TALKS WITH PRACTICAL IRRIGATORS, 



MACHINERY VERSUS MAN AND HORSE POWER. 



Mr. Carrol D. Wright, the eminent government 

 statistician, has made an exhaustive compilation 

 showing the amount of steam and water power by 

 which the mechanical industries of this country are 

 carried on. His figures prove conclusively that, even 

 if machinery of one kind or another has displaced a 

 great deal of hand labor, it would be wholly impossi- 

 ble for the mechanical industries to go on without 

 the power derived otherwise than from men and ani- 

 mals. He says: 



" The mechanical industries of the United States are carried 

 on by steam and water power representing, in round numbers, 

 3,500,000 horse power, each horse power equaling the muscular 

 labor of six men; that is to say, if men were employed to furnish 

 the power to carry on the industries of this country, it would re- 

 quire 21,000,000 men, and 21,000,000 men represent a population, 

 according to the ratio of the census of 1880, of 105,000,000. The 

 industries are now carried on by 4,000,000 persons, in round num- 

 bers, representing a population of 20,000,000 only. There are in 

 the United States 28,600 locomotives. To do the work of these 

 locomotives upon the existing common roads of the country and 

 the equivalent of that which has been done upon the railroads 

 the past year would require in round numbers 54,000,000 horses 

 and 13,500,000 men. The work is now done, so far as men are 

 concerned, by 250,000, representing a population of 1,250,000, 

 while the population required for the number of men necessary 

 to do the work with horses would be 67,500,000. To do the work 

 now accomplished by power and power machinery in our mechan- 

 ical industries and upon our railroads would require men rep- 

 resenting a population of 172,500,000, in addition to the present 

 population of the country of 65,000,000, or a total population, with 

 hand processes and with horse power, of 227,500,000, which popu- 

 lation would be obliged to subsist on present means. In an eco- 

 nomic view the cost to the country would be enormous. The 

 present cost of operating the railroads of the country with steam 

 power is, in round numbers, $502,600,000 per annum; but to carry 

 on the same amount of work with men and horses would cost the 

 country 311,308,500,000. " 



SAVE THE MANURE. 



Good farmers everywhere are careful to preserve 

 their stable manures, and allow as little waste as 

 possible. One of the most valuable ingredients of all 

 stable manures is ammonia, and special care should 

 be taken lest this substance be lost by volutilization. 

 Ordinarily, it must be confessed, a large part of the 

 value of farm yard manures is lost through lack of 

 care in this respect. Some farmers mix lime with 

 their stable manures, believing that it will fix the 

 ammonia in the manure, and thus prevent the loss of 

 nitrogen. This is largely an error. While lime acts 

 well as deodorizer, its value in preventing the escape 

 of ammonia is really small. The most valuable and 

 easily procured substance to use for this purpose is 

 land plaster or gypsum. Its cost is often but $4 or 

 $5 per ton, and if it be freely mixed with stable man- 

 ure by being thrown into the stalls and upon heaps of 

 refuse, the effect will always be found salutary and 

 profitable. It should be remembered, too, that the 



urine of animals is especially rich in essentials of 

 plant food, and that the nitrogenous ingredients are 

 best preserved by the use of gypsum in absorbing 

 the urine in the stalls. Gypsum is of the greatest 

 advantage, too, if used freely in reclaiming alkali 

 soils so often found throughout the arid regions. It 

 should not be understood that gypsum is valuable 

 only as a fixer of ammonia in animal excreta, for if 

 applied to almost any crop on any kind of soil the 

 effect is good. Particularly, however, is it valuable 

 on sandy soils; and corn or wheat fields which have 

 received a dressing or two of gypsum may be easily 

 distinguished by their stronger growth from fields to 

 which no plaster was applied. There are immense 

 deposits of gypsum in a number of places in the arid 

 belt, and doubtless others will in time be discovered 

 and developed. All such deposits which are avail- 

 able should be worked, and they will be found a 

 source of great revenue to any section of the country 

 making full use of them. A dressing of gypsum 

 in early spring is highly recommended to stock 

 pastures, especially of clover. Many good farmers 

 also apply it later in the season, and believe it assists 

 very greatly in carrying pastures through seasons of 

 prolonged drouth. A handful of gypsum is often 

 thrown about a hill of corn soon after the young 

 shoots appear above ground. The effect is to stim- 

 ulate the growth and to give the leaves a dark, rich 

 color. 



THE "WOOLLY" WEST. 



From a volume of facts and figures regarding wool 

 and its manufacture sent out by the Bureau of Sta- 

 tistics of the Treasury Department, we learn that 

 about one-fourth of all the wool produced in the 

 world comes from Australasia. The London Board 

 of Trade gives the world's product of wool in 1860 at 

 955,000,000 pounds ; 1870, 1,295,000,000 pounds; 1880, 1,- 

 626,000,000 pounds; and in 1889, 1,950,000,000 pounds. 

 The following table shows the production of the vari- 

 ous countries contributing to the world's output: 



Pounds. 



United Kingdom 134,000,000 



Continent of Europe 450,000,000 



North America 330,000,000 



Australasia 450,000,000 



Cape of Good Hope 70,000,000 



River Plata, S. A 360,000,000 



Other Countries 156,000,000 



Total 1,950,000,000 



In 1890 the wool clip of the United States amounted 

 to 276,000,000 pounds, of which 85,605,617 pounds 

 were produced east of the Mississippi river, and 190,- 

 394,388 pounds west of that line. It is interesting in 



