than if that were all that had been put in there in the first place. Smaller checks, and especially square or rectangular ones, for lands lying like these and bearing such crops, on so large a scale, would merely increase the cost without any corresponding advantage. The larger they can be made the greater area a given number of men can handle, and the only limitation on the size is the depth of water in them and the facilities for getting it quickly in and out again when it has done its work. There seems no doubt that all this work is profitable. Miller and Lux are not offering any land for sale, yet they are IRRIGATION IN NORTH DAKOTA. 231 constantly increasing the area in crops and making new canals, and laterals by the league, that in most countries would be respectable canals. They have 200 men in constant employ, and have a thousand or more during most of the summer, with many more in harvest. The whole is in, charge of Mr. Miller, who is one of the best business men of America. In forty years the firm has risen from poverty to the largest land owners and cattle owners on the coast, if not in the world, their present holdings being estimated at 200,- 000 head of cattle, with sheep beyond the knowledge of even themselves, and 2,000,000 acres of land. The business has all been built up by Mr. Miller, whose principle has always been to make every- thing pay. It is therefore safe to assume that this handling of the water and land is profitable on a large scale, though it might ruin a small farmer. Even at the present low price of wheat, the superintendents say there is still a profit in it on this land, and there were some 8,000 acres already seeded when I was there, with more going in. On the lands of the Kern County Land Company 800 men are employed the year round, with an increase of thousands dur- ing haying and harvest. Though their land is for sale in small tracts, the gigan- tic scale on which they are farming the rest shows that the owners, who are also shrewd business men, know what they are about. They have also been at it long enough to find out, and are certainly not working eight or ten townships to make a show to sell out on. And the fact that thousands of acres of their lands are rented out to grain farmers whose long strings of teams and plows dotted the great plain for leagues, renters who are no tenderfeet at the business, makes it pretty safe to say that there is here a fair profit in raising wheat by irrigation, even at the present price. About the profits of the alfalfa, even at the low price of beef, there is no possible question, one acre carrying an animal the year round and in summer fat- tening five, while the constant trampling of the herds seems to have no effect upon the stand of alfalfa, which would be quickly injured if water were scarce or stingily used. IRRIGATION IN NORTH DAKOTA. BY W. W. BARRETT, STATE SUPT. OF IRRIGATION AND FORESTRY. AS THE IRRIGATION AGE is the representa- tive journal of the Union, especially of the West in the matterof Irrigation and Forestry and kindred subjects. I feel at liberty to speak through its columns of these things as they pertain to the com- monwealth of North Dakota. Water is of paramount importance in the economy of nature, especially in its opera- tions in the production of grain, grasses, fruit and vegetables, and during the last few years this subject has received much attention throughout the world. This ap- plies in a specific sense to the western por- tion of the Union and North Dakota has kept pace with the great advancement. Having been a resident of the State when a territory, until the present time, and having taken an active interest in its de- velopment, I can speak understandingly upon this point. The first public move- ment was made November 2, 1889, at the Irrigation and Forestry Convention at Devil's Lake, Ramsey Co. From that day to this these two subjects have been con- stantly before the public. The agitation has been carried on through mass meetings, proper handling by the press, legislative discussions, and reports from this depart- ment. Thus a marked and healthy public sentiment has been developed favorable to these two great and most important factors. And the results, though not what the most sanguine might desire, are of a practical and beneficial nature. The progress made is indicated by the encouragement given by the press in the discussion of the subjects, the favorable laws passed by our Legislative Assembly, and the approved work of this branch of the state service, and also in putting the theory into actual operation in the sinking of artesian wells for various purposes. Besides establishing and maintaining the office of state superintendent of Irrigation and Forestry, our code contains some of the best laws in relation to irrigation which can be found in the west; all clear, concise and fitted to the water and irrigation con- ditions of our state. Proper provisions 232 THE IRRIGATION AGE. are made for the bonding of townships for the sinking and maintenance of artesian wells. New artesian wells are being put down from season to season and the opera- tions of the wells are satisfactory. In all the Western States some persons are found who contend irrigation should make greater strides; the same is true of our state, but there is a constant steady gain, as a rule, throughout the different states which is a sure evidence of future practical advancement and the fullest material benefit. The proper use of water for producing the largest crop and the greatest profits in the cultivation of the soil is destined to constitute, as is now the case in some localities, one of the chief ele- ments of our western civilization, and the trend of events point unerringly to this most desirable end. We have in North Dakota 673 flowing arte- sian wells, twenty of which are deep-seated and the balance shallow wells. The shallow wells are from 100 to 200 feet deep, and the cost of construction is small. The deep- seated wells are from 800 to 1,500 feet deep, and the cost is governed much by the nature of the various strata, size of pipe, etc. — about $3 to $4 per foot. The flowage varies. I name a few sample wells: Gals, per Lbs. per minute Sq. Inch Jamestown "(City) 460 97 Oaks 817 125 Ellendale ? 700 115 Grafton 600 12 All water healthful and some of it soft. Artesian wells are located frqm the extreme eastern to the extreme western line, and from the southern to the northern border, and in the eastern central part of the state. The one on the extreme western line is located at Madora on the little Missouri river. It is a characteristic well, 800 feet deep with a good flowage of soft water. The one at the northern line is situated at Delorane, Manitoba, close to the northern border of the Turtle Mountains, nearly twenty miles from the international boun- dary line that runs through the wooded mountains. This fine, heavy flowing well gives evidence that the artesian deposit underlies the Turtle Mountain district. We have numerous artesian springs in North Dakota. One at the southern edge of the Turtle Mountains give a flow of 283 gallons per minute. There are others hav- ing as large a flowage. The Dakota Artesian Basin is the larg- est in the world, and it is located in North and South Dakota, in both of which states its waters are developed. Much interest is taken in South Dakota in artesian irri- gation, and its application there has proved to be most successful and remunerative to the irrigators in the raising of agricultural productions. During the last year a strong sentiment has been manifested in our state to make an extended application of the waters of our great artesian basin for agricultural purposes. The State Immigration Con- vention, held at Fargo, North Dakota this season, pronounced in favor of a govern- mental survey of our artesian deposits, and urged their development and use by the people in their agricultural pursuits. IRRIGATION PROGRESS IN NEBRASKA. BY I. A. FORT. IRRIGATION is applicable to all sec- tions of the United States. There are times, even in those sections where the rainfall annually exceeds fifty inches, that if the plants of the farmer could only ob- tain a few refreshing drinks, the yield would be doubled. The plant is like a strong team that has been checked in its progress; that cannot reach the point that would be attained because water is not at hand at the proper time to supply the ani- mals in order that they might go on. The plant has, like the average of the horses, cattle and other animals of the farmers, a period of growth, and when that period is reached the growth stops. Irrigation en- ables the plant to travel steadily onward. The coming farmer in America will in a majority of cases irrigate or feed his crops; they will be fed with the same care as the successful cattle or hog raiser feeds his stock. Irrigation will restore the worn out fields of New England and the South, and it will reclaim the lands now abandoned in many portions of Amer- IRRIGATION PROGRESS IN NEBRASKA. 233 Water is not only a powerful fertilizer, but it also promotes the disintegration of soils, thereby liberating the elements neces- sary to the growth of plants. Place upon certain soils fertilizers of certain kinds, and leave them to be acted upon by the chance rainfalls that may occur, and fre- quently three-fourths of the best elements in these fertilizers are lost through evapo- ration or seepage. Irrigation can prevent this, and the gain that will accrue through the additional effect of the disintegrating power of the water will be very great. They have been irrigating in Spain and Italy for centuries. Biblical lands, once under the dominion of the Roman Em- pire, held and maintained a vast popula- tion through their systems of irrigation. Their magnificent works were allowed to decay and the country became depopu- lated. The Americans now in Arizona are restoring and have now restored irrigating canals that once fed and maintained a heavy population. Through a system of irrigation lately adopted in Louisiana, rice crops are suc- cessfully grown on elevated bench lands that lay above the stream and river. It was formerly necessary to grow this crop in swampy land that could be easily flooded. Now the water is lifted by cen- trifugal or other kinds of pumps, the land flooded and the crop grown. The land is drained and the rice cut with a har- vester, the same that is used to harvest wheat in Dakota. With their sixty-four inches of rainfall annually the Louisiana farmer finds it advantageous to irrigate his oat and corn crop. Of the States that have actively taken up this question in the last three years, we find Nebraska leading. Canals have been constructed, or are now under con- struction, that will irrigate over a million acres of her surface. The cost of these canals for their irrigating capacity does not exceed in the great majority of cases over $2 per acre. Nebraska is now rapidly following her sister State of Kansas in the erection of thousands of the new irrigation windmills. These mills have from four to five times the power of the old farm pumping mills of the same size. The best practical illustration of the difference in these mills is seen upon the farm of Wm. Stafford, of Big Springs, who had at work in 1894 three 12-foot and one 14-foot farm mills. In the spring of 1895 he placed in posi- tion a 12-foot irrigation windmill attached to a 12-inch direct acting irrigation pump. All the mills pumped the water into the same reservoir, and from the same depth. The 12-foot irrigator, so Mr. Stafford says, pumped more water than the other four. Where windmills are used, reservoirs are always constructed so that a good supply of water may be obtained, in order that when applied it may be conducted rapidly- over the fields. So important is this at- tachment that a mill that will only lift water sufficient to irrigate one or two acres, will with the reservoir irrigate ten or twelve. Reservoirs are easily and cheaply con- structed; they are made by throwing up embankments of earth to the height of from six to eight feet, then the water is pumped in and cattle or horses are turned in and driven about until the bottom and sides are thoroughly puddled, sometimes heavy clay is hauled from some clay bed or bank and thrown over the bottom and sides. Again, the farmers hitch their horses to a drag or scraper and drive the team around within until the bottom and sides are securely packed and made water tight. Some farmers in Nebraska have at- tempted to utilize about all that can be obtained from mills and pumps. The water is first run through the creamery box, thence through the watering trough in the stock yards, thence to the first res- ervoir from which they intend to cut their ice in winter, thence to a second reservoir where fish are grown, and often a small bathing house is set upon the edge of this reservoir where the youngsters of the family can disrobe and bathe during the summer season. On some of these min- iature lakes small boats are found where the youth of the family can commence training preparatory to a more extended course at Harvard, Yale or Cornell. Pond lilies are planted in some in order to check the evaporation. The cost of these irri- gation plants is not great where the water is not lifted to any great height, the cost varying from $4 to $6 per acreper.the irri- gating capacity of mill and pump where water is not lifted over sixty feet, yet plants are doing good work and irrigating as high as ten acres, pumping from the depth of 150 and 200 feet bothjn Kansas and Nebraska. THE PIONEER IN THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF A CALIFORNIA FRUIT GROWER. By FRANK S. CHAPIN. BY exaggerating the real evils of farm life, and dwelling upon imaginary ills there has been caused a congestion of population in cities, abandonment of farms and consequent decline of citizenship and public prosperity. Not all farmers are wrecks from other trades cast upon the shore of that calling where it is thought that any one can make a living, nor do all weary the body, dwarf the brain, and bury the soul in the tread- mill of daily toil. The California farmer who would avail himself of the wondrous possibilities offered by our climate and conditions must be a close student of the alchemy of nature, and to attain the best results must have a broad conception of the laws of trade. He who visits the home of the late Dr. Blowers, of Woodland, California, will not wonder that Mt. Vernon had such charms for Washington or Ashland for Clay. In view of the importance of elevating pro- ductive industry as a means of increasing public prosperity, it is a question whether equal talent devoted to the creation of model houses at Mt. Vernon and Ashland and to spreading knowledge calculated to awaken like aspiration in others might not have been as useful to the country as the wonderful careers that those great men lived. In 1851 Dr. Eussell B. Blowers came to California and like other professional men began mining. After three years he bought a small farm in Yolo County, and soon moved to a larger one four miles south from Woodland. After farming a quarter section for ten years he concluded he had too much land and moved to the eighty acres near Woodland which he afterward developed to such a high state of cultiva- tion. In 1857 he began to raise grapes, and in '63 he secured from an importation by Arpoad Harazthy, the famous muscatella Gordo Blanco grape with which his repu- tation as the "Father of the Kaisin Indus- try" was founded. In 1868 he began 234 under an oak tree to pack raisins for market and steadily improved until he was able, in 1876, to take first honors at Phil- adelphia in competition with the world. He was the first to introduce the form for packing London layers whose mov- able bottom enables the packer to face in such a way as to present a perfectly even surface to the eye. He was the first to introduce fancy printing to compete with the Spanish style of packing. In 1875 he had a car load of raisins caught in a storm and cured them in the Alden evaporators at Vacaville. That machinery was calculated for curing fruit at high temperatures, but his experience there suggested the principle to him upon which his invention of next year was founded. This gave a rapid circulation of dry air at a temperature not higher than 120°. Under his careful manipulation this process developed a raisin that was hard to tell from those cured in the sun. The invention was patented in 1877. Its essential features are a zigzag current passing under each tier of trays uniformly, and devices for the entry of air from hot air chamber, its escape by the flue and control by the blower in such a way as to secure an upward or downward current at will. The majority of raisin-dryers built afterward embodied more or less of his ideas, but he was so much interested in the development of the industry and the country that he never took action to secure the royalty to which he was entitled. When the dryer was a demonstrated success, he turned his attention to the sub- ject of irrigation. He thought that the sand streaks where his walnut trees failed to grow and the palms and yuccas thrived was once the channel of Cache Creek, the inlet of Clear Lake, and still marked the course of an underground current. A well twelve feet across and twenty feet deep supplied a centrifugal pump to irri- gate his eighty acres of trees and vines. To flood alfalfa he still used the waters of the ditch which had for years been at his disposal. THE PIONEER IN THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 235 DR. R. B. BLOWERS. The advantage of the pumping plant rests in command of a water supply at any time needed, and