40 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



AGE will discuss the matter in all its bearings, but 

 it desires to say now with the strongest emphasis that 

 fruit growers should cooperate heartily in building 

 an organization whose agents will distribute their 

 products, and secure to them their fair share of the 

 price paid by the public. 



IRRIGATION OF SMALL FRUITS. 



At a recent meeting of the State Horticultural So- 

 ciety of Indiana, the subject of irrigation was the 

 most absorbing topic of discussion. It is only the lo- 

 cation and not merely the fact that makes this an in- 

 teresting circumstance. That the question should, for 

 a momen,t engage the attention of a horticultural 

 society in Indiana is of itself a matter of great signifi- 

 cance. The question was not only discussed exhaust- 

 ively in a general way but certain members recounted 

 their late experience in the practical operations of 

 irrigation as applied to crops of berries. One mem- 

 ber states that a patch of blackberries near Muncie 

 had been properly irrigated and produced an astonish- 

 ingly heavy crop, while other patches taking their 

 chances with the natural rainfall had dried up on the 

 stalks and proved a conspicuous failure. In view of 

 the experience of certain advanced growers in various 

 parts of the State it was the sentiment of those best 

 informed that irrigation is a practical necessity in 

 successful berry culture in most parts of Indiana. 

 What is true of Indiana will apply equally well to 

 Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and several of the Mississippi 

 Valley States. Water was applied, in the case men- 

 tioned, by means of a pump, and the grower found, 

 that the berries produced, by virtue of the water, this 

 year, more than three times paid for the cost of irri- 

 gating appliances. 



It is well known that in most of the States of the 

 middle west a drouth of greater or less severity is al- 

 most sure to occur at some time during the crop sea- 

 son, and to provide against its blighting effects should 

 be the care of every farmer who has land and water 

 which may be united at the proper times without too 

 great cost. 



Celery growers in Michigan have found that an 

 irrigating plant is a necessary part of the outlay in 

 establishing a celery farm. Even in these localities 

 where water is only three or four feet below the sur- 

 face, irrigating pumps moved by horse or steam power 

 are used with great advantage. A crop of berries or 

 vegetables which has been supplied with moisture in 

 proper quantity and at the proper seasons is certain to 

 develop greater uniformity of excellence than would 

 be possible under the spasmodic weather conditions 

 mostly obtaining during the growing season in all the 

 older States. While cultivation may to a great extent 

 obviate the use of much irrigating water, yet on many 

 of the soils in the Mississippi valley no amount of 



cultivation will wholly avail in the absence of water. 

 It then becomes a question of more moisture or a loss 

 of crop. It may, therefore, upon the whole be re- 

 garded a hopeful sign when horticulturists admit the 

 necessity of irrigation, even if they do not regard it 

 feasible in a given ca-,0. It is probably not too much 

 to hope that irrigatiuu of small fruits will soon be 

 deemed a necessity in the region under consideration, 

 and that irrigating plants of some sort will soon be- 

 come a permanent feature of the best-tilled farms of 

 the Mississippi valley. THE AGE will discuss this 

 subject in future issues and will be able to give vahi- 

 able advice to irrigators in any part of the country. 



NEW CONSTRUCTION OF DESERT LAW. 



The register and receiver of the Santa Fe land of- 

 fice are in receipt of special instructions from the 

 general land office of no little moment to those who 

 have made entries under the desert lands. Under the 

 old act of March 3, 1887, entrymen are allowed three 

 years to perfect their claims, but as it was amended by 

 the law of March 3, 1891, settlers are allowed to apply 

 to their local land office for one year's extension of 

 time. The party making such application will be re- 

 quired to file a sworn statement of his intention to 

 proceed under the amendment act, showing what has 

 been done by him toward improving the land, and set- 

 ting out that since he has determined to proceed under 

 this amended act he has complied with all of its pro- 

 visions. He must also file a map showing the contem- 

 plated plan of irrigation of the land. 



But when final proof is made the claimant will be 

 required to show the expenditure of at least $3 per 

 acre and the cultivation of one-eighth of the laud, as 

 well as the permanent reclamation of the entire tract* 



A VAST POWER. 



An artesian well opened up at Chamberlain in South 

 Dakota some time ago, is credited with a flow of 

 water thrown fourteen feet above the surface, of 

 8,000 gallons per minute. That would constitute a 

 pretty fair sort of small river. It is the largest in this 

 country, and, it is believed, in the world. The one at 

 Huron delivers 3,000 a minute, and was regarded as a 

 big thing. Most of the artesian wells in that State 

 are in the James valley, but Chamberlain is on the 

 Missouri, as is Pierre, which has several fine wells. 

 These subterranean waters seem to underlie the whole 

 State, waiting for opening to serve its people. What 

 that service may be in the coining century even a 

 dreamer could not now picture. Among the earliest 

 suggestions would be a vast power for manufacturing 

 and mechanical purposes, then a system of irrigatioa 

 that will render the farmers good crops every year. 

 Northwestern Farmer. 



