PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



161 



A GOOD IDEA. 



Other colonies will do well to follow the suggestion 

 of the following circular. More colony superintend- 

 ents are needed. 



EDDY, N. M., Feb. 26, 1894. 



Mr. Jas. Hartigan has been appointed Colony Su- 

 perintendent, with headquarters at Vaud, N. M., re- 

 porting to the undersigned. 



He is expected to advise with all old and new set- 

 tlers, giving them the benefit of his experience as to 

 the laying out of their land, method of irrigating, the 

 planting of crops, and in general assisting them in 

 any way he can. 



It is hoped that all settlers will call upon him freely 

 for advice, to the end that his labors maybe mutually 

 beneficial. 



This appointment in effect March 1, 1894. 



CHAS. B. EDDY, 



Gen'l Mgr. 



THE NAVAJOES AND WATER. 



Gen. McCook's statement that Congress will appro- 

 priate, at its present session, the sum of $50,000, to be 

 used in developing water for the use of the Navajo 

 Indians upon their reservation, will be joyfully 

 received by the stock raisers of western New Mexico. 

 This is in line with Agent Plummer's report, which 

 was quoted from at length by Gov. Thornton in his 

 recent annual report presented to the secretary of the 

 interior, and which presents vital statistics to back 

 up the suggestions made by the agent in charge. It 

 is estimated that the Navajoes own 1,000,000 head of 

 sheep, 250,000 goats, 1,000 head of cattle and 100,000 

 ponies, and that they marketed during the past two 

 years about 1,000,000 pounds of wool per annum. 



IN AID OF IRRIGATION. 



Secretary Hoke Smith has approved of a draft of a 

 circular which' will soon be issued governing the 

 applications for right of way over public lands for 

 canals, ditches and reservoirs. The right is held to 

 extend only to construction, and no public timber or 

 material will be allowed to be taken or used for repair 

 or improvement. The department ruling of March 

 21, 1892, holding that natural lakes, already sources 

 of water supply, shall not be used for reservoir pur- 

 poses, nor rivers be dammed so as to overflow into 

 adjacent country is overruled. 



KEEP THE MONEY AT HOME. 



Secretary of Agriculture Morton in his annual 

 report dwells at length on the importance of making 

 this country independent in the matter of agricultural 

 imports. He shows that many of the agricultural 

 products for which we now send abroad could be 

 raised upon our own soil, in proximity to our own 



markets. Fruits, nuts and wine, tobacco and sugar, 

 fibres\ used in making cloths, all these and many 

 other articles can be produced in different sections 

 of the United States and the money expended for 

 them kept at home instead of being spent abroad. 

 And what is true of the United States as a whole is 

 true of many of our states. We are continually buy- 

 ing ourselves poor, draining money out of these new 

 states to purchase articles that should be produced 

 here. The secretary's idea should be widely in- 

 culcated. 



EASTERN IRRIGATION. 



Irrigation is becoming so well understood in the 

 East that many horticulturalists are either adopting 

 it as a system or are getting ready to adopt it. Lewis 

 Cowing, near Muncie, Indiana, tried it on his black- 

 berries last season. When he found his crop threat- 

 ened by drouth he bought an engine which he placed 

 in a well, and which was propelled by natural gas, 

 which enabled him to irrigate a large portion of his 

 patch. His well seemed inexhaustible, and enabled 

 him to produce a good crop of the most perfect ber- 

 ries. The gas engine, with pipe, cost $90, but it 

 saved a crop worth $300. On a few rows not waterecT 

 the fruit was worthless; on watered plants the yield 

 and quality were the best he ever saw. When the 

 blackberries ended he turned the water on celery 

 with the best of results. 



ON THE MUSCATINE ISLAND. 



In a paper read before the Academy'of Science on 

 " Irrigation on the Muscatine Island," Mr. J. P. Wal- 

 ton says: "It is possible that the time will come 

 when much of the island will be irrigated with arte- 

 sian wells. Abundance of flowing water can be 

 reached at a depth of 900 feet. This water flows at 

 a pressure of about 60 pounds. Before using for irri- 

 gating it can be used for mechanical purposes, such 

 as generating electricity for domestic purposes, 

 lighting, heating and cooking. It will cost something 

 to get this water supply, but when the coal and wood 

 supply fails, this great subterranean lake that nature 

 has stored away for ages will be very liable to be 

 brought to use. 



NO MORE EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS. 



It has been reported that Congress will not make 

 appropriations for continuing the work of the agri- 

 cultural experimental stations. From the annual 

 report of the secretary of agriculture mention of 

 these institutes was omitted, and when the matter 

 was called to the attention of the secretary, he 

 explained, that as the department was not given 

 supervision over the stations, he did not think their 

 expenses should be charged to the department in the 

 appropriation estimates. 



