THE MINNESOTA 



HORTICULTURIST. 



VOL. 22 MARCH, 1894. NO. 2 



IRRIGATION APPLIED TO MINNESOTA. 



A. \V. SIAS, PUEBIvO, COL 



Through the well known kindness of your honorable secretary 

 permission is given me to prove how little I know concerning' that 

 great "motive power" to western civilization, irrigation. Thirty 

 years residence within the rain belt of Minnesota, and only three 

 j-ears in drj' Colorado, has failed to prepare us for an intelligent 

 discussion of this important subject. 



Irrigation thus far in Colorado has been too largelj" superin- 

 tended by tyros, or "tender-foots," with little experience (like 

 mj^self); this, together with cheap ditches that failed to bring water 

 when most needed, accounts for many failures. But when you 

 find an intelligent man here — as I did last November at Canon 

 City in the person of W. B. Felton, who has mastered the true 

 science or principles of irrigation — then 5-ou may be able to get 

 soine suggestions in regard to the advantages of a perfect control 

 of water during an unusually dry season (for this drj- section], and 

 coinpare the result with the more"chance-like" system of operations 

 in a similar drj- season anywhere within the rain belt of Minnesota. 

 I append here Mr. Felton's own statement — proceeds from nine 

 acres. 



"Good as a Gold Mixe.— W. B. Felton has kindly furnished us 



with the following figures relative to the receipts and expenditures 



of his orchard in South Canon for the year 1893. All of this crop 



was harvested and sold before November 1st: 



Strawberries $77.79 



Cherries 33.05 



Currants 4 45 



Gooseberries 8.50 



Raspberries 9.25 



Peaciies 58.31 



Plums 6 00 



Grapes 222.06 



Pears 174.19 



Melons 28.08 



Early apples 160.86 



Late apples .-. 5.777.59 



Total f6.5l5.13 



"The expenses for the year were $1,535.87, leaving a net profit of $5,- 

 019.26. When we consider that less than nine acres are under cultiva- 

 tion, five of which are planted to winter apples, and, also, that outside 

 the apple crop everj-thing else was a short crop, the product was 

 something remarkable and not equalled within the state, we believe. 