the certainty that no weeds will be distributed by the irrigating water. The fire box in his boiler is calcu- lated to burn straw, peach pits, almond shucks, brush and all the refuse which accumulates so rapidly on a large fruit ranch. The accompanying engraving shows a part of Dr. Blower's family sitting by the yucca that thrives where the walnut trees died, and the top of the dryer and the big tank in the background. From the smoke we judge that either the blower or the pump was in active motion. Both are run by the same engine. From 1880 to 1886 Dr. Blowers was a very active member of the viticultural commission. Some difference of opinion proceeding in part from his conception of the duty of a State officer to deal impar- tially between localities and to expend judiciously all funds of the State, finally caused his withdrawal from the commis- sion. The controversy, as published in the Yolo Mail, of March 27, 1884, the S. F. Merchant, of March 7, 1884, and other publications, reflects great credit upon the sincerity of purpose and discrimination of Dr. Blowers and will prove interesting for reference so often as the subject of re- trenchment comes before the Legislature. Industries seeking appropriations need to give a very clear account of their steward- ship. At school he learned of the laws of pneu- matics and so continued his studies and applied the principles as to design one of the most comfortable homes anywhere, to act as a pioneer in the artificial curing of raisins and in the later years of his life to develop a plan for transportation of fresh fruit overland without the bulky and costly method of refrigerating by ice. This was carefully outlined in the Pacific Rural Press of December 29; 1893. Several investigators are following in the wake of his valuable suggestion and we hope to have very soon in successful operation a method of shipping fruit that will land the products of orchards and vineyards in eastern markets in practically the same condition they left home, at little over half the present cost of transporta- tion. Now we carry about as much weight of ice as fruit. Those promoting improve- ment along these lines have special cause to regret the loss of our friend at the very zenith of his mental activity. Although a pioneer in many lines of in- dustrial improvement, and so persistent that almost every one of his ideas was brought to the point of success, this story will show that the last year of his life was more fruitful in practical suggestions and was opening up a wider field of improve- ment than any other. Miss Austin, Mr. T. C. White and many others who made brilliant reputations in raisin culture, at Fresno, received from him their first cuttings and elaborate THE BLOWERS' DRYER. 236 THE IRRIGATION AGE. practical directions for their manage- ment. At Riverside they had many a trouble with their raisins, and hearing of Dr. Blower's success they wrote so many let- ters of inquiry that he finally expedited matters by visiting them at their homes and addressing them at their meetings. From this visit they date their era of suc- cessful raisin production. His prominence in the raisin industry was such that many forget that he was a leading shipper of fresh fruits. Al- most as soon as the Overland was open for traffic he began shipping grapes and in 1869 sent a car-load to Chicago. Ship- pers will be amused to hear that the first lot went in an ordinary freight car, each bunch enclosed in a paper sack and packed in twenty-pound boxes. Intend- ing to give all varieties an impartial test several boxes of Sweet-waters were in- cluded in this lot. Since then the late- ripening, long-keeping and fine-carrying qualities of the Emperor has made it his chosen shipping grape. Cars of Emperor and Tokay have reached New York in good order after twenty-one days of travel. They had strayed, by mistake, through Kentucky and Tennessee and several other states. Some of the early shipments net- ted a left-handed profit of $2,000 per car. Not many years since it was supposed that all shipping grapes had been ruined by a rain of six inches. He packed 480 crates of Emperors, and ran them into the dryer long enough to get rid of the damp- ness. They reached so hungry a market in such perfect condition they brought him six dollars and ten cents per crate and more than made up for the loss re- sulting from the disaster in his early ship- ments. Every year elements of risk are being removed and the shipment of fruit ap- proaches nearer to a staple industry. There remains much to be done to secure so direct and economical a contact be- tween producer and consumer as to dis- tribute the possible output of California where it will find a satisfactory demand. HANDLING AND MARKETING FRUIT. In 1884 Dr. Blowers was eastern man- ager of the California Fruit Union and active in establishing the auction system for disposing of fresh fruit on arrival. The illustration herewith will give a better idea of the system than paragraphs of description. To win in handling fresh fruit it is necessary to reach the consumer promptly. After a long trip overland it often gets caught by a fresh shipment while waiting in the rooms of the dealers, great and small, to reach the consumer, in the regular course of trade. Many plans have been made to control this business by special advantages designed to create monopolies. Dr. Blower's influence was always in the direction of such a free dis- tribution that each dealer would share in all the advantages it was possible to give in proportion to his trade and facilities and that all shippers should have benefit of information coming to the Fruit Union. The experience of last season empha- sized the necessity of an organization to execute the designs of the Fruit Union and it is to be hoped that those who have had most experience will join with the Fruit Exchange, and with a following in proportion to the present importance of the business proceed to improve upon the plans originally designed by the Fruit Union for the benefit of the industry. The evils of sending three cars where one is needed and leaving other markets for days without any supply are more easily seen than remedied. The point has been made that only five millions of the people of the U. S. ever have a chance to buy California fruits and that it is desirable to send regular sup- plies to interior towns that can take less than car lots and have had only small lots at long prices by express. This opens a field for more persistent effort than railway officials are likely to bestow and needs a worthy successor to our friend to work for the interest of pro- ducers. Railroad men could distribute small lots of fruit as easily as they man- age the oyster trade if the matter ap- pealed to their pockets as it does to those of producers. So long as the roads have all they can do to carry fruit to main dis- tributing centers there is small hope that they will try plans to cause the demand to keep pace with the supply. With more cars and more roads they will find a way to reach more points. During ' 93 Dr. Blowers took a leading interest in a plan to make the natural facilities of Yolo County available for irri- gation and power. He wrote many articles for the Woodland papers that THE PIONEER IN THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 237 called out opposition from Lakeport edi- tors who supposed their interests were in danger. Some of their leading men dis- cussed the subject with him personally and learned that it was no more harmful to them to have Yolo use the water power from Cache Creek canyon than to breathe the zephyrs that had once fanned their native Switzerland. AN ABUNDANT WATEK SUPPLY. Clear Lake has an available water supply of 435, 360 acre-feet with 1, 200 foot fall be- tween its outlet and entry to Cupay Valley at Eumsey. The watershed of the canyon sation which would release their capital for other investments and enhance value of their remaining property. Present and prospective prices of wheat offer little inducement to extend that in- dustry and the decreasing fertility of the soil shows effect of steady cropping. Water brings alfalfa. That dives deep into the subsoil and reaches into the air for its nourishment and restores the humus to the soil. Irrigation will also introduce the varied industries of inten- sive farming and make small holdings profitable under conditions where no crop is lost and no stock goes hungry. TWIN CITY FRUIT AUCTION ROOM AT ST. PAUL, MINN. is more than that of the lake and after a liberal allowance for losses there remains 115,463 horse power. Estimating the value of this at 10 per cent of the cost of wood or coal to generate like power gives an annual rental value of $731,945 provided all could be utilized. To accomplish this Dr. Blowers sug- gested the formation of a Wright-District to irrigate some 300,000 acres and also to develop and distribute the water power. Certain vested rights of present ditch owners are opposed to this but the sug- gestion contemplated reasonable compen- In the last ten years, statistics showed that Fresno County, Cal., alone, had gained more in population than the whole Sacramento Valley and it was because of irrigation and intensive farming. By distributing the water power from Cache Creek canyon by electric trans- mission over the farms of Yolo it could be made to do a great part of the work now done by horses. In that case it was esti- mated that one-third the land, the part now necessary for sustaining the animals that do the work would be available for the support of human life. At that rate 238 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 70,000 more people would find a living there so soon as such power was used for all the land these waters would irrigate. As soon as the county developed in this way villages would grow into cities; blacksmiths into machinists; retailers into wholesalers; schools into colleges; and colleges into universities. To preserve this opportunity until the people should be aroused to the import- ance of action, Dr. Blowers not only thought, spoke and wrote, but although seriously ill he could not be dissuaded from attending the Los Angeles Conven- tion of ' 93 when he felt that there was danger that Congress would be asked to turn over arid lands and reservoir sites to the States and make it possible for Legislatures to take such action as would place the opportunities of the many under the control of the few. When action was pending in the Legis- lature designed to complicate action by declaring the lake the property of Lake County he telegraphed a request to the governor that he withhold his signature until a Woodland delegation would reach him, and this friend of the people rose from his death-bed, long after he had ceased to attend to any private affair, to solicit his fellow citizens personally, to wait upon the governor and use their in- fluence for their county in that crisis. Not often do we find one, upon whom no official responsibility rests, so zealous for the public good as to place others' in- terests before his own even to the last day of his life. He spoke of approaching death as a pleasant journey, and well he might. For one who has lived so much for others knows what the preacher meant when he said: "It is only three steps to Heaven; out of self — unto Christ — into glory." By precept and practice he was a firm believer in intensive farming, and held that the development of the country rested upon small holdings of irrigated land. He claimed that ten acres of good land, well cultivated, would employ and sustain an average family on a scale of comfort to enable them to live as intelligent, self-sus- taining, public- spirited citizens. His first prune orchard was seven-eighths of an acre. The first five years after it came into bearing he marketed 5,700, 6,700, 7,700, 8, 700 and 7,200 respectively, being an average of 7,200 pounds of mer- chantable prunes for a term of five years. He estimated that ten acres of such land as his would produce 100 tons of alfalfa hay annually or keep twelve COWP, ten hogs and 200 hens. If devoted to sugar- beets it would produce 300 tons. On his own home ranch are kept a dozen cows, twenty or thirty dozen chickens, forty to fifty hogs and eight horses. The balance of the place, not required for stock, is planted with seedless raisins and shipping grapes, olives, prunes and apricots. Many of these are young trees, planted between rows of vines, so soon as he foresaw the effect of free-trade upon the raisin industry. To colonists he would recommend the care of stock and fruit so distributed as to keep working members of the family al- ways occupied, but never crowded. With irrigated land and small holdings they would be close enough together to have common drying grounds, fruit-shipping stations, creameries, canneries, etc. Each family could have milk and eggs to send to the creamery every day, could have flowers and vegetables to use and spare, and when fruit harvest came could have pears, peaches, prunes, apricots or grapes, figs, almonds, olives, oranges or lemons to sell. With products to market that bring cash every day they would be in a position to buy for cash and avoid the system of credits that has proven the ruin of many new settlers. For several months Dr. and Mrs. Blow- ers represented the State Board of Trade upon "California on Wheels," and met many in the east whom they had enter- tained during excursions of representative bodies to California. All were greatly in- terested in the exhibit. The present world-wide depression has so affected prices that the low margin of profit generally connected with safe busi- ness, affording constant employment, has temporarily been upon the wrong side of the ledger. Some reason that existing conditions are likely to become permanent and that the farmer of the future will be- come a peon. Conditions have never re- mained the same for any term of years in our history, and it is only by averaging results of decades that we can reach safe data from which to estimate prosperity of a vocation. Accounts show that for the twenty-six years Dr. Blowers farmed his eighty-acre RECENT DECISIONS UPON THE SUBJECT OF WATER RIGHTS. 239 home ranch he paid out for labor upon it $80,000. This was almost forty dollars a year upon each acre. The subject of our sketch never spec- ulated, nor did he take advantage of the many opportunities for profit that came to him on account of his reputation. He was welcomed to all assemblies of repre- sentative Californians as among the most intelligent and public-spirited of their number. He trained his children to ap- preciate and practice the education and refinement of the best city homes and to be thoroughly practical in ail the details of his many-sided business. On one occasion that came to the writ- er's notice Dr. Blowers was asked to join a syndicate to subdivide a tract designed for a colony of raisin growers. The en- dorsement of his personal recommendation and his supervision were to constitute his share of the investment, which was likely to net him more than the accumulations of his lifetime. He examined conditions of soil and climate and concluded that, while a good showing might be made for a time, the colonists could not successfully com- pete with more favored localities in the close race of the survival of the fittest that he foresaw. For this reason he withheld the use of his name. He has been regarded as a boomer among Californians, and boomers have been looked upon as devoid of conscience. Here was a fortune refused rather than mislead investors. The genial influence of his personality so pervaded his household that people who have enjoyed its hospitality for years never dreamed that his present wife was not the mother of the children, and he saw no need for any other pro- vision in his will than that all should share alike in the magnificent property he left them. If ever a life proved a theory this one proved that education is not wasted upon a farmer. The fool may "make a living on a farm, but that living is better termed existence, while the man of thought may live so near to nature and in such sympathy with his fellow men that the living may be one continual joy to himself and a benediction to his race. RECENT DECISIONS UPON THE SUBJECT OF WATER RIGHTS. BY CLESSON S. KINNEY, OF THE SALT LAKE CITY BAR. D ECENTLY in the Supreme Court of 1\ the State of Colorado in the case of White vs. Farmer's Highline Canal and Reservoir Co. (43 Pac. Eep. 1028) it was decided that: The taking and use of water for irrigating purposes is a matter of public interest and subject to state control; and that the irrigation act of that state regulating the taking and distribu- tion of water from streams, and providing among other things that each company controlling canals or ditches shall appoint a superintendent who shall measure to each person entitled thereto, his or her pro rata share of water, applies to and governs companies carrying water for hire and also their patrons, and one con- sumer cannot ignore the allotment made by the superintendent and appropriate to himself more water than his just share. It was also held in the same case that the law regulating water rights being in the exercise of the police powers of the state is paramount to a private contract though such contract antedates the pas- sage of the law and rights given by the contract must yield where they are in contravention of the provisions of the statute. LICENSE TO CONSTRUCT DITCH. In the case decided Feb. 17, 1896, of Tynon vs. Despain et al. by the Supreme Court of Colorado (43 Pac. Rep. 1039) it was held that a parole license to con- struct and maintain an irrigation ditch over the lands of