234 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



It must not be supposed that irrigation is alone 

 valuable in the arid or semi-arid portions of the State. 

 Perhaps the greatest benefit will come through the 

 construction of irrigation works, not with the inten- 

 tion of using them at all times, but rather as an in- 

 surance against the deleterious effect of occasional 

 droughts. In many parts of the State deemed humid 

 there are soils of great fertility in which during per- 



haps only a few weeks of the year, the supply of 

 moisture becomes reduced a trifle below the needs of 

 the plants, bringing down the average production and 

 value of the crop j ust enough so that it will not rank 

 as first-class. Water applied at the right time in such 

 cases will bring the crop from a condition below the 

 average up to the highest yield with the difference be- 

 tween bare profits and large returns. 



AN IRRIGATION CANAL IN UTAH. 



ALL KANSAS NOT TO BE IRRIGATED. 



BY F. D. COBURN, SECRETARY STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



IT is a curious circumstance that when irrigation 

 in Kansas is talked about in the presence of 

 people who have not given some attention to the 

 subject, they directly or indirectly betray the fact 

 that their only idea of the subject is that irrigation 

 implies having sufficient water and pouring it over un- 

 limited areas of field and pasture at will. From this 

 standpoint they are at once prepared to argue, and 

 quite properly too, that irrigation will not and cannot 

 be practicable, because even if there is sufficient water 

 under ground (and they think the supply quite insig- 

 nificant) it would be a physical impossibility to make 

 it available for any more than wetting perhaps an 

 occasional "garden patch." 



The facts so far as known are something like this : 

 Nobody wants to irrigate all Kansas, nor all of any 

 county of Kansas; indeed, not even the wildest enthu- 

 siast who has the least familiarity with the situation 

 ever suggests the irrigation, in its best development, 

 of more than a minor percentage of any county. It 

 would not be done, nor is it known that it would be 

 advisable, even if the water for it was standing in 

 reservoirs and streams constantly ready for use. 



So far as known there is, exclusive of streams, an 

 inexhaustible supply of underground water ready for 

 those who will reach for and use it, up to whatever 

 limits they set for themselves. All the evidence 



obtained up to this time bears this out, and there has 

 been none in rebuttal. 



The soil in those portions of Kansas proposed to be 

 irrigated is demonstrated beyond question to be fertile 

 and productive past any limits yet ascertained, 

 when properly tilled and seasonably touched with 

 water. 



Having found out these things, the owners of those 

 lands intend to use their brains in bringing some of 

 this life-giving water into their service, and spreading 

 it out, along with the storm waters they will save, over 

 enough of their soil to produce crops; on a very mod- 

 est scale at the start, to be sure, but it means a main- 

 tenance from the very first and will mean much more 

 as developments follow. The other portions of their 

 farms will be no less available than before for what- 

 ever crops are deemed best to plant, and especially 

 those found adapted to " dry farming " in such locali- 

 ties, and likewise for an improved stock-raising under 

 highly favorable conditions. With the water so near 

 at hand, inexpensive devices for placing it in surface 

 reservoirs or in a deeply stirred subsoil will be 

 worked out by good American brains, and the tireless 

 winds that have before had so much to do with carry- 

 ing away our moisture are likely to be harnessed to 

 machinery and made to do a mighty work of atonement 

 in making fruitful these great plains. 



