THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VOL. IX. 



CHICAGO, JANUARY, 1896. 



NO. 1, 



ILLINOIS LEADS THE WAY. 



IRRIGATION NECESSARY IN THE MOST FERTILE STATES. 



IRRIGATION in Illinois is an estab- 

 1 lished fact, and the advantages of this 

 safe, sure method of farming are demon- 

 strated in a most substantial way. Fer- 

 tile as is the soil of this State and beautiful 

 as are the crops when there is sufficient 

 rain, it is conclusively shown that crops 

 on irrigated land are fourfold greater; and 

 when there are seasons of drought, and 

 the crops on the old-fashioned farms prove 

 partial or total failure, there is of course 

 no longer any comparison at all between 

 the two systems of farming, for irrigated 

 crops never fail. 



The drought of the past season, with 

 its disastrous effects for the farmers of 

 this and other central Western States, to- 

 gether with meager reports of most won- 

 derful results on an irrigated farm near 

 Kankakee, 111., have combined to create 

 a perfect furore among the agricultural 

 classes. Farm-owners and working farm- 

 ers from long distances visit this irrigated 

 farm, and letters and inquiries from 

 points in this and other States are so 

 numerous that they can not be answered. 



One day recently a representative of 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE made a flying visit 

 to Kankakee, and drove out to the irri- 

 gated farm. It is a State institution, and 

 thus Illinois has officially adopted irri- 

 gation, and points out the way of salvation 

 to all her sister States of the central West, 

 the East and South. It is evident that 

 the age of prayers for rain is a period of 

 the past. 



In 1894 the crops on the 1,000-acre 

 farm of the Eastern Illinois Hospital for the 



Insane were ruined by drought, and the 

 hospital management paid out $15,000 for 

 vegetables, fruit, etc. The past season of 

 1895 was again dry, but there was such an 

 abundant yield that not a dollar will have 

 to be expended, and 2,000 bushels of tur- 

 nips alone have been fed to the cattle. 

 Irrigation of 150 acres, used for garden 

 and orchard, brought about the change, 

 and the expenditure for the irrigating 

 plant, making watering possible, was only 

 $1,500. The innovation was suggested 

 and urged by Dr. Clarke Gapen, the sup- 

 erintendent of the asylum, who is a reader 

 of THE IRRIGATION AGE, and through the 

 co-operation of the board it was carried 

 out. 



Numerous questions were asked by the 

 visitors, all of which were cheerfully an- 

 swered by Superintendent Gapen and his 

 assistants as they showed the people 

 around. In 1894, of forty acres planted 

 to potatoes, the crop did not return suffi- 

 cient to make good the seed. The cab- 

 bages were dried up, vegetables of all 

 kinds were little better than stalks, and 

 small fruit withered, all because of the 

 lack of water. It was this condition of 

 things that prompted the resort to irriga- 

 tion, and the great success achieved com- 

 mends the decisive step taken. 



The work of preparing for irrigation 

 was commenced late in the spring of this 

 year. The plan was to extend the regular 

 water works of the institution so as to ir- 

 rigate 150 acres of land for garden and 

 orchard. Pipes were laid from the Kan- 

 kakee river, and ditches dug in the tract. 