the licensor when exe- cuted by the construction of the ditch is not revocable; and that in an action to recover for damage to an irrigation ditch by its being broken and the water diverted 240 THE IRRIGATION AGE. by the owner of the land over which it passed, the defendant cannot, under a general denial of plaintiff's rights to maintain the ditch, introduce evidence of its enlargement or of its want of uniform- ity of grade. BIGHT OF WAY FOB DITCHES OVEB OOVEBN- MENT LANDS. In the same case as last above cited it was also held: That the revised statute of the United States, § 2339, enacted in 1866 providing that whenever by priority and possession water rights have vested and accrued under local customs, laws and decisions of the courts, such rights shall be maintained and protected and right of way for canals and ditches for such pur- poses is acknowledged and confirmed, together with the amendment of 1870, § 2340, providing that all patents granted or pre-emptions of homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any water rights or rights to ditches acquired under, or recognized by § 2339, operate as a grant of the right of way for the construction of irrigating canals or ditches over any lands owned by the United States and unoccupied in 1866 whenever the right to build such ditch should accrue under the local customs, laws or decisions of courts, and that such right continued so long as title remained in the Government, subject only to pay- ment of damages to the possessory right of the occupying claimant, stipulated for in a proviso of § 2339 which reads as follows : " That whenever, after the passage of this Act, any person or persons shall, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injure or damage the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage." It was also held in the same case that the sections of the United States statute above referred to, are a recognition of the legality of water rights given by local customs and laws, and lands granted to the Pacific railroads continued subject to the rights and easements given to such customs and laws, including the right of way for irrigating ditches; such rights being embraced within the reservation of " and other lawful claims " contained in the Act of July 2, 1864, subject to which said grants were made. CONVEYANCE OF LAND BY PATENTEE SUBJECT TO THE ABOVE EASEMENT. And also in the same case it was held where an irrigating ditch is constructed over lands while the title thereto is in the United States and the occupant whose possession afterward ripens into a pat- ent, conveys the lands, the grantee takes them subject to the easement of the ditch although no reservation is made in his deed. CHEAPER POWER FOR SAN FRANCISCO. BY W. C. F1TZSIMMONS. ONE of the greatest needs in San Fran- cisco is cheaper power. With abun- dance of cheap power at command, numer- ous industries not now thought of would without doubt spring up on all hands. A wise merchant invites trade by displaying goods in his show windows. It is thus that millions of dollars worth of goods are sold at large profits which would never have been sold at all unless thus shown to be in stock. So it will be in the manufacturing line. When power, cheap and abundant, is " on tap " and may be had by touching the button, the demand for it will increase in- credibly. But first- class coal is, and prob- ably will continue to be dear in San Fran- cisco and in fact throughout California. Our oil fields though extensive, are not known to be capable of furnishing a per- manent supply of fuel for steam purposes. Wood for fuel on the large scale required for extensive manufacturing enterprises is out of the question ; it therefore becomes im- perative that other agencies for produc- ing-power be utilized. Fortunately none of the large cities of the country, except Buffalo perhaps, is more advantageously situated than San Francisco for profiting by electrical power derived from water falls. The recent triumph scored by Sac- CHEAPER POWER FOR SAN FRANCISCO. 241 ramento in bringing over the wires thou- sands of horsepower of electrical force de- rived from a waterfall in the American river twenty-two miles away, has been an object lesson worth millions of dollars to San Francisco if that city shall have the enterprise and foresight to fully utilize the lesson thus to be learned. While it may or may not be a commercial proposition to bring the Sacramento electrical power to San Francisco, by reason of the distance, yet it is practically certain that an immense power may be derived from a great water- fall nearer to the city. In Lake County, about ninety miles north of San Francisco, lies a large body of fresh clear water, twenty-six miles in length by eight miles in breadth and 140 feet in extreme depth. It is 1,350 feet above the level of the sea. The lake is fed by perennial springs and mountain streams, and has an outlet known as Cache Creek which in the first few miles from the lake falls more than 400 feet, and finally flows into the Sacra- mento river in Yolo County. Competent engineers allege that electrical power may be transmitted ninety miles with a total loss of ' only twenty-five per cent of the dynamic force of the waterfall. Thus we have at our very doors, so to speak, a power capable of transforming San Francisco into a great manufacturing center not surpassed by any other city of its size in America. And all this, too, without in any way detracting from its beauties as a most desirable place of residence, for of course the soot and smoke of countless chimneys would be conspicuously absent. In short, we have everything that reason- able man could ask to make San Francisco and the towns and cities surrounding, hives of industry and thrift. Besides all these natural advantages we have more than a hundred million dollars in the savings banks of San Francisco alone, to say nothing of the millions of unemployed capital lying on deposit in other banks. What then, remains to San Francisco and the bay cities to enable them at once to enter into their rich and natural inherit- ance? Simply enterprise, and sufficient civic pride to make full use of the prodi- gal gifts which nature has ungrudgingly bestowed. All preliminary work has been done and the Clear Lake Electric Power Company has been organized to do the things above outlined. But the company should be backed by ample home capital, and a spirit, of enterprise must be shown, else it will be necessary to enlist outside aid in this grand work of development for the benefit of California. But it must be done. The hour has come when to defeat or long postpone so great a work would be unspeakable folly, not to be thought of for a moment by those having the good of the bay region at heart. The response of our local capitalists to the call for aid in de- veloping and utilizing the Clear Lake Electrical plant will go far to determine the measure of their enterprise and civic pride and it is hoped that when fairly pre- sented to them, the money will not long be lacking for the installation of a gigantic power which will make the name of Califor- nia a synonym for progress throughout the world. In this connection the following extract from the report of Col. O. E. Moore to the Manufacturers' and Producers' Association of this city relating to this sub- ject will be found of great interest: " The magnitude of this project and its value to San Francisco can hardly be estimated. Power in almost unlimited quantity can be transmitted to the city at one-third the cost of steam power at the present price of coal and the saving to manufacturers in one year will about equal the cost of the plant. This is in my judgment the first time a practical and economical plan has been presented to solve the problem of cheaper power and I cordially and earnestly recommend it to the Manufac- turers' and Producers' Association for their co- operation and support. It is one of the most inviting fields for a very profitable investment of capital that I have ever seen." 1 THE DIVERSIFIED FARM * 1 In diversified farming by irrigation lies the salvation of agriculture * WHAT TO GROW ON THE IRRIGATED FARM. BY F. 0. BARKER, OF NEW MEXICO. WHAT is the best thing to grow? is a question often asked, but very seldom satisfactorily answered. The usual advice is to grow what there is most money in. Sometimes there is a rage for peaches, at other times for alfalfa, with the usual result, that whatever crop is popularly believed to be the most profitable, is usually overdone and the markets glutted with an over-supply. If a man is a working farmer, and understands his business, I believe there is always most money in raising what is consumed in the family, and herein lies the first advantage of having a farm under irrigation. It will always insure food for the farmer's family however small the farm be. The first consideration, therefore, should be to see that the family is supplied with flour, fruit and vegetables. Wheat may not be profitable as a market crop, if grown on a small scale, but better raise it yourself than pay some one else to do it for you. Besides you probably save freight or hauling and the profits of two or three merchants. The same may be said of corn, which has the advantage of being raised the same year after wheat in many irrigated countries of the South. The fodder will also make very useful feed for stock if a corresponding propor- tion of alfalfa is fed with it. Alfalfa is a crop that should never be omitted on an irrigated farm. It will supply more food for hogs, cows, horses and poultry to the acre than anything I know of, and is a sure cropper with plenty of water. With the crops already mentioned a farmer should insure a regular supply of eggs, milk, butter, poultry and bacon, and have something left over to sell. But I am aware that this advice, al- though perfectly sound, will not satisfy the average farmer, who is always hanker- ing after something that there is money in. Well, on this point I think it good policy to grow that which cannot be successfully grown without irrigation. In my experience those are the crops which usually pay the best in the long run. This is what makes alfalfa such a paying crop. On no other food can bacon and milk be so cheaply raised, and if it were not for the fact that it cannot be grown without irrigation, no farm in the world would be without its alfalfa field. Celery and strawberries are two other cheap crops which, except in a few favored localities, do much better with irrigation than without. Several strawberry growers in the East have made up their minds that, even where the rainfall is excessive, artificial irrigation is necessary to insure regular crops and they are putting up windmills and other devices for pumping water. I believe the day is not distant, when very few strawberry growers will risk the loss of their crops by droughts, and they must necessarily go to a great expense if they have to pump the water. This ex- pense is saved on the farm furnished with water from a canal. A good principle to follow in business is always to stick to some line in which you have special ad- vantages. Don't do what every fool can do. Do not be led away with the idea that there is a fortune in lemons, or in almonds, or in olives. The natural law of supply and demand tends to reduce the profits on all crops to a level, and what to-day looks the most profitable, will to- morrow be the most unprofitable. But grow what you are best situated and fitted for and you will hardly ever make a mis- take. ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR BUSHELS OF CORN PER ACRE. [F. D. Coburn, Secretary of Kansas Department of Agriculture, furnishes the following timely article.] MR. J. A. BAXTER, of Waveland, Shawnee County, Kansas,who raised as high as 104 bushels of shelled corn per acre in 1895, furnishes the State Board of Agriculture the following account of it, 242 THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 243 together with some of his corn-raising methods in general: ' ' The portion of my crop giving a yield of 104 bushels of husked, well-dried (fifty- six pounds, shelled) corn per acre was five acres of fifty -seven I planted last year. My land is slightly rolling prairie and about a fair average of Kansas soil, with a hard, impervious subsoil. The five acres mentioned were at one end of a twenty-five-acre field, part of which had been in potatoes for two years and the last crop dug with a listing plow late in October, which was equivalent to a deep fall plow- ing. "In spring the ground was much like a bed of ashes. It was then deeply plowed, made fine and smooth with a plank-drag and drilled the first week in May with a 'Farmer's Friend' planter of medium width, with a deep-grained yellow Dent corn ; about the same quantity of seed was used as would have been if from three to somewhat less than four grains had been placed in hills the ordinary distance apart. This was cultivated four times with com- mon gang cultivators and hoed three times — -the last hoeing after it had been finished with the cultivators. " I am a strong believer in deep and thorough cultivation, and long since learned that a good crop of corn and a rank growth of cockle-burs, crab-grass and similar weeds cannot occupy the same ground at the same time. I have not subsoiled for previous crops, but last fall invested in a Ferine subsoiler and used it on fifteen acres. I intend planting 100 acres in corn this season and aim to have it all subsoiled. Am subsoiling my fields the narrow way first (they are from forty to eighty rods wide and 120 rods long) as deeply as four horses can do the work, at distances of two and one-half feet. Will then throw up the ridges cross-wise of this with a listing plow, following it in each furrow with the subsoiler as deep as three horses can pull it, and drill the seed immediately in the track of the subsoiler. This will leave the land subsoiled in both directions. "My whole crop for 1895 averaged only fifty- seven bushels per acre, yet would have made seventy-five bushels but for an unfortunate invasion just at the critical time by an army of chinch bugs from an adjacent thirty-acre field of oats. With proper treatment of our soils and thorough cultivation I am of the opinion that in all favorable seasons such as last we should raise from seventy-five to 100 bushels of corn per acre instead of the more common twenty -five to fifty bushels. I am always careful to avoid cultivating when the land is very wet, and think many farmers make a serious mistake by working their corn when the soil cleaves from the shovels in chunks. The sun is likely to then bake the ground and the growth loses its bright, healthy green and turns a sickly yellow. " SUGAR TO REPLACE WHEAT AND COTTON. BY W. C. FITZSIMMONS. FROM the Florida Farmer and Fruit Grower we take the following: "We pay annually about $125,000,000 for foreign sugar. It should all be made here. The sugar beet crop should take the place of wheat on the great prairies where farmers are in poverty because wheat no longer yields a paying crop, and the cotton fields and the re- claimed glades of the South should be turned into cane fields where they will produce from $50 to $100 per acre without bounty." The above is in some respects a mis- leading statement; especially that part of it relating to the feasibility of planting the wheat fields of the North and the cotton fields of the South with sugar-beets or cane in the hope of realizing $50 to $100 per acre for the crop. It is im- possible. Such results have scarcely yet been assured by the best land in the world, when planted on so large a scale, and can- not be on the worn wheat and cotton lands of the North and South. The total importations of sugar are enormous to be sure; and for the year ending June 30, 1894, amounted to 4,261,- 360 004 pounds, valued at $124,720,681. For the previous fiscal year the imports were 3,731,219,367 pounds, valued at $114,959,870. While it is certain that this immense quantity of sugar can be and should be produced in the United States, it should be also remembered that all land is not adapted to sugar beets or to cane. More than 20,000,000 acres are annually planted with cotton in the United States and the yield averages less than 200 pounds of lint per acre, worth last year about $10.90. The 34,000,000 acres of land planted with wheat last year yielded but about thirteen bushels per 244 THE IRRIGATION AGE. acre, worth less than $6. 