PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



129 



This work in all its ramifications is philanthropic 

 in a very true and broad sense. It does not go to the 

 slums with counsel merely, nor with ordinary relief, 

 but extricates from the mire of despondency and 

 helplessness into which men and women are sunk and 

 sets them on the firm rock of self-support. It helps 

 to self-help. It converts consumers into producers. 

 It secures aid on business principles from the em- 

 ployer to the employed, the farmers sending half the 

 railroad fare as advance wages, the railroads donat- 

 ing the other half. Chicago Inter Ocean. 



AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT EXHIBITION. 



The Imperial Society of Agriculture, in Vienna, has 

 decided to hold an international exhibition of agri- 

 cultural implements and machinery at Vienna during 

 the month of May, 1895. 



ARIZONA. 



From a small beginning, already satisfactory re- 

 sults have been obtained in ostrich farming in Mari- 

 copa County. The ostrich farm, situated three miles 

 west of Phcenix, has now forty-nine grown birds and 

 one chick. Some years ago, the owner of the ostrich 

 farm imported twelve birds from California. All but 

 two died before they became acclimated, and from 

 these two he has raised as fine a flock of birds as there 

 are in the United States. 



At Mesa City there are thousands of acres of land 

 on the mesa now being flooded. The roads even tor 

 miles are flooded and almost impassable. The mesa 

 has not for years been blessed with such an abund- 

 ance of water. 



CALIFORNIA. 



A committee appointed by the water company at 

 Santa Ana, to report on the practice of taking water 

 for domestic purposes and watering stock from the 

 irrigation ditches, recommends that the watering of 

 stock be strictly prohibited, and that for domestic 

 purposes the water be stored in a reservoir or cistern 

 at the time of the regular " run." 



Chief Engineer Julius M. Howeils, of the Consol- 

 idated Water Company, has purchased Judge Hen- 

 derson's Boulder Creek ranch for $2,000. This is 

 supposed to be a move on the part of the company 

 toward securing power for an electric power plant 

 which this company may build in the future to sup- 

 ply this city with electricity. 



The Pasadena Fruit Growers' Association has 

 shipped sixteen carloads of oranges East so far this 

 season. 



The botanist would have an interesting time count- 

 ing the different species of plants growing wild 

 along the streets of Santa Barbara, Cal. Sweet 

 alysium, verbenas, petunias, "four-o'clocks," scarlet 

 geraniums, etc. In the canyons near-by the mountain 

 lilac fills the air with fragrance from its blossoms. 



A large force of workmen are employed in com- 

 pleting the track of the Pasadena & Los Angeles 

 electric railway from Columbia street to Pasadena 

 and Guaranza. 



The fields surrounding Pasadena are yellow with 

 poppies, and the small boys are reaping a harvest 

 selling them to visitors and tourists. 



Green peas and other fresh garden truck now find 

 place on the Orange county dinner tables, to the sur- 

 prise and delight of the visitors from the North or 

 East. 



The fruit on exhibition at the Citrus Fair in Los 

 Angeles is probably the finest that has ever been 

 shown, and the present fair is a grand object lesson 

 of the importance of the fruit growing industry to 

 Southern California. It is hoped that some means 

 will be found to hold such a fair every year. 



The success which has attended the organization 

 of the orange growers has stimulated other producers 

 to act in the same direction. 



The directors of the proposed San Joaquin Valley 

 railroad are considering the best route from San 

 Francisco to Bakersfield. 



COLORADO. 



A large irrigation ditch is being built in Sedgwick 

 county, Colo., near Julesburg. 



The Grand Mesa Reservoir Company, of Colorado, 

 recently elected new officers and are preparing to 

 have a full reservior this summer. 



The Junietta Reservoir Company have resumed 

 work, and expect to have their reservoir ready to fill 

 during high water. 



A large force of men and teams are at work upon 

 the Mt. Lincoln ditch. Mr. J. E. Price is pushing the 

 work, and will have the canal in good condition in 

 time to furnish water for this season's crops. 



The Kansas legislature recently passed an act pro- 

 viding for an irrigation commission of five, to con- 

 sist of the president of the State Agricultural College, 

 chief geologist of the Kansas State University and 

 three persons to be appointed by the governor. The 

 three appointees are to receive $1,000 a year each 

 and actual expenses. The governor appointed D. 

 M. Frost, Garden City; W. B. Sutton, Russell, and 

 M. B. Tomblin, Goodland D. M. Frost, president; 

 W. B. Sutton, secretary. The act carries an appro- 

 priation of $30,000 for the next biennial period, which 

 is to be expended principally in the conduct of irri- 

 gation experiments in the arid and semi-arid dis- 

 tricts. 



The legislature also passed a law of special interest 

 to reservoir builders, and no doubt will stimulate the 

 farmers to put in more pumping plants. It provides, 

 " that every owner of real estate amounting- to forty 

 acres, who shall construct and maintain for ten years 

 upon forty acres, or upon each forty acres that he 

 may own, a pond or reservoir of water which shall 

 have an area of at least one acre in extent, shall for 

 said term of ten years be entitled to a bounty there- 

 for equal to ten per cent, of the taxes paid on said 

 forty acres, dating in each case from the construction 

 of such pond or reservoir, such bounty to be paid an- 

 nually out of the county treasury on a warrant 

 therefor.'' 



An organization composed chiefly of farmers of 

 Garfield township, Finney county, was perfected re- 

 cently, and a charter applied for to build three irri- 

 gating ditches. The charter members are Wm. 

 Moore, James Chapel, R. J. Churchill, Frank Rose, 

 Foster Rose and Levi Wilkinson. The purpose of 

 the company is to construct three short-line ditches, 



LOUISIANA. 



A conference among planters in the Donaldson- 

 ville district has been held with a view to adopting 

 uniform wages. Some are paying fifty and others 



