THE MINNESOTA 
HORTICULTURIST. 
VOL. 23 MARCH, 1895. | NO. 2. 
[ rrigation. 
POSSIBILITIES OF IRRIGATION IN MINNESOTA. 
D. R. M’GINNIS, SEC’Y COMMERCIAL CLUB, ST. PAUL. 
Before beginning my subject,I want to express the pleasure which I 
feel at seeing the faces of so many of my old friends whom I met with 
when I attended the meetings of the Horticultural Society in 1885 
and 1886, and I am very happy to meet with you again. I have read 
your reports, but it has not been my privilege to meet with you 
again until this time. I feel that possibly I have something to say 
to you of interest this morning. For the past\seven or eight years 
my business has taken me to the semi-arid and desert regions of the 
United States, comprising almost fifty per cent. of the number of 
square miles in the United States. My experience and observation 
in a desert where there was a rainfall of only seven inches a year 
brought to my mind the possibilities of irrigation and the profits of 
irrigation ifapplied in our own state. I have been impressed, if I may 
be permitted to say so, by the remarkable lack of knowledge on this 
subject in the portion of the United States where they usually have 
rainfall sufficient to mature crops without irrigation. Ata rough 
estimate seventy-five per cent. of the crops of the world are raised 
by irrigation, the remaining twenty-five per cent. by relying on the 
rainfall. It happens we live in a country where the rainfall is suf- 
ficient to raise crops sonie years. To all intents and purposes we 
lived in a desert last year. 
What I want to speak to you about this morning is the practical 
application of irrigation to our conditions here. Irrigation means 
absolute certainty in raising crops. Suppose you could raise the 
largest crop possible every year, and the first in quality. There 
is not a man looking at me in this room, but has lost, if’he is in 
the agricultural business, heavily from drouth. Think of it, 
friends. Am I right or not? But, irrigation, like anything else 
requires some knowledge to apply it and get its best benefits. 
There can be short crops with irrigation as well as where rain- 
fall is relied upon; but it is not an abstruse or difficult thing to 
do, if certain principles are followed. My observation and experi- 
ence in irrigation is that when you irrigate, the way to irrigate every 
time you wish to irrigate is to cultivate instead. Now, I mean that 