50 per acre at the farm. It is manifestly impossible for land either North or South which yields only thirteen bushels of wheat or 200 pounds of cotton per acre to produce beets to the value of $100 per acre. And experience in Cali- fornia, Nebraska, Utah and Virginia shows conclusively that the best beet land in cultivation in most of those States does not give the returns announced by the Florida Farmer. But an average of thirteen tons of beets per acre which sold at $5 per ton during the life of the bounty law is the highest product ever reached in this country and probably in the world on large areas. Thus, while sugar production should be encouraged by all legitimate means, it should not be stimulated by holding out inducements impossible to realize. But let the sugar industries be built up! There is ample room for them to flourish. PRACTICAL FRUIT AND VEGETABLE IRRIGATION. JOHN TANNAHILL, ©f Columbus, Neb., in a recent speech before the Horticultural Society, gave the following as the result of his work: "From 'an orchard of apple trees, of which 190 are beginning to bear, I got twenty bushels of apples in 1894, and this year I got from the same trees over 300 bushels. The trees are twenty feet apart; water is run between the rows, and I find that it does not take nearly so much water this winter as it did last, for the reason that the subsoil has been moist since last winter. As an experiment, I left some apple, cherry and apricot trees un watered last winter; those apple trees not watered were in bloom just six days be- fore those that were watered, with the ex- ception of one tree that I mulched, which, after watering, was six days later and was loaded with fruit. The spring frosts hurt some of those that were watered, but,as they were not overloaded, the fruit was much larger and very superior to that of the others. Of those trees not watered two died and seven had some fruit to set, but it kept dropping until time of ripening, when there was but very little of it left, and that was poor, almost worthless. My cherry trees, ninety-three of which I watered, bloomed two days later than those not watered, and all were heavily laden with large, juicy fruit, none drop- ping off or drying up; of the eighteen un- watered, ten died, eight bore very inferior fruit, hardly worth picking, and the trees made but six inches of growth of wood, while those watered made a growth of twelve inches. The cherry trees were watered during the last week of Decem- ber, and received no water before or after; the apple trees were watered previous to this and when the ground was frozen. Water goes much farther and does more good in orchards if used in winter, but in no case let the water come into contact with the body of the tree, as freezing will injure it. Always have the ground a few inches higher around the tree. AS TO VEGETABLES. " I irrigated six acres for vegetables and made more profit off those six acres than off thirty acres unwatered. I grew from one-fourth acre that was watered three crops of cabbage, and the best part of it was that I got a good head of cabbage from every plant. At the same time I had two acres of unwatered cabbage, and I did not get one-fourth as many as from the one-fourth acre, and they were very poor. I plant cabbage two by four feet and water between the rows. The ground should be kept not only moist, but quite wet for them. When I see a cabbage be- ginning to head, I set a plant close by it, and when it is ready to cut, pull the roots and give room to the plant set a week or ten days beforehand. On all other vege- tables on which water was used we were well repaid, as they were larger, smoother and of better quality* and the crop always sure. I have been in Nebraska twenty- seven years and am satisfied that a practi- cal man with five acres under private irri- gation would make more money than from fifteen acres without irrigation; and no one need to be without it in our valleys, as we have plenty of water just a few feet below us, also plenty of wind above us, and by combining the two I believe we can irrigate more land than we can from rivers and creeks by ditches, believ- ing that there is more water passing in the underflow than passes down rivers and creeks." DIVERSIFIED FARM. 245 C APACITIES OF WINDMILLS AND PUMPS. Sizes of irrigation mills and pumps best adapted for each other to work successfully under ordinary conditions. a a >-" 4j ^^ . . ~ ^ h 1" ^ " S* ~ i -f '5 •3 . * S o 0 aj*o a§ o 'j^ '**» 113 *" 3.S « as- ~ - o e^** o ^a a ^*s| 53 «*H IftOOO l> O -^ CO A ® u5 gills >J]S'S a |||| *- "^ £ Pf s ; « -sj'^a* o ^ L. 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"a - - - •o^ *•« 3 2 c3 a- " c«" cs" 5_2H^ a jj d C £?i • a Q 8SI2 CO S t-C-l SSKSg o w CD£ £ «^ii ^ o "o * - •3- - - -a * - - - 7l cx^ .a S a a 5 ^3 P -l '-I CC g o ° 2 £ i '£- . •g. •""..... |s.lo 0-1 S 03* - S <£" " O 23 13 T5 O «W M-i 2 ^ fe- fli Oi OOO IN M Cl ^ 53 *"*"! An Object Lesson. — Two days after irrigating my acre patch of strawberries the other day I started my Mexican boy in with a wheel hoe to cultivate the soil. After doing about half an acre, which took him some six hours, he remarked to me in his native tongue, " Patron, it seems to me that this stirring of the soil will make it dry out much faster than if left alone." "I don't think so, JoseV' I re- plied; "you hoe your chili after each irrigation. Why do you do it?" "Be- cause it won't grow thriftily unless we keep the soil around continually hoed," he explained. "Yes, "I replied, "it is because the loosening of the top soil pre- serves the moisture and lets in the air to1 the roots." To-day, nine days after the last irrigation, I took my Mexican to a patch of ground that had been left un- hoed, and he was obliged to admit that at a depth of three inches it was much drier than the land he had hoed. To-morrow we irrigate the strawberries again, and when the Mexican hoes them, he will have the satisfaction of feeling that at any rate it is not labor lost. — F. C. Barker. Estimates made on data taken from the U. S. Signal Station at North Platte, Neb. Least working power of wind estimated at 15 miles per hour. Antidotes for Alkali. — There are anti- dotes for all the different forms of alkali. The neutral alkali salts, common salt, Glauber's salt, sulphate of potassium, etc., are only injurious when present in large quantities, and must be washed or drained from the soil. There are but few localities where there are such quantities as here. The soluble earthy and metallic sulphates and chlorides, such as Epsom salts, bittern, chloride of calcium, alum, copperas, etc., find their antidote in lime, says a writer from New Mexico. Alkaline carbonates and borates, which are the most injurious, rendering the soil-water caustic and corrosive, find their antidotes in gyp- sum or land plaster. The experience on my own land, where I am cultivating purposely the greatest variety of plants, shows that there will be practically little trouble in overcoming all difficulty from alkali. In fact there is scarcely a thing we have planted where it has been properly irrigated, which has not made satisfactory growth. If we find an exception it is almost invariably because water has been permitted to stand around the plant for lack of proper drainage, or in places where too much water has settled during irrigation, and this has been quickly remedied by providing the drainage. 246 THE IRRIGATION AGE. Asparagus in the Garden. — A writer in the Montana Fruit Grower says that in his village there are four hundred gardens but only twenty asparagus beds. Writing of the little care necessary to have this delicious vegetable in ample supply for the family, he says: " Seventeen years ago I set an asparagus bed, ten by fifteen feet, using fifty plants in rows three feet apart. The ground was prepared the same as for an onion bed. For fifteen years that bed has been cut every other day, from its first appearance late in April until July 1. As soon as the last cutting is made, about four inches of fine, well-rotted manure is put on. No further care is needed, ex- cept to take out the weeds coming up from the manure. The tops may be cut and burned in the fall, or left until spring to retain the snow and prevent deep freezing. As soon as the ground can be worked in the spring, the manure should be forked in, being careful not to injure the crowns, which can be felt the moment the fork touches one. An Important By-Product. — An East- ern fruit dealer saw a specimen of dried orange peel on exhibition at Los Angeles and had this to say about it: " That is the first lot of California dried orange peel I ever saw which comes up to the require- ments of the trade, and that is as good as the very best I ever saw from Italy. The peel is cut properly from point to stem, so that they are about an inch wide at the middle. The white is all carefully re- moved from the outer peel, and the goods are nicely dried. They are of a high, rich color, and perfect in all respects. In New York that peel is worth eighteen cents a pound, wholesale price. A great deal of it is used in making elixirs, cordials, bit- ters, etc. The refuse oranges of Southern California ought to be put through a proper press to express the juice, which will sell in large quantities in Eastern cities. Phosphates are all the go now, and orange phosphate is one of the most popular." Growing Celery.— The time for trans- planting celery is now at hand. Probably the best variety for general crop is the Golden Dwarf, although the White Plume and many other kinds are recommended as their equals. If the plants have not been grown in a cold frame or out of doors, they can be purchased from those dealing in vegetable plants. The ground for celery should be well prepared to ob- tain the best results. A soil that is rather damp, but not wet; a heavy loam contain- ing but little sand, or a spot slightly ap- proaching to alkali, will make a good place for celery, providing the land is rich enough. Early varieties may be transplanted any time during June, while the late kinds will do well if not planted till the middle of July in most sections of the irrigated region. The plants should be removed from the bed with care, to pre- vent breaking the roots. To secure uni- formity in growth and make cultivation easier, the plants should be of « similar size and set about fifteen inches apart when transplanted. They should be planted in rows and irrigated during the planting by allowing a small stream to flow down the row where the plants are set. The treatment for two months con- sists in good cultivation and frequent irrigation. Simple but Important. — The first three commandments in successful fruit growing are: Thou shalt not use poor plants. Thou shalt not set plants carelessly. Thou shalt not use ground until well fertilized and thoroughly prepared. Neglect these three things and all the woes of a careless grower shall be thine. A Demand for Horses — There is getting to be a strong demand in England, and in other parts of Europe, for Ameri- can horses. It is said that one dealer has taken contracts for the supply of 6,000 head for the omnibus and cab trade of London. These horses will be gathered in Missouri, Illinois, and Ken- tucky. Heavy draft-horses are also in demand, and the supply is becoming very short. These are pointers which farmers and stock raisers should not disregard. A New Treatment for Eggs.— Dried eggs are being put upon the market. Fresh eggs are broken and churned by machinery, and the mixture is then evap- orated to dryness. They are claimed to keep indefinitely in this form. When cooked with hot water, in various ways, THE DIVERSIFIED FARM. 247 they are said to taste precisely like fresh eggs. It promises to become an impor- tant industry and evidently will not re- quire an expensive plant. Remove the Dead Shoots. — Pro- fessor Hyane, of the State University of California, and Professor George Hus- mann, of Napa, both advise that when vines have been frosted the frosted shoots should be either cut or broken off prompt- ly. The reserve buds will then push out and often make a fair crop. If the frozen shoots are left, the frozen sap sours the wood and injures the vine. A Killing Committee. — In an ad- mirable paper read before the Knox County (111.) farmer's institute by James H. Coolidge, Jr., and full of practical suggestions, he says: "It has been suggested that there ought to be in every community a killing committee, whose duty it would be to make an annual round and order all un- profitable cows killed. That would include all cows which do not produce 200 pounds of butter in a year or its equiva- lent in milk. I think I can conscien- tiously commend that suggestion." The Difference.— Miss Clover and Mr. Cowpea will drag nitrogen out of the air and give it to you. The fertilizer dealer bags it and makes you pay 16 cents a pound for it. The difference in price between dragged and bagged nitrogen may represent the difference between profit and loss, says The Rural New Yorker. Length of Corn Hoots. — Professor King, of the Wisconsin experiment sta- tion, estimates that all the roots of a healthy corn plant, if laid end to end, would equal one mile in length. The root development measures the leaf devel- opment. I have usually found small ears on stalks with small root development, and large ears on stalks with large root development. Keep your chickens out of the water- trough where they drink. Thorough preparation of the seed bed saves time and cost in the after attention. Where you find better stock you are sure to find better breeding or better feeding. Salt is an essential constituent of the blood. Cattle should be supplied all they will use. An acre of good alfalfa will furnish pasturage for ten or twenty hogs per season. Prairie or sward land ought to be thoroughly subdued before trees are planted in them. Never use fresh manure on onion ground just previous to planting. It will give you a weed crop too quickly. Wide tires on your wagons will make lighter draft for your teams and will im- prove rather than injure the roads. The little scratching hen adds to the wealth of the country every year in eggs as much as the output of both iron and wool— $135,000,000. The fruit raiser who provides for the production of his own home supplies of all kinds of farm and garden produce will be the more independent. Alfalfa should not be planted in an orchard. The roots go deeper than those of fruit trees, and the growth will be retarded if the trees are not killed. Getting the corn ground ready is one of the big jobs in the corn states each year, and it has to be well done every time if good results are to be expected. If sheep are dipped a few weeks after shearing, it will more than compensate the cost by an improvement in the weight and quality of the wool, and in the better health and comfort of the animals. Cut alfalfa just after it has completed the full bloom and before it has begun to turn yellow near the ground. Irrigate just before cutting and harrow immedi- ately after if you wish to get quick re- covery and perhaps cut an extra crop in the season. According to the American Cultivator forty million eggs are use by the calico print works each year, photographic estab- lishments use millions of dozens, and wine clarifiers call for over ten million dozens. The demand from these sources increases faster than the table demand. They are used by book binders, kid glove manufacturers, and for finishing fine leather. MAXIMS FOR THE IRRIGATED FARM If you starve your land it will starve you. Frequent cultivation helps out irriga- tion. The rougher the surface the longer the road. Poor roads cost most and are worthless always. Stunt a calf and it becomes a poor in- vestment. Adversity may bring blessings, though disguised. A manly man meets and overcomes difficulties. It is the attractive goods that command best prices. Fruit is one of the best medicines, and the cheapest. Do your best and you need not fear consequences. There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. Many start all right but • do not hold out as they begin. A single weed may furnish seed to stock a farm. Don't let it. Fruit growing is not a business to be undertaken by mossbacks. Turn the soil early in the fall and plant it early in the spring. If you send inferior stuff to market you cannot hope for high prices. You can't live long enough to learn all there is to know about farming. If you cannot know but one thing it is better to know that thoroughly. It is one thing to know what ought to be done, and quite another to do it. The best machine for the conversion of corn into money, is a well-bred hog. Think — Can you tell why there are so many gray horses and no gray colts ? Buy shoes at the close of the day when your feet are at their maximum size. It is not good sense to breed a class of animals for which there is no demand. 