PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 





CENTER OF POPULATION. 



A REMARKABLE feature of the spread of popula- 

 tion to all parts of the United States is that the cen- 

 ter of population has moved almost directly westward 

 for the past 100' years. The following table, taken from 

 the compendium of the eleventh census, recently 

 issued by the Census Bureau, will present more com- 

 pletely this interesting phase of American develop- 

 ment: 



POSITION OF CENTER OF POPULATION, 1790-1890. 



MORE WIND MILLS. 



Farmers in the vicinity of Garden City, Kansas, 

 have'very generally equipped their places with irri- 

 gating pumps and nearly every farmer around the 

 city has now one of these pumps. Some calculate to 

 irrigate only five or six acres but most of them with a 

 capacity sufficient for twenty acres. It sounds rather 

 strange, to say that one eight inch pump run by a four- 

 'teen^foot wind mill will successfully irrigate twenty 

 acres in the dryest season, but such is the fact demon- 

 strated by from one to four years' experience. An 

 eight inch pump will pump six thousand gallons an 

 hour with an ordinary wind, and one can readily figure 

 the amount of surface it will irrigate. It easily fills a 



pond four feet deep and one hundred and fifty square 

 in two days. This will run thirty-six inches of its 

 water out on the level and will irrigate to a depth of 

 two inches rather more than four acres at a time 

 allowing for a percentage of loss by seepage and 

 other waste. By starting early in the spring before 

 the moisture is used for growing crops, and getting 

 the ground thoroughly soaked they are able to keep 

 twenty acres well watered the season through. This 

 is not an experiment and is not theoretical. It is prac- 

 tical and is done by a score of farmers around 

 Garden City. 



Twenty acres well irrigated and divided up prop- 

 erly will do what? Ten acres in alfalfa well watered 

 will net $500 in cash every year and give at least 

 sixty tons of good feed besides. This has been dem- 

 onstrated over and over again. The other ten acres 

 in orchard, small fruit and vegetables, together with 

 half a dozen cows and some hens will nearly keep an 

 average family. In other words, that twenty acres 

 will run the average family without another dollar 

 from any other source, and you are, with this outfit, 

 independent of the season. 



Let us look at it from another point of view. Sup- 

 pose every farmer had such a pump with a pond 150 

 feet square and twenty acres thoroughly irrigated 

 each year. What would be the effect both on hot 

 winds and the rainfall? Would it not rob the hot 

 wind of its danger and increase the rainfall? No 

 practical man can doubt that it would. 



NORTHERN NEW MEXICO. 



" Some people might think, what good can come 

 out of Northern New Mexico?' 1 writes a subscriber. 

 " Well, I will tell you; we have the San Juan river, a 

 stream of water sufficient to irrigate 100,000 acres of 

 land, and we have the land to go with it. We have 

 also the climate to go with the land and water. Now, 

 what do we lack? We lack capital and enterprise. 

 Make a visit to Durango, Colo., in the early fall and 

 inquire as to where their fruit comes from and apples, 

 peaches, pears, grapes, plums, strawberries, etc. 

 v Ask to see and taste their honey, all of which comes 

 from San Juan county, N. M. Take a trip down the 

 Annimas river to Farmington, then up the Laplatta 

 and see the ricks of alfalfa and the vegetables. Then 

 you can have some idea as to what can be done on 

 the San Juan river."' 



