EDITORIAL. 111. 



laterals. These rotations are worked out with a system not approached 

 an3"where in the United States outside of Utah, and a few ditches in 

 southern California. In one instance the turn of a farmer was only 

 one hour each week. It began at 7 o'clock Monday morning and ended 

 at 8 o'clock. That was his single "rain" in seven da3^s which could 

 be absolutely relied upon. The farmer paid about $6 a year for the 

 watering of each acre. In looking over the accounts of one associa- 

 tion the largest annual pa3arient by any farmer for water was found to 

 be about $1,200 and the smallest •! cents. 



The Government exercises absolute control over the public streams 

 and regulates the amounts each canal may divert. Parties wishing to 

 build new canals must obtain the Government's consent. No perpetual 

 rights to water are now granted. Appropriations are treated as fran- 

 chises and their life is limited to thirty 3 ears. On the other hand, 

 the Government is liberal in its treatment of meritorious projects, fre- 

 quently extending aid by pa3'ing the interest on bonds issued to secure 

 funds to build canals, the usual plan being to pa3^ 3 per cent for the 

 first ten years, 2 per cent for the second ten years, and 1 per cent for 

 the third ten 3"ears, so that the interest pa3aiients b3" the Government 

 end with the expiration of the water right. When the right expires 

 it ma3^ be renewed just as franchises are renewed in this country. 



In man3" sections of Ital3" canal companies have experienced the 

 same losses and farmers suffered the same injur3^ from seepage as are 

 met with in this countr3". In some instances canals have had to be 

 cemented for their entire length. Drainage has also had to follow 

 canal building, as the seepage water fills the farmers' fields and the 

 cellars of houses in towns. In recent years the granting of rights to 

 build canals is f requentl3' conditioned on the canal compan3^ construct- 

 ing, along with its irrigation works, a complete S3'^stem of drains to 

 carr3^ off the surplus water. In some districts drainage works have 

 been built under an agreement whereb3^ the canal compan3" pays 60 

 per cent of the cost of drains and receives the water the3' collect, the 

 farmers pay 20 per cent, and the municipality the remaining 20 per 

 cent. 



Mr. Mead believes that irrigation is certain to bo a large factor in 

 increasing the production of farms in the humid parts of the United 

 States, especiall3^ in those sections of the countr3^ where streams have 

 fall enough to permit water to be distributed b3" gravit3", and in the 

 Southern States where the long hot seasons will make the ability to 

 suppl3" water when needed of great value to farmers. Irrigation is 

 not for the arid West alone. The conditions which make it pa3" in 

 Europe exist here in equal measure, and with increasing population 

 and higher land values canal building will become as important along 

 both slopes of the Alleghenies as it now is along the southern and 

 western slopes of the Alps. 