248 Flowers, in doors and out, are the most attractive of all forms of ornamentation. Those who loaf at the store and whittle are not the fellows who raise good crops. The little things that farmers cannot find time to do are sometimes most im- portant. The alfalfa farmer of the west makes many blades of grass grow where one grew before. Diversified crops, careful attention, patience and perseverance contribute to success in farming. Save it all and make the most of the farm manure; it is an important resource; to waste it is criminal. It is the food it eats that keeps the ani- mal warm. If fed in the open air it takes so much the more fuel. A farmer cannot know too much about his farm, and he ought also to know some- thing about the markets. It takes a very conscientious man to hold to the straight and narrow path when the pocket nerve is involved. It is not a prudent farmer who wastes the feed in winter which it has cost so much labor in summer to produce. Rotation of crops is one of the best preventives against the spread of the various pests and worms that feed on different farm products. It is a patent fact that reading farmers are as a rule the prosperous ones. Bead- ing stimulates thought, and the more a farmer thinks, the bigger his crops will be. Your grandfather might have been a good man and your father before you, but times now and then are different. It is the present to which you must adapt your- self. Andrew Carnegie, speaking to the Cor- nell students advised them that the wise man would put all his eggs in one basket and then watch the basket; in other words adopt a specialty and get to understand the one thing perfectly. I THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION A NEW machine for making cans turns out 120 a minute, or 72,000 every ten hours, with one man and five boys to attend it. The cost is but a trifle in addition to the first cost of the tin. ELECTRIC locomotives have shown them- selves to be fifty-five per cent cheaper in coal consumption than steam locomotives. TESLA claims that his phosphorescent light is so closely a duplicate of sunlight that it can scarcely be distinguished from it. It possesses all the health-giving qual- ities and drives away dampness. The light is already an acomplished fact. A NEW JERSEY man raising vegetables for the New York market has spent $25,000 in electric culture and facilities, and it is said he has increased his production from 40 to 60 per cent. THE latest design for a fire extinguisher is a quadricycle, or two tandems coupled together. They carry the extinguishing liquid and a supply of hose between the two and are operated, including the run to the fire by four men. It can beat a horse outfit getting there. SANTA BARBARA, California, is trying a new form of street paving for which it has all the materials at hand. They have an asphalt mixer that uses wet sand. A crusher, on the other side of an oil-burning engine, crushes the rock from the beach. A compound of crude and refined asphal- tum is spread one and a half inches thick, and while it is hot a coating of crushed rock and sand is spread over and rolled in, making a total thickness of two and a half inches. BOTH Edison and Tesla have been closely engaged in studying the Roentgen X-ray discoveries with the result of adding many important discoveries to the original. By the " fluorescent screen " Edison succeeded in getting astonishing results without in- creasing the electric intensity, saving time in exposure and producing results which might be seen by the naked eye. His in- ventions are along the practical line, and it is announced that his discoveries will not be patented, but are given for the free use of the public. Tesla has worked in the direction of increasing the electric inten- sity. . Where others have used voltage re- coined in thousands or hundreds of thou- sands, he has used millions. His object was to secure vast power in the vacuum tubes and he has succeeded. A news tele- gram tells of his accomplishments in these astonishing statements: ' ' The skeleton of one of his assistants, who stood at a distance of five or six feet from the tube, which was giving off rays, was seen plainly. But that was not all. Tesla has finally perfected the X-ray tube to such an extent that he saw completely through skeleton as well as flesh. One of his assistants held a brass plate in front of his chest, moving it up and down. The X-ray had penetrated the body, and through the fluorescent screen Tesla could distinctly see the brass plate as it moved. A NEW machine which bids fair to revo- lutionize the cigar- making industry is re- ported from Binghamton, N. Y. Ma- chines are said to be on exhibition in operation there now, which are turning out smoothly bunched and neatly wrapped cigars at the rate of three thousand per day for each machine. This is about three times as many as an expert can roll when using moulds. The machine is of about the size and appearance of a sewing ma- chine and is as easily operated. The essential mechanism consists of a metal plate, a traveling rubber belt and two rub- ber rollers. The plate has a beveled or warped surface of varying sections, on which cigars of all the approved shapes can be made by a simple adjustment of a clamp. A " bunch" of tobacco is inserted between the rollers and the traveling band. At the same time a wrapper is fed upon the plate and automatically guided around the bunch. The "tucking" and "past- ing" are done while the next are being rolled, so that two cigars are in process of manufacture at the same time. It is esti- mated that with these machines all shapes and qualities of cigars can be made at a labor cost of thirty cents per thousand.- — New Ideas. 249 ^\AAiAisVis\is\i?Xi/\isVis\isVis\ls\is\^VirV^ PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY IRRIGATION IN CENTRAL KANSAS. BY A. C. EOMIG. TO irrigate or not to irrigate; that is the question that has engaged the atten- tion of many farmers in Central Kansas for the last twelve months. In location we are occupying debatable ground ; it is not definitely settled whether we are arid or humid. From 1892 to 1896 we were decidedly arid; but now that the rains have come we think we are humid; and the hesita- ting farmer has decided to postpone his irrigation schemes indefinitely. He has a conviction imprisoned in his brain, that in the cycle of years, we have passed the period of drought, and are entered upon the threshold of a series of wet and pros- perous seasons; that the dread calamity of hot winds and crop failures are at an end, irrigation unnecessary, superfluous, and an expensive luxury. The buoyant hopefulness and simple faith of the average Kansan is sublime. But the true advocate of intensive farm- ing is not so optimistic, and is not so easily swerved from his purpose by doubt- ful promise of better seasons ahead. Too often in the history of her existense has the great Sunflower State, in emulation of Macbeth' s witches, "paltered with us in a double sense, has kept the word of promise to the ear and broken it to the hope." The wary irrigator is not de- ceived; profiting from his experience of 1895, he is pressing steadily onward to assured success and grander results in 1896. There is a phase of irrigation, however, upon which we may all agree, the value and importance of impounded storm waters stored for future use or for imme- diate service in flooding the ground for the plow and seeding; in our prodigal waste of this valuable element we imitate the North American Indian, whose chief concern upon receiving his quota of rations at the agency, is to get rid of them in the most expeditious manner. 250 Instead of constructing ponds and basins for the conservation of this wealth- yielding fluid, it is our custom to open up the sluice-ways and speed it onward in its ra,ce to the sea where it is not needed. But our people are learning a better thrift, by study of the Orient, where irri- gation has been in successful practice for four thousand years, and where no drop of water is permitted to run to waste. Central Kansans are becoming inter- ested and much is being accomplished in this direction through individual effort by the construction of ponds and basins on the farm. All over the plains of Kansas there are low-lying flats or gentle gradients, where an indifferent dam, easily and cheaply constructed for temporary use, may serve the purpose of flooding a considerable area of ground, and hold the water im- prisoned until absorbed by the soil and well out of the way of plow and seed. This system of irrigation was in vogue on the river Nile two thousand years ago, and was practiced in a small way in Central Kan- sas in the winter of 1894-95, and in every instance the result was not only highly satisfactory and the crops phenomenal, but it was a revelation of possibilities within the reach of every farmer however poor. There is thrift in the conservation of storm waters. IRRIGATION ON THE SOUTH PLATTE. DETWEEN Julesburg, Colo., and Big I-) Springs, Neb. , the towns being only a few miles distant either way from the state line, are a number of irrigation pumping plants and also considerable land under ditches. Starting from Julesburg and going down the valley the first irrigated farm reached is that of F. M. Johnson. Mr. Johnson has paid for his windmills, made a good living and now has about five acres covered with a young orchard and small fruits. The T. V. ranch owned by Omaha PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 251 people consists of several thousand acres of grazing and natural hay land. It is watered by a 14-foot Mogul windmill work- ing a 12-inch pump on a 14-inch stroke. The pump throws 6£ gallons per stroke. It is not intended at present to water all of this ranch, but merely enough to grow fruit, vegetables and alfalfa. A. J. Walrath, a stock raiser, built a small reservoir two years ago. Has grown plenty of vegetables for home use and now has a young orchard and small fruit such as strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. G. B. Hoover, two miles west of Big Springs, is an old settler. He located (windmill) irrigator of Nebraska and it is conceded that he has the largest windmill irrigation plant in the state to-day. It consists of a 14- foot Mogul mill operating a 12-inch pump with 14-inch stroke and throws 6 j gallons per stroke. Sometimes 30 strokes a minute are made. Also a 12-foot Mogul mill working a 10-inch pump with a 12 inch stroke throwing four gallons per stroke. Also a 14-foot steel mill working an 8- inch Mogul pump, 10- inch stroke, and also a 12-foot Leach mill connected to a 6-inch pump. Mr. Stafford has a reservoir covering two acres five feet deep with water, stocked with black fish. Has a fine four-year-old or- TWO-YEAR-OLD PRUNE ORCHARD, K. S. D. RANCH, NEAR ONTARIO, ORE. first on the table land, was starved out and then bought forty acres in the valley. About a year ago he put up a 12-foot Mogul mill working a 10-inch pump. Irrigated about ten acres, raised corn, millet, sorghum, onions, potatoes, and vegetables of all kinds. Abbott and Kimball and Geo. Thomp- son, of Big Springs, built a small ditch to water 500 acres of hay land. They cut twice as much hay last year as a result of watering. W. T. Stafford's farm is located on the south side of the river, six miles from Big Springs. Mr. Stafford is the pioneer chard of apple, cherry and plum trees. Has grown strawberries at the rate of 5,000 quarts per acre, on a half-acre patch, in bearing the past three years. This year has planted an acre each to strawberries and raspberries. Has grown blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries and currants with great success. Has grown 8,000 cabbages per acre averaging five pounds per head, and 400 bushels onions and 200 bushels po- tatoes per acre. Has also grown large crops of millett and sorghum. At the present time Mr. Stafford has 50 acres irrigated, but thinks he has enough water to cover 70 acres when the ground is leveled. He 252 THE IREIGATION AGE. began irrigating in the spring of 1891 and has increased his acreage every year since then, He is an enthusiast in regard to the prospects of the South Platte valley. One of his ideas is that the state of Ne- braska should offer a prize for the best planned and operated 20- acre irrigated farm. John Kortz settled on table land but was obliged to abandon it and locate in the valley. He has a few acres irrigated by a windmill and grows plenty of garden truck for home use. This spring Mr. Kortz planted a nice orchard. Part of Mr. Kortz' s land lies under the canal de- scribed below. The Miller and Warren ditch starts about seven miles west of Big Springs, is seven miles long and covers about 4,000 acres of land. The ditch is sixteen feet wide, at the bottom and two feet of water at the head. It is practically completed and water will be turned in by the time this ap- pears in print. George Warren, an old settler and one of the owners of the ditch, has a nice farm and will irrigate it from the ditch. The land of R. Beach is also under the ditch. He has a promising crop waiting for the water. Mr. Miller, also a stockholder in the ditch company, has a large body of land under the canal. Abbott and Kimball have a fine stock ranch on which is a grove of trees grown by means of pump irrigation. They are large stockholders in the new ditch and are the most enterprising business men of Big Springs. Big Springs is a growing and thrifty town of 200 inhabitants, with a church, school, stores, hotels, livery and other in- dustries. THE CONGRESS REPORT AGAIN. I notice in the May number of THE IRRI- GATION AGE a letter from Fred L. Alles, ex- secretary of the Irrigation Cougress, in regard to the reports of the fourth con- gress held in Albuquerque last September. It is due the members of the Fourth National Irrigation Congress that an ex- planation be made as to why this report has not been sent out. The local commit- tee and the territorial committee each had a fund to draw on. The local committee had the funds subscribed by the city of Albuquerque, and the Territorial Commit- tee had the $2,500 appropriated by our Legislature. The Territorial committee in the division of work and expenses agreed upon between the two committees, were to publish the reports. I have had many letters asking for these reports, which I have referred to Col. Max Frost, presi- dent of the Territorial committee, Santa Fe. Some two months ago Col. Frost wrote me that 500 copies would be ready for distribution in " a few days," since which time I have heard nothing. I think if those wishing these reports will write Col. Frost, he will accommodate them with a copy. I make this explanation because I feel it due to our own people, who responded so nobly to the Committee's call for money and help to entertain the Fourth National Irrigation Congress, that no false or erro- neous ideas get abroad as to why these reports are not out. I may say that the death of Hon. Walter C. Hadley, secretary and treasurer of the Territorial committee has no doubt delayed an earlier issue of the report. J. E. SAINT, Chairman Local Com. Fourth National Ir- rigation Congress. Albuquerque, N. M. A GLANCE OVER THE FIELD. ARIZONA. Phoenix wants a packing house with ample cold storage. The Highland canal has had plenty of water this year, and farmers under it are jubilant over their flattering prospects. The 700- foot tunnel on the Rio Verde canal is completed, so that the twenty miles of canal already finished can be utilized. The proposed Hudson reservoir will have a capacity of 900,000 acre^feet of water. Some of it is needed now; all of it will be needed in the future. The strawberry growers around Phoenix have entered into an arrangement by which all fruit is placed in the hands of a single merchant, thereby controlling and regu- lating the price. The berries are of supe- rior quality; it is claimed they are much finer than California fruit. A bill has recently passed Congress, and has become a law, under which university and school lands of Arizona may be leased under such rules and regulations as may PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 253 hereafter be prescribed by the legislature of the territory. Until the legislature acts the governor, secretary of the territory and territorial superintendent of public in- struction shall constitute a board to lease said land. Leases cannot be made for a period to exceed five years. CALIFORNIA. Ontario wants a cannery establishment. Broom -corn raising is to be undertaken at Whittier. A horse market has been established at Los Angeles. The California Raisin Association has been incorporated at Fresno. Since 1894 not less than 1,000,000 olive trees have been set out in the state. The grain crop in Southern California is not promising very large return this year. Redlands has shipped 725 carloads of oranges this year, and has obtained very satisfactory prices. Three hundred carloads of celery have been shipped from one station in Orange county this season. Five carloads of machinery and appli- ances were recently received for the new cannery establishment at Fresno. Since the opening of the new tourist hotel at Redlands some dozen sales of real estate have been made to its guests. The little city of Hemet is thriving. They are making large sales of land under its canals, and many public improvements. Redlands entertained twenty-four car- loads of hotel men at an orange lunch on the occasion of their recent visit to the coast. Sale of the Alessandro town site prop- erty was ordered off by the superior court. The company was successful in opposing the sale. The San Francisco and San Joaquin valley road is nearing completion, and the making of a freight tariff is receiving the attention of its officers. An insect mite has appeared which bores ragged holes in the back of the scale bugs, and it clears the trees in an orchard of the scale pest in a single season. The fruit exchanges are proving to be the salvation of the orchardists. While they may grow no better crops, they are getting better prices for them. They are selling water at Hemet at from two to three cents an inch, it is so plenty. The News truly says that water at three cents an inch is just like finding it. "White Hat" McCarty's fine horses have been removed from Stanislaus county to some choice pasturage near Fresno, where they will have a permanent home. Another irrigation dam has been blown out in Tulare county as the outcome of antagonisms among the property owners. It is rather an expensive method of vent- ing spite. The earliest shipment of cherries ever made from the State was sent from Suisun to Chicago, April 3. The previous record was April 27. The shipment was of fine quality and size. An experiment is being tried in a damp place in the Cajon Pass in cranberry rais- ing. One hundred plants have been ob- tained for trial. If they succeed it will introduce a new industry on the coast. Land owners in the Alessandro valley are developing water around the edge of the valley by clearing the cienegas and sinking wells. The exorbitant prices that are being charged for water is compelling them. A great public market is one of the new things under discussion at San Francisco. Railway and river transportation compan- ies are favoring the plan, and a location on one of the wharves is likely to be selected for it. The Chino ranch has been sold to an English company for $1,600,000. ' Mr. Gird will retain a considerable interest in the property and will still be a factor and moving spirit in its management. This does not include the beet-sugar plant. The Riverside Press says: "Growers who have sold little lots of grape fruit this winter at phenomenal figures are sorry they had not planted this fruit in larger