THE MONTHLY BULLETIN". 



167 



cne season's work the conclusion of those who have from the first main- 

 tained, after nnmerons analyses of the drainage water, that the drainage 

 water here is entirely satisfactory for irrigation. Starting in 1908 with 

 iorty acres and a debt of $1,800, this farmer, by applying knowledge he 

 had gained through his connection with the Baker and Dore experi- 

 ments, has in less than five years cleared his debt, built one barn and 

 repaired another, and maintained a family of seven children from the 

 profits of land that before drainage had an approximate value, as esti- 

 mated by a conservative Fresno banker, of about $50 per acre. Of the 

 land drained by the co-operating neighbor, sixteen acres of alfalfa 

 seeded in 1910 yielded an estimated 100 tons in 1911 and an estimated 

 112 tons in 1912. A near-by twenty acres which is underlain with tile, 

 but from which no water has been pumped for three years, is in salt and 

 Bermuda grasses, yielding at the most seven or eight months of pasture 

 at the rate of about two acres per cow. 



Conclusions. 

 There lies in the general neighborhood of Fresno, as determined by 

 surveys and studies of the Department of Agriculture, something like 

 200,000 acres of land now needing or coming to need drainage. In one 

 form or another the story has many times been told of the well-kept 

 avenues lined with beautiful shade trees which lead out from this city 

 to the districts in wliich only dead stumps and Bermuda and salt grass 

 pastures mark the places where valuable orchards and vineyards once 

 flourished. Whether the former value of these orchards and vineyards 

 was $350 per acre, as has been estimated by some writers, or only $200 

 per acre, as was yesterday estimated by a Fresno banker who has lived 

 here many years, the social and economic changes that have come to the 

 most badly affected districts are clearly evident. Whether these seeped' 

 lands, undrained and in pasture, are worth over $100 per acre, as some 

 of the owners claim, or only $50 per acre, which is the highest price one 

 conservative investor says he is willing to pay, it is plain that this fine 

 city of Fresno could not long prosper if the surrounding farmers 

 obtained no higher returns than can come from salt and Bermuda 

 grasses. It is true that at the recent prices of raisins, many vineyards 

 may face a loss on a season's operations, but what of the Bermuda grass 

 grower when butter fat gets back, say, to 20 cents a pound? With the 

 gross profits from such a price, how many pianos and automobiles can 

 the Bermuda and salt grass dairyman buy after paying for the alfalfa 

 his herd needs when there is no feed in the pasture? Nor is the ques- 

 tion of drainage of interest only to the dairyman. How long can the 

 real estate of Fresno City maintain its present high value, how long can 

 there be fine libraries and fine stores here, how long can the county 

 continue to hold its reputation for wealth and productiveness if the old 

 landmarks among the farms shall permanently give way to the leaning 

 gatepost and the decaying buildings of the alkali-affected districts? 

 it is true that large areas about Fresno are not as badly affected as the 

 section in which experiments have been made, and are producing 



