TALKS WITH PRACTICAL IERIGATORS. 



37 



THE MIDWINTER FAIR. 



The Pacific coast region is fully aroused to the 

 great advantages to accrue from a grand exhibition of 

 its resources at the Midwinter Fair, to be opened at 

 San Francisco in January, and to continue until July. 

 The magnitude of the enterpi'ise long since assumed 

 proportions beyond the original conception of its pro- 

 moters, and it continues to expand in a manner quite 

 surprising even to those who have the fullest faith in 

 the ability of that sunset realm to achieve wonders 

 when fully awake to the importance of the event. 



While making no pretense to equal, or even nearly 

 approach, in magnificence, the great exposition just 

 closed at Chicago, yet it will certainly rank high as an 

 exposition, either national or international. The first 

 spadeful of earth was turned on August 24th, and by 

 the time these lines appear in print there will be 

 ready for occupancy, by the manifold exhibits, some 

 of the largest and finest buildings ever erected for 

 such purposes in this country outside of Chicago. 



Over thirty different nationalities will have exten- 

 sive and characteristic exhibits, and the number of 

 buildings will exceed seventy. The principal struct- 

 ures are those of agriculture and horticulture, manu- 

 factures and mechanic arts and the fine arts, each of 

 great size and of pleasing architectural design. 



The site of the Fair, as many readers of THE AGE 

 are aware, is in Golden Gate Park, a short distance 

 from the heart of San Francisco, and within view of 

 the broad Pacific Ocean and the Golden Gate. To 

 those of the farther West who missed the great occa- 

 sion of the century the Chicago World's Fair the 

 California exposition will afford the next best oppor- 

 tunity to witness a great aggregation of the world's 

 wonders on this continent. A vast number of the most 

 attractive exhibits at the Chicago Fair have been 

 transferred to the Pacific shore and are now being 

 installed, flanked by the best that can be produced in 

 the wonderful region which to-day stands as a partial 

 fulfillment at least of the ultimate dream of irrigation. 

 It may be truthfully said that the achievements which 

 have made the California Fair a possibility would not, 

 and could not, have been wrought in that compara- 

 tively new and undeveloped region of our country, 

 save through the successes reached by the develop- 

 ment and practical application of irrigation as a prime 

 factor in the cultivation of the soil. 



While the State of California yields some. $12,000,000 

 to $15,000,000 in gold, annually, from her mountains 

 and river beds, yet the golden shower which falls most 

 copiously upon her people, comes as the leaping cata- 

 ract from the mountain heights, which, when directed 

 upon the broad mesas and smiling valleys below, by 

 its magic touch transmutes all the gold. Let the prod- 

 ucts of their mines be what they may, it is to their 

 soil, legitimately and happily wedded to the mountain 



waters, that a great part of the coast and mountain 

 States must look for that wondrous development which 

 future years are certain to witness throughout the arid 

 belt, from Texas to North Dakota, and from Kansas to 

 the Golden Gate. 



The great enterprise which is now so auspiciously 

 culminating at San Francisco will be found to be, after 

 all, but a pioneer, pointing the way to still greater 

 achievements in the near future and beckoning the 

 arid mountain States to follow her in the grand march 

 of progress toward the setting sun. 



What California has achieved is possible in other 

 States and Territories, and the first half of the next 

 century will usher in a revolution, if not, indeed, com- 

 plete it, in the arid belt, more far-reaching and benefi- 

 cent in its consequences than any event which has 

 blessed the world since the discovery of America. 



For the inspiration and added courage it will give, 

 every resident of Arid America who can possibly do 

 so, should visit the Midwinter Fair. On the route 

 will be seen the difficulties to be overcome and also 

 the results flowing from persistent and well-directed 

 effort along the proper channels. Object lessons line 

 the route and the Fair will prove the happy culmina- 

 tion of imagined possibilities. It will impress every 

 mind with a keener sense of the true greatness of our 

 vast country and inspire the visitor to higher resolves 

 and to better appreciation of the responsibilities and 

 privileges of American citizenship. 



FARM NOTES. 



IT has been established by chemical analysis and 

 otherwise that about ninety-seven per cent, of the con- 

 stituents of all trees and plants is made up from water 

 and from the various plant foods found in the atmos- 

 phere, while only three per cent, is derived from the 

 soil. 



MUCH interest is manifested in irrigation enter- 

 prises in eastern Oregon and Washington. It is re- 

 ported that a large amount of eastern and foreign 

 capital is flowing that way, and that the developments 

 in that section of the arid northwest during the next 

 few years will be phenomenal. The favorable trans- 

 portation facilities to eastern markets, enjoyed by the 

 two States named, should materially aid in their devel- 

 opment on irrigation lines. 



As an all-round fruit-producing region it may be 

 safely said that an arid country with good irrigating 

 facilities stands immeasurably above a region of hap- 

 hazard rainfall. The curing and transportation of 

 fruits, and the cultivation of them as well, are greatly 

 facilitated by a dry atmosphere. Water used in 

 proper quantity and at proper times is found to add 

 greatly to the quality of fruit as well as to the quan- 

 tity, and to insure this the orchardist cannot safely 

 depend upon the natural rainfall. 