quantity a few years ago. A carload at $8 a box would foot up $2, 500 or more. Dr. R. D. Davidson, county veterinary surgeon, is treating "blackleg" and "an- thrax" successfully by inoculation. He sent directly to the Pasteur institute in Fraace for the virus used. The expense is small and the treatment promises to be- come general. Covina orchardists and berry men are protesting against a proposition on the 254 THE IRRIGATION AGE. part of the Azusa water company to raise the price of water during the coming sea- son. There is a decided tendency all through Southern California to increase the water rates. Ontario claims to have produced the biggest, heaviest, juiciest lemon ever grown between the north and south poles of this hemisphere. It weighs twenty-one ounces and its two measurements are 14^ and 13| inches respectively. Redlands denies, and claims one bigger by four ounces. Large orders, covering practically the entire season's crops, have been received by the Los Nietos Walnut Growers' Asso- ciation. The success of the association has been gained by organization and the World's Fair exhibit, which created a de- mand for the California product. A. R. Smiley, of Redlands, offers $200 in five prizes to the persons in that city who shall maintain the neatest and hand- somest grounds during the coming year. The object is to encourage the planting of ornamental trees and shrubs, and thus add to the attractiveness of the place. COLORADO. Some of the leading potato growers in Weld county have been getting in new potato seed of improved varieties. There is a twenty-five per cent increase in the grain area of the San Luis valley, and of 100 per cent in alfalfa this year. An ice gorge in the Rio Grande carried away five bridges, and the Riverside rail- road bridge was saved by the use of dynamite. The acreage of trees planted in the Grand valley is greater. than ever before this year, and the stock has been better selected and of better quality. State Engineer Sumner has issued a let- ter of instructions and advice to users of irrigation waters, in view of an expected scarcity the present season. The snow- fall has been light in the mountains. IDAHO. The Galloway ditch, near Weiser, is be- ing enlarged to add to its capacity for this year. The Statesman is advocating the organ- ization of a state fair association and, of course, wants it located at Boise. An active fight is in progress between the American Falls Canal and Power Com- pany and the People's Canal Company for the control of the lands available for irrigation near the American Falls. The state appears to side with the first-named company, and the Interior Department in its rulings favors the state. Work on the canal of the Lewiston Water and Power Company is progressing rapidly and it is expected that water for irrigation will be turned in early in June. The ditch begins six miles above Asotin in Washington and takes water from Asotin Creek. There is an immense amount of flume construction involving the use of hundreds of thousands of feet of good Oregon fir lumber. This is one of the largest enterprises being carried on in Idaho at the present time. E. H. Libby is president and C. C. Van Arsdol, chief engineer. KANSAS. The "Populist" weed hoe is a new in- vention intended to save a man from back- ache — a great invention. Alfalfa seed has been so scarce and the price so high, at Garden City, as to inter- fere with the planting which was intended. The Wichita Eagle says "Possibly this is a year in Kansas when the calamity howl will have to be postponed on account of rain." The creamery at Harper is now using 80,000 pounds of milk a day and its pay- ments to the farmers foot up $1,000 monthly. Six inches of water fell in less than a quarter of an hour in Dickinson county recently. It is hardly necessary to add that it gave the ground a thorough wet- ting. The Garden City section was visited by a thirty -six-hour rain with a precipitation between three and four inches, wetting the ground deeply so that the prospects for a good crop were never better. A co-operative congress,for the purpose of uniting the various co operative enter- prises of the state into one body for edu- cational, social and business advancement, was held at Topeka, April, 9, 10, and 11, under the auspices of the State Farmers' Alliance. Many interesting papers were read, a state association was organized PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 255 electing C. B. Hoffman, Enterprise, chair- man; O. B. Wharton, Emporia, secretary- treasurer; Alonzo Wardall, Topeka, chairman of executive committee. The Kansas Immigration and Informa- tion Association, of which W. C. Edwards, secretary of state, is president, announce that their " Kansas Souvenir " is now be- ing printed, and will be ready for distri- bution soon. This will be one of the most valuable books about Kansas, relating as it does to everything of interest in the state. The articles will be from the pens of the most noted writers, among them: Ex Senator John J. Ingalls, Governor Merrill, F. D. Coburn, secretary board of agriculture, Geo. T. Fairchild, president agricultural college, E. B. Moses, chair- man national irrigation executive com- mittee and many others. Every industry in the state will be fully and carefully treated. Copies can be obtained from W. C. Edwards, the secretary of state, Topeka. NEBRASKA. Nebraskans think they are marching to prosperity this year. There are 9,000 acres planted to sugar beets this year and the industry is a grow- ing one. Senator W. R- Akers has been elected State engineer in place of R. B. Howell, •who has resigned. More than one thousand applications for ditch privileges have been tiled with the state board of irrigation. Arbor day is not a dead letter in this state. Over a million trees were planted in its daylight hours. Liberal premiums were offered by societies and individuals for the largest planting. The additional mileage of canals pro- posed under the new irrigation (Carey) law between April 4th and December 31st of last year, amounted to 2,113 miles, estimated to cost $6,209,285, and to cover 2, 367, 689 acres. The Southeastern Nebraska G. A. R., Reunion will be held at Falls City, Neb., July 20-25, and a number of notable speakers are promised for this occasion. Win. Reece, the secretary, has issued a general invitation to old soldiers and their friends. The abundance of subterranean water this year is matter of general remark, and where the earth has been destitute of moisture to considerable depth during the past three years, water is now so near the surface as to appear in post-holes immedi- ately they are bored. The Nebraska Irrigation Fair at North Platte, October 9. 10, 12, 13, 14, 35, 1896, promises to be one of the most important meetings ever held in the state. The officers and board of managers are all working very hard to make it a great suc- cess. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show will exhibit at North Platte during the Fair. It is expected that work will begin soon on the Great Eastern Canal which will cover a vast amount of land in Eastern Nebraska. The canal starts in Nance goes through Platte and Colfax counties and extends into Dodge county. H. E. Babcock, of Monroe, is the president of the company and very enthusiastic in re- gard to the matter. NEW MEXICO. One farmer in Mesilla valley is plant- ing 150 acres to tomatoes. The water company at Santa Fe is pre- paring its splendid farm lands near the government Indian school for a big acre- age of Kaffir corn and sugar beets. There was a snow-fall of unusal depth covering the Santa Fe section and north- ern New Mexico, about the middle of April, insuring full streams for irrigation and a prosperous season. Santa Fe is congratulating itself that a bill has passed the United States senate granting the Fort Marcy reserve to the American Invalid Aid Society to be used for purposes of a national sanitarium for pulmonary sufferers. The Santa Fe New Mexican is getting out an edition of 50,000 copies of a twenty page paper which will present the resources of the entire territory in a com- prehensive way. Cheap immigration lit- erature is in demand, and the publishers are promised a liberal patronage. M. W. Mills reports a heavy fruit crop on his large orchards in the Red River valley. He has been supplying pretty much all of northern New Mexico with fruit for a number of years and is reaping 256 THE IRRIGATION AGE. rich reward for his enterprise in setting orchards when nobody else had the cour- age. For several months very careful pros- pecting has been going on to discover all the resources available to justify the con- struction of the railway between El Paso and White Oaks. The work has been very thoroughly done under the direction of Mr. Chas. B. Eddy. From the fact that purchases are being made and options closed for coal mines at Salado, and from other indications, it is believed the results are satisfactory and that the road will be built. The contemplated International Dam at El Paso, Texas, which was referred to in our last issue, is causing some excitement among the residents of the Rio Grande Valley above El Paso, who are petitioning congress to consider the advisability of erecting the dam at some point higher up the river, whereby they, as well as the El Paso people, would be equally benefited. The matter will come before congress next session and is likely to attract considerable attention, not only to the International Dam itself, but also to the general question of government approprations for the erec- tion of dams for the purpose of reclaiming arid lands. More than 100 carloads of very fine cat- tle are being shipped out from the range south of Moab over the Bio Grande and Missouri Pacific roads. There is a pronounced movement in the Cache Valley in the direction of establish- ing dairies, and a packing house at Logan is also under discussion. The movement of stock cattle to Mon- tana and the Dakotas will be greater this year than ever before. At least 200 car- loads are to be moved from southern Utah to Butte. Shipments will commence about June 1. The Rio Grande Western is surveying a branch line from Provo to Park City, which it is expected will be built this year. In all parts of the state new enterprises are taking root, and railway extensions are incident to them. Among the bills passed near the close of the legislative session just closed was one providing for the organization of drainage districts. It is along the line of the irri- gation district laws of California, which have become so generally well known. The- last were, however, copied after the drain- age district laws of the same state, which had preceded them. WASHINGTON. The spring was very late. Yakima valley suffered by severe injury to the fruit buds by spring frosts. A new creamery is being established at Wenatchee, the first one in that region. Many new settlers are going into the Entiat valley. Work has commenced on the Entiat Company's ditch, and several hundreds of acres will be planted this year of the reclaimed land. Paul Schulze promises to rank among the embezzlers, as H. H. Holmes does among murderers. He had previously been credited with stealing $1,500,000 from the different enterprises with which he was associated, and now it appears that he got $600,000 more from a St. Paul syndicate. The Columbian Portage company is pro- posing to cut present railway rates in two- but asking those who will be benefited by the reduction to take stock in the enter- prise. It is wise to get the commitment before the building for the average citizen feels but little obligation to pay for that which he can get without. WYOMING. There have been distributed from the state hatchery at Laramie, 700,000 of brook and rainbow trout to different counties of the state. Seventy-five families are settling in the Jackson's Hole country this spring. About one hundred families went there last year and have been successful in cattle raising and farming. Three troops of cavalry are within reach affording protection against the Indians. Suit has been brought by Gibson Clark, U. S. district attorney, in the name of the United States, against the receivers of the Union Pacific Railway Company. Lands to the value of $1,000,000 are involved. It is claimed that the railroad company sold lands as under its grant to which it was not entitled. Two hundred settlers are joined as defendants, but the railway company PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 257 will defend the suit for all parties con- cerned. The state board of control is making provision for extensive surveys in all of the different irrigation districts of the state. Applications for leases were filled for about half a million acres of land. The state constitution adopts a minimum sale price of $10 an acre, which is above its market value. As it leases at from five to ten cents an acre it is altogether better to lease than buy. There were about 275,000 acres under the government grant of state lands still to be selected. When the total is se- lected and leased, the state will get an in- come from it of about $20,000 a year. GENERAL MINING NEWS. Under the new law in Utah the cost of incorporation papers is twenty-five cents on each $1,000 of capital stock. The old mine at Barnack, Montana, is being fitted up, and is to be started on ores from the mines of the camp. A Utah mining man has invented the Acme Gold Amalgamator which is being tested at the Carrington bar o.n the Snake river. Anaconda is to have ' a plant for the manufacture of sulphuric acid from the smelter smoke, for the present only for the company's own use. The Salt Lake Tribune has recently published a twenty-four page, 300,000 edi- tion, devoted to a detailed write-up of the prosperous Mercur camp. American mines are again attracting a good deal of attention in London. Promi- nent experts and South African miners are coming to America this spring. Superintendent Treweek, of the Mercur mine, says he is ready to increase the out- put of the bonanza to 1,000 tons a day any time the management provides for the handling of it. There are at present eleven smelters running in Colorado. All of them are now receiving twice the amount of ore they received last year, indicating that the out- put is doubled. The big copper plant that has been standing so long unfinished at Salt Lake City, because of factional fights among its owners, is to be completed and put in blast by June 1 to 15. While the DeLamar mine in the Mercur district, Utah, does not give out figures for publication, it is contended that it is producing more gold than any other single property in the country. While sinking a well for water at Cer- rillos, New Mexico, oil was struck at a depth of 110 feet. It was not in paying quantities, but the work is to be prose- cuted in the hope of making a rich strike. The Silverton Northern Railway is being constructed between Silverton and Mineral Point up the Animas valley, Colo. It will furnish shipping facilities for twenty gold- producing gulches, where there are many mines already in operation. The Trail Creek district of Washing- ton is coming to the front and will show a very heavy output before the close of the year. It is estimated that the average will not be less than 400 tons a day of $40 a ton ore, or $16,000 a day. Placer mining will be prosecuted in all of the states with great vigor the present season. New finds are being made and new methods of saving the gold, so that the output promises to be a large factor in the total gold production for the year. The Power Development Company in the Kern river valley, California, is ex- pected to practically dry the river bed in seasons of low water, and many mining locations have been made along the river- bed with a view to placer washing at such periods. It is known that there is plenty of gold in there yet. The most valuable single carload ship- ment of ore that has probably ever been made has recently been shipped from the Eureka Hill mine, Utah. Twelve and a half tons were valued approximately at $375,000, there being sufficient gold in it to bring it up nearly to coin value. It was the product of the mine for about three months. The district surrounding Baker City, Oregon, is becoming one of the important gold fields of the West, and development work is in progress there on a scale never before known. Capacity of mill and min- ing plants is being increased, new mills are being erected, additional men are 258 THE IRRIGATION AGE. being employed and there is generally a wholesome condition. The Mammoth Mining Company, of Utah, has recently struck a body of ore at the 800 foot level equal to that which gave the property its reputation in its palmiest days. Much of it yields as much as 100 ounces of gold to the ton, and the silver ore yields as high as 1,400 ounces. Twenty new stamps are being added to the mill, making a total of sixty. There are to be two cyanide plants con- structed in the Mercur district, one by the Mercur and the other by the DeLamar, each with a capacity of 500 tons per day. Other mills are being built in the same district. The process is one calling for a comparatively small outlay in the plant. The ore bodies are enormous, and although of low grade the cost of treatment is so small as to leave a handsome margin of profit. An article by Robert A. Kirker, pub- lished in the Grand Junction, Colorado, News, advocates the establishment in that locality of an Oberstein lapidary factory. He makes the broad statement, and chal- lenges contradiction, that there is in that locality a superior quality of raw products of agate, onyx, jasper, chalcedony, etc., more beautiful and in greater variety of "olor, without flaws or imperfections, than can be produced by any other lapidary lo- cality or manufacturing site now estab- lished in the old world or in America. His article is a very interesting one, and indicates a comprehensive knowledge of the industry. The cathode ray is finding its adapta- tion for a great variety of purposes. Re- cently some very interesting experiments were made in Oregon City, Oregon, by Dr. J. C. Ferry, a well-known physician there, and W. C. Cheney, superintendent of the Portland General Electric Com- pany. The rays were made to define the free gold in gold-bearing rock as plainly as if lying on the surface of the quartz. This is probably the forerunner to a gen- eral use of it in mining operations. If they go on improving it as they have for other purposes, it will not be long before we shall hear of it being used to explore the ground between tunnels and the sur- face above. BOOKS AND MAGAZINES. GLADSTONE, HALE, FARRAR, GUNSAULUS, ETC. No matter what the subject might be on which the men whose names are given above might write it would be of absorb- ing interest to the people. How much more would this interest be if the subjects on which they wrote were those to which these men had given the greatest con- sideration and the best thoughts of their minds. In " The People's Bible History," just issued by the Henry O. Shepard Company, of Chicago, the matured opin- ions of these men — of the most learned Biblical scholars in all portions of the globe — is concentrated. Of this book Bishop John H. Vincent says: " What Gladstone and Sayce have written ex- pressly for its pages, giving the latest re- sults of their largest knowledge, is enough to justify even the most cultivated people among us in the purchase of this admir- able book, and the English ex-premier and the eminent English archaeologist are only two out of eighteen specialists who have contributed to ' The People's Bible His- tory." The beauty and wealth of illus- tration and the exquisite presswork and typography of the book are worthy set- tings to the utterances of the great minds set forth in its pages. The popular edition of the book is to be had in cloth, half russia and full russia. Agents are wanted. An edition de luxe has also been brought out, containing 1,283 pages and 200 full-page illustrations and maps, and is said to be a masterpiece of modern bookmaking. "The Education of Women in Turkey" is the interesting theme of an article by Miss Mary Mills Patrick, President of the American College for Girls, Constanti- nople, whose educational work among the women of Turkey, extending over a num- ber of years, entitles her to write with authority on this question. Professor Thomas Davidson, who has just returned from a two-years' sojourn in Europe and the East, has written a highly interesting article for this number entitled "The Democratization of England," for the June Forum. An entirely new near view of Grant will be given in McClure's Magazine for June, in a paper written by the man who was chaplain of the Twenty-first Illinois when PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 259 Grant was colonel of the regiment, and who lived during that time in the closest intimacy with him. It reports interesting conversations with Grant and relates a number of characteristic anecdotes. In this number Elizabeth Stuart Phelps will have a paper of reminiscences of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was her neighbor and helpful friend in Andover, and of James T. Fields, her literary adviser and pub- lisher. The paper will be illustrated with some rare portraits and other pictures. With its rubricated initials, its fifty beautiful illustrations — of which six are in a rich photo-tint — its marginal decorations and interesting letter-press, the Land of Sunshine, of Los Angeles, California, is very much the most attractive number yet issued by that progressive magazine of the great Southwest. The romance and mys- tery and beauty of California, Arizona and New Mexico find in this handsome monthly such expression as they have never had before. Pictorially it is much ahead of anything else in the West; and it is made to be read as well as looked at. Its contents are crisp, competent, charac- teristic and always readable. The best writers in the West (and some -of the best in the East) are among its contributors. The second article on "The Trotting Horse," by Hamilton Busbey, in the June Scribner's, contains more remarkable illus- trations of great trotters. Among the most beautiful in this issue are Sunol, Azote, and Electioneer. The great stock farms of Stony Ford and Palo Alto are also described and illustrated. The wombat is a little animal resem- bling in appearance a small bear, with short legs, a broad, flat back, and very short tail. It eats grass and other vegetable matters and is a harmless little creature, shy and gentle in its habits, though it can bite if very much provoked. In the May "Chatterbox" there is a story of a farmer who had a wombat for a pet; he took it a long way into the forest in order to get rid of it, but twice the little animal returned, having found its way without help to its adopted home. The third time the farmer conveyed it across a deep and broad river, and as the wombat cannot swim, he felt sure he had gotten rid of the persistent pet; but no! the little creature soon found a huge fallen tree, which lay half across the stream, and crawling to the extreme end, sat wistfully gazing at the departed farmer. So touched was the man that he paddled back again, took his fat little passenger on board, and carried it home, much to the delight of the children. [ESTES & LAURIAT, publishers, 196 Summer street, Boston, Mass., fifty cents a year or three months for ten cents.] A COLORADO RANCH. The Wallace Ranch in Colorado is eight miles east of De Beque on the south side of the Grand river. It consists of 480 acres all in a fine state of cultivation, watered by a mountain stream which fur- nishes abundance of water for irrigation. This stream has its source on the high table mountain known as Battlement Mesa. The top and sides of the mountain are covered with grass and timber. The grass of which there seems an almost un- limited supply is used for the pasturing of domestic cattle, and the timber furnishes shelter for plenty of large game such as elk and deer. From the top of a near by mountain can be seen toward the east the snow-covered peaks around Gunnison and Aspen, while to the southwest can be seen the LaSalle and Henry mountains in Utah. This ranch is just at the gateway where the creek has forced its way through the mountains and out on to the level mesas, where there is fine farming land only waiting the magic touch of water and cul- tivation to blossom and bring forth abun- dant harvests. The best method to grow corn in one locality may not be the best in another. Careful study must be given to the local conditions. For this as well as for almost everything else the farmer has to do, it is necessary to give careful thought. It takes less time to keep the chickens and stock healthy by preventing the sickness than to cure it, and costs less, too. A fresh cow in lambing time will beat a creamery for profit. — Dakota Farmer. Weeds are robbers of plant life. Ex- terminate them. ^\ir \iAb\is\isViAir\4s\Js\iAir \lrtb\4s ViAis^ | i MANUFACTURES AND TRADE FOREIGN COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. From official sources we collect the fol- lowing statistics showing the volume of our foreign commerce for a series of years: Exports. 1889 $ 742,401,375 1890 857,828,684 1891 884,480,810 1892 1,030.278,148 1893 847,665,194 18!>4 892.140,572 1895 808,059,419 Total Imports. Commerce. $745,131,052 $1.487,533,027 789,310,409 1,647,139,093 844,916,190 1,729,397,000 827,402,462 1,857,680,610 866,400,922 1,714,066.116 654,994,622 1,547,135,195 743,742,849 1,551,802,259 The figures given are for the fiscal years ending with June 30, and it will be seen that our foreign commerce attained high water mark during the year ending with June, 1892. A change of tariff schedules has taken place during the time under review, and a violent convulsion in the financial world has also occurred; yet all causes combined have not so very seri- ously crippled our foreign trade, as the above figures will testify. The ultimate effects of recent tariff legislation cannot yet be foreseen, but they are almost cer- tain to increase the imports if they do not diminish the exports. SOUTH AFRICAN MINING IN A NUTSHELL. Probably not since the days of John Law and his celebrated "Mississippi Scheme," has the general public of Eng- land and France especially, gone into wilder or more hopelessly reckless specu- lation. The mining stocks of the Johannesberg region in Southi Africa formed the basis of innumerable wildcat concerns which have drained dry the stock markets of both England and France. Beyond a certain point, however, sensible people who stop to think a bit, know the whole business to be insane folly. Any- one reading the following figures from the London Statist, reprinted here from Brad- street's of recent date, can see at a glance how hopeless is the prospect of dividends from West Kaffir mining shares: "At the end of 1893 the capitalization of the Witwatersrandt mines, on the basis of the market price of the shares, was about £17,500,000, the return in dividends £1,- 000,000. At the end of 1894 the capi- 260 talization was about. £55,000,000, aud the return in dividends about £1,500,000. The present capitalization of the whole of the mining companies having their field of operations in South Africa cannot be' far short of £300,000,000, while the actual dividends for 1895 were not more than £2,500,000." Certainly, dividends of only five-sixths of one per cent, should not be very enticing to investors, even in these days of low interest. SOMETHING ABOUT BANANAS. It is believed by many lovers of bananas that if they could only eat the fruit di- rectly from the plant they would find it incomparably more delicious. This is an error. Even on the plantations where grown, bananas are never allowed to ripen on the stalk. Like our pears, the banana is much better if taken from the stalk when mature, but not ripe, and allowed to ripen elsewhere. The banana stalk bears but one bunch of fruit, and is always cut down in harvesting that bunch. " Suck- ers " continually spring up from the roots of the banana, hence the crop goes on, one sucker after another coming up to bear its bunch of fruit after those preceding it have been cut down in the process of har- vesting. The main sources of supply for bananas coming to the United States are Jamaica and the eastern coast of Central America. From Port Limon, in Costa Rica, a good many thousand fine bunches come in every year, and also from the region of Bluefield and the Escondido river, in Nicaragua. But the largest ship- ments are from Jamaica. For the year 1894 the value of bananas imported was $4,960,747; and for 1893 it was $5,386,- 029. FREE ENTRY OF FOREIGN FRUIT BOXES MADE OF AMERICAN MATERIAL. Everything seems to be interpreted in favor of the foreigner when it comes to the construction of our present tariff law. Not long since the Board of Appraisers at New York, who knocked the duty off Grecian currants recently, made the fol- MANUFACTURES AND TRADE. 261 lowing ruling regarding foreign orange, lemon and lime boxes made of American shooks: " In view of this doubt as to the proper construction of the law, the rule would ob- tain, as often announced by the Supreme court, that the benefit of the doubt should be resolved against the government and given to the importers. This would au- thorize the conclusion that imported orange boxes, which are made entirely of Ameri- can shooks, previously exported filled or empty, would be free of duty under said paragraph 387. "This construction we accordingly place upon the law, and, in harmony with such interpretation, we modify decision in re Haynes, G. A. 2855, sustain the protests and reverse the collector's decision in each case, with instructions to reliquidate the entries accordingly. " The effect of this ruling will be to lower the duty on foreign citrus fruits a few cents a box, thus still further cutting into the American producers of these fruits. Perhaps the day may come when we shall have a tariff law specially favoring Ameri- can producers as against foreigners. At present the latter appear to have things very much their own way. COTTON SPINNING IN JAPAN. Statistics published recently by the government of the United States show that in 1887 only 19 cotton spinning fac- tories with 70,220 spiadles were to be found at Kobi, Osaka and vicinity; while in 1893 there were 40 establishments num- bering 381,781 spindles, and producing 87,667,324 pounds of cotton yarn. In 1894 the output was 90, 000,000 pounds. In February, 1 895, there were 47 cotton spin- ning establishments, with 492,979 spin- dles and the number is liable to be greatly augmented in the near future. Up to 1894, the value of spinning machinery for cotton and silk imported into Japan was $1,445,000. It is of interest to note that in Japan, male cotton spinners receive but 8 cents a day while female operatives get but 5 cents a day. Some day our own spinners as well as those of Great Britain will have to compete with the 5-cent spin- ners of Japan. The wettest place in the world is Cherra- pongee, in India, the annual average rain- fall there being 610 inches. In 1861, the downpour at that point reached the mar- velous figure of 905 inches. The average annual rainfall for the globe is 36 inches, and the mean annual temperature is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The hottest city in the world is Cal- cutta, India, where the mean annual tem- perature is 82.4; the coldest inhabited place is Tobolsk, Russia, with a mean an- nual temperature of 32. The average temperature of St. Petersburg is 39.6, and of Moscow, 40. The line of perpetual snow under the equator is 15,260 feet above the level of the sea. In latitude 70 it is but 1,278 feet above sea. In spite of the fact that we hear con- tinually that Australia is overrun by rab- bits, they are quoted in the Melbourne market at 24 cents per pair, and hares range from 24 cents to 36 cents each. These prices are quoted by United States Consul Maratta. Consul Germain, at Zurich, Switzerland, reports to the State Department that the female operatives in the knitted under- wear factories in Switzerland get an aver- age of 29 cents per day. He visited a factory employing about 500 girls and women at these wages, and was informed by the proprietor that each of them had an account in the savings bank. Large amounts of this underwear are imported into the United States from Switzerland. Mulhall, the great English statistician, alleges that at the death of Augustus Csesar. the population of the earth was but 54,000,000. That of Europe before the fifteenth century did not exceed 50,- 000,000. The world's population is now estimated at 1,479, 729,400, that of Europe being 357,379,000. The Royal Geographical Society of England gives the earth's area at 196,- 971,984 square miles, and its cubical con- tents at 259,944,035,515 cubic miles. One- quarter of all the people born upon the earth die before reaching the age of six years; one-half before reaching the age of 16, and only about one person in each 100 born lives to the age of 65. H. C. Welty, of Topeka, Kansas, one of the most prominent well-drillers in the State is an advocate of irrigation by means of wells and pumps and wherever possible by artesian supply. Mr. Welty was the organizer and moving spirit in the Well- drillers' convention last year. ^\\Js \jU\iU \4s\fr \is\is vis \4sVls\is \is\is\Js \is^ 1 TOPICS OF THE TIME Mutual There are no two classes in the Interests, community whose interests are so intimately woven together as the manu- facturer and the farmer. The one cannot prosper without the other does. That the farmer has suffered out of proportion with other classes during the past few years any one who has given study to the matter is compelled to admit. At present prices for farm products the return for the farmer's labor is rarely enough to pro- vide the absolute necessities for his family. Opinions may differ as to the cause of low prices, but the farmer of the west be- lieves it is largely due to the manipula- tions of the world's financial markets, by which silver has been depreciated in price relative to gold. So long as the surplus of farm products seeks a foreign market, the price of that surplus in great measure regulates the price of the entire product. If we sell our silver bullion as a commod- ity for half its former price, and it can still be used as money to buy farm prod- ucts in other countries in the same quantity as at its former price, it goes without saying that our farmers must compete with those products and must, therefore, accept half price for what they raise. It will not help the manu- facturer very much to give him any measure of protection by tariff unless at the same time the great mass of his cus- tomers are put in a position to purchase and consume his wares. The principle of protection is not one that should have simply a local application. Every in- dustry should have its due recognition, and where there is such pronounced mutual dependence there should be equal- ly a mutual help, in behalf of such leg- islation as will promote the interests of all. Official It is a highly commendable Reports. work tuat gtate engineer Mills is undertaking to do for Idaho. He has sent out over the state hundreds of cir- cular letters accompanied by blank forms to be filled out by the parties addressed. The information so obtained will be com- piled as official agricultural statistics of the state. Heretofore there has been no advertising of the state's resources except by persons interested in colonization. A detailed statement of facts is expected to show that the average yield of nearly all kinds of farm products, in all parts of the state, is much in excess of the average yield for the United States, and coming from a state office it will have much greater weight of authority. Emigrant The number of emigrarits- Movement. who arrived in this country in 1892 was 623,684. It gradually de- creased until 1895 when it was only 279,- 948. In February of this year the in- crease began and since then the people have been pouring in at such a rate that Colonel Stumpf, commissioner of immigra- tion at Washington, prophesies that the number this spring will equal, if it does not exceed the record of any previous year. There is also a very heavy movement from east to west, and the movement which has been anticipated for the past tw'o years, as the logical result of the business de- pression, promises to reach the full tide during the present year. Lands are The United States Supreme Taxable. Court has confirmed a decis- ion by the state courts of Nevada holding that the state is entitled to levy taxes upon patented lands, and also for lands which have not yet been patented, but which had not been surveyed, and on which the cost of surveying had not yet been paid. It holds that if the railroads have a possessory claim to the lands they are taxable under the statutes of Nevada. Educational The first thing asked and Agencies. obtained of the state legislature of Utah, in the farming inter- est, was an appropriation of $1,500 for the support of farmers' institutes. It may be difficult to determine which is most valuable, the agricultural experiment stations, fostered and aided by the govern- ment, or the institutes which are a state TOPICS OF THE TIME. 263 institution, and there is certainly no oc- casion for rivalries. Both are doing splendid work and in thoroughly practical •ways. Money spent for either will bring prompt and large return in developing to best advantage the vast agricultural re- sources of the state. Ouick The orange trees which were Recovery. cut down by tbe frost in Florida are making a wonderful growth of wood and the trees will bear a fair crop in two years, instead of losing five as was at first expected. Such rapid growing wood, will, however, be more sus- ceptible to similar injury than the old wood of slower and sturdier growth. Delayed It has been for some time ex- Uecision. pected that a decision was to be rendered in the United States Supreme Court as to the constitutionality of the Wright irrigation act, and the validity of bonds issued under it. Intimations have been given from some source that the court will uphold the act, and it is stated that a New York capitalist has been buy- ing up the bonds at low prices, with the expectation of course that they will ad- vance in value. A decision upon this question involves a very large aggregate amount, and it would be deplorable if a decision should be so long withheld after the arguments had been made, and at the same time there should be a leak which would justify such a speculation. It is to be hoped that the man is only a good guesser. Important The Caldwell Tribune says Decision. of a recent decision handed down by Judge Richards, of an Idaho district court: " This decision goes specifically to the question of perpetual rights and while it does not inhibit the sale or purchase of them it amounts to practically the same thing by holding that canal companies must supply water to settlers, at reason- able rates, without perpetual rights, when there is surplus water in the canals. In other words, according to the decision, the canals are common carriers just the same as railroads and the public is not obliged to pay a royalty for the right to engage their services. If the supreme court sustain the district court, which we think it will, one of the worst evils in con- nection with the commercial irrigation system will have been done away with. The canal companies then will not be privileged to say, we will furnish water Tinder such conditions as suit our pur- poses, but they will be obliged to furnish water under such fair and equitable regu- lations as the courts may determine. If this is the law, the question occurs, has it not been the law ever since the adoption of the state constitution ? If it has, may it not open an interesting question on the subject of desert lands? After a canal has been constructed for the purpose of supplying a body of unoccupied public lands, does not that tract cease to be desert land except as to the particular person or persons who constructed the canal ? Has the general public right of desert entry when it can be shown that the land is under water which may easily be diverted? It seems to us that under the decision of the land department in the case of the People's company against the American Falls company there might be serious question on this point. How- ever, the water question is gradually work- ing itself out in correct lines and it will soon be numbered among the things that no longer harass and retard development of this magnificent section of the great west." A Sure Chauncey Depew talks on Prevention. many and varied subjects and generally talks well. His tongue often runs very smoothly with its flattery, and he seems to have given it full play during his recent Pacific Coast trip. In Southern California he said: "Here is a country destined to drive Italy and the world out of oranges, olives, prunes and wines. Here is a land that will rejuvenate the worn out pilgrim from the far east, and more. Heretofore there has been one dread disease from which no rank or condition has been exempt, but by your seedless Navel oranges you have robbed the race of the terrors of appen- dicitis." Consolidated Gradually the fruit grow- Salesrooms. ers of California are im- proving their market facilities. Between a monopolistic railway which has de- manded all the traffic will bear and the 264 THE IRRIGATION AGE. combinations of the packers, who have not been bashful in making their demands, the fruit growers have been producing the fruit just for the fun of the thing, as it were. But the natural law of self- preservation is asserting itself, and by fruit exchanges and other organizations the growers are getting together and are taking the reins in their own hands. They are packing their own fruits and shipping it to their own agencies in the principal cities, and are establishing a market for their well -protected brands. Recently there has been a movement to hold auction sales in three separate rooms at the same time in the Chicago market, thereby dividing the buyers into small groups, restricting competition and hold- ing prices down in the interest of the local purchasers. The Sacramento Fruit Grower's convention appointed a commit- tee of the leading growers to consider the matter — H. Weinstock, of Sacramento ; Joseph Martin, H. A. Fairbanks and Wm. Johnston, of Courtland; A. T. Hatch, of Suisun; R. D. Stevens, of Sacramento; and Frank H. Buck of Vacaville. They decided unauimously that consolidated auction salesrooms should be established at all the eastern markets, to bring buyers under one roof and stimulate competition. Security The Senate committee on Authorized. lauds reported an amendment to the sundry civil bill by which a basis of security is established, through the state governments, for money expended in reclaiming lands under the Carey law, by issuing patents and authorizing liens upon the land. It may be said here that there seems to be a willingness on the part of congress to adopt any reasonable measure which will assist the reclamation of the lands for which that law was intended, and it is being amended so as to make its execution less difficult. The Country Senator Cannon, of Utah, in has introduced a resolu- Miniature tion in the senate provid- ing for the creation at the national capital of a physical map, which will be two-thirds of a mile long and of a width in due proportion. It is to be laid out on the ground, reproducing every physical feature of the country, including every lake, river, hamlet, city, railroad and canal, mountain and plain, in miniature, on a scale of a foot square to the square mile. If it can be carried out our national legislators can get a better appre- ciation of the relative size and importance of the states than most of them possess. It is doubtful, however, whether the eastern people will be willing to make the contrasts so conspicuous. Planting The State of Michigan has Trees. furnished a large share of the lumber used in the construction of farm buildings and fences in the prairie states east of the Mississippi, and is just now beginning to realize that there ought to have been more trees planted as the grown forests have been cut away. Gov- ernor Rich issued a proclamation urging that every person in the state should plant at least one tree on May 1st, if it was at all practicable, and that the public schools make observance of "arbor day." He also pointed out the desirability of pre- serving shade trees along the public roads. It is better the harm be remedied by action .in the future than not at all, but foresight which would have prompted it many years ago would have been most commendable. Object If every fruit grower who de- Lessons. peucj8 on shipments of his products to the great city markets could follow his consignment and note the treatment it gets from the transportation companies, or their employees, it would impress upon his mind the necessity for careful packing to prevent injury by rough handling and neglect at transfer points. If then he would go into the market houses — the commission houses — and see the pressure under which sales must be made and the stuff handled, and how large a proportion of that which reaches the market is in a damaged, and sometimes in really unsalable condition, it would probably be the best investment he could make in connection with his business, both of time and money. There is always demand for good fruit in good condition, but if it is of inferior quality and is badly packed, and consequently in bad condition when it arrives, it is far better to keep it at home and feed it to the pigs. f POINTS FOR PRACTICAL IRRIGATORS SAND IN IRRIGATING DITCHES. A correspondent writes for some infor- mation upon the best method of prevent- ing a main irrigating ditch from being filled up with the sand and silt that is present in nearly all the streams to a greater or less extent, especially during the winter season. There are two ways of doing this: By watching the flow of any stream it will be seen that the greater portion of the sand, and that which will cause the most dam- age if allowed to get into the ditch, is carried at the bottom of the stream in a mass which moves with less rapidity than the water over it. To prevent this mov- ing mass from entering the head of the ditch the headgate should be arranged so that the bottom boards are considerably higher than the bottom of the stream. Planking should be put in perpendicularly across the gate, against which the sand flow will strike. Of course if there is no outlet the sand will quickly accumulate so as to clog the gate. To obviate this diffi- culty, at one side of the gate put in a waste weir having its base lower than the base of the headgate. Then arrange the gate in the weir at a height just sufficient to allow the sand to be carried away and not permit more water to escape than is necessary to carry the sand. Of course it will be necessary to give the waste weir plenty of fall before its discharge,else it too will clog up. When an unusual amount of sand is carried into the stream by reason of a storm it is desir- able to shut down the headgate entirely until the most of the sand flow is over. But this cannot always be done. Another way to keep a ditch clear that has a good fall is to put in waste weirs and gates at regular intervals. Then if the ditch begins to clog up, shut down the first gate, open the weir and let the current scour out the ditch. When the first section is cleaned, open the gate and close the next one, and so on until the ditch is all worked out. This plan is in use in Arizona and proved very effective. But 'the best way is, if possible, to pre- vent the sand from accumulating in the ditch, and this can be largely done by the method outlined. MACHINERY FOR IRRIGATING AND DRAINAGE CANAL. The accompanying cut illustrates a 1 1-4 Ditching Dredge manufactured by the Marion Steam Shovel Company of Marion, O. This company makes a specialty of Dredges, Ditchers and Steam Shovels. Their attention is exclusively given to this line. Their plant covers 11^ acres of ground, and is equipped with everything in the way of modern ma- chinery that will cheapen, or better the production. Their power is electricity which is generated in the power house and transmitted to the different depart- ments in each of which is a suitable motor. There is an interesting history con- nected with the work on which the Dredge illustrated was used; it was used on the Mesa Canal in Arizona. This canal is part of a system of canals that modern engineers claim was first made by a pre- historic race; they also claim that the system was so nearly perfect in all its details that modern engineers have been able to improve on it only in a few in- stances. When, and by whom it was 265 266 THE IRRIGATION AGE. constructed, there is no record. Many parts of this system were nearly or quite filled up; but, when cleaned out, the old channel could be plainly traced. In deepening and widening this system of canals, very hard material was encount- ered — much of it being shale rock, and cemented gravel. Many large boulders were found that had to be removed with the dredge. At the point where photo- graph shown, was taken, the material was hard cemented gravel. The Marion Steam Shovel Company sold a little later on to the same company a very large dredge, cap'able of depositing the material at a distance of about seventy- five feet from center of machine. This made the equipment of this canal company com- plete, as they could construct new exten- sions, or clean out the old channels, be they either large or small, with machinery. It is a fact no longer disputed, that canals are much better when constructed by machinery, than when constructed by old-time methods, for the reason that they do not require so much slope and conse- quently there is not as much room for grass, weeds, or bushes to accumulate along the banks and obstruct the flow of the water. A large per cent can also be saved on the cost of construction by the use of suitable machinery. also secured a contract in Paris from the New Panama Canal company for seven cableways which were shipped April 30, to Panama. LIDGERWOOD CABLEWAYS. Spencer Miller, engineer of the Cable- way department of the Lidgerwood Manu- facturing Company, New York City, has returned from a four-months' visit to Europe much improved in health and bringing with him all the American rights under the patents of the Temperley Trans- porter which the Lidgerwood Company will immediately place upon the market. The Transporter is a hoisting and con- veying device employing a suspended beam as a trackway. The chief points in its favor are simplicity in operation, low cost and extreme flexibility. No skill whatever is required to operate this apparatus. About 300 transporters have already been made and the device has therefore passed through its experimental stage. The British Admiralty have adopted the Temperley Transporter for coaling battleships, having recently purchased nearly one hundred of them. Mr. Miller COMMON SENSE IN ADVERTISING- The advertiser who goes around seeking avenues for announcing his wares to the world, unless well grounded in the basic principles of the art, is apt to be most gloriously fooled. He will soon find him- self and money parting company. If he looks only to quantity in advertising, his separation will come all the quicker. It is a comparatively easy matter to place advertising on the quantity principle, all that is required is the ability to add figures and compare statements. But it is quite a different matter to decide on advertising lines on the standard of quality. There are mediums having a very limited circulation which are to be preferred by a thousand per cent, to those claiming a great distribution of copies, rates being equal. Character of the pub- lishers ' and reading matter, size and distribution of a subscription list, uni- formity of rates and general business methods have much to do with an intelli- gent selection of an advertising medium. Then, sad to relate, publishers have little tricks which deceive the advertiser, mak- ing him believe he is getting ''results," when he is simply answering letters from "stool pigeons" placed in different sections of the country to incite the unsuspecting advertiser into the belief that he is having great " returns." That species of wickedness cannot be laid at our door. — Am. Investments. POINTS. Even in Dakota irrigation doubles the grain crop, and it pays to sink artesian wells to get the water supply. Where plants do not grow set new ones in their places at once. Missing hills don't pay. There is no reason why a farmer should not have something for sale every week in the year. It is alleged by "Hardware" that a bronze or copper wire rope half an inch in diameter and over 20 feet long was re- cently unearthed from the ruins of Pom- peii where it was buried nearly 1900 years ago.