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MACHINERY AND APPLIANCES 



IRRIGATION is no longer confined to 

 1 the arid regions. Farmers gener- 

 ally in Illinois and throughout the 

 Central States, and in the East and South 

 are going into irrigation. With this 

 change comes a great demand for irrigat- 

 ing machinery and devices, but improve- 

 ments are demanded and inventors who 

 can produce the necessary machinery at 

 cheaper prices than rule at present have 

 a great field before them. Whether wind, 

 steam or electricity, or all of them, are 

 used, the great necessity is less expense. 

 Past experience, very recent and very 

 bitter, has demonstrated that the age of 

 prayer for rain must be relegated to the 

 rear. Farmers with fine holdings in the 

 most fertile States of the Union, with 

 great water courses near them, are tired 

 of getting only part of one crop a season 

 after a hard season's work and anxiety, 

 when during the same season, under the 

 same and much worse conditions, the 

 farmers on arid lands and much smaller 

 holdings, turn out several bountiful crops. 

 They, too, will irrigate, for, with what has 

 been considered plenty of rain, an irri- 

 gated farm in Illinois, or any other State, 

 will bear four-fold greater than a farm 

 that is not irrigated. Irrigation is found 

 to be superior to the natural rainfall! 



The drift of the times is toward general 

 improvement in farming, and irrigation 

 of the land and diversification of 

 crops are at hand. In the future, too, 

 the farms will be smaller, every inch will 

 be worked, and nothing neglected. 

 Methods will be changed, implements im- 

 proved, and skill employed in packing 

 and distribution. Farming has not kept 

 pace with any other industry that can be 

 mentioned. The thorough organization 

 among the agricultural classes will aid 

 them to advance is already aiding them. 

 A former well-to-do farmer residing near 

 Springfield voiced a general sentiment at 

 a meeting recently when he said: "I 

 was actually thinking, after all these 

 years, of leaving dear old Illinois for the 

 South. But no. I will remain here and 

 employ advanced methods. Irrigation is 



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a success on arid lands. They resort to 

 it, indeed, in the South. Now I am go- 

 ing to irrigate right here. If improved 

 and cheaper pumping plants are offered, 

 well and good, but I won't wait for them. 

 In farming, I am going to keep abreast the 

 times hereafter, just as other industries do. " 



As to the means to be employed for 

 irrigation in Illinois and other Central 

 States, they will be various. Lands near 

 streams will of course obtain their water 

 by pipe lines, while in other sections there 

 will be wells and reservoirs, and various 

 modes of power will be employed, the 

 cheapest and best of course becoming the 

 most popular. There will be gas engines 

 and oil engines, and the wind-mill, too. 

 It is promised, indeed, that some 

 electrical surprises will be sprung at an 

 early day. 



There are suggestions for new be- 

 ginners in the reports from Kansas, where 

 the people are enthusiastic for the safe 

 plan of farming. The number of farmers 

 irrigating in Kansas for the first time in 

 1888 was 26; first time in '89, 13; first 

 time in '90, 28; first time in '91, 18; 

 first time in '92, 33; first time in '93, 55; 

 first time in '94, 224; first time in '95, 

 1,241. The total number of irrigators in 

 1895 was 1,638. It is seen that the 

 growth of the industry was most rapid. 

 And Kansas is the State that Governor 

 Morrill and Mr. Burton boast of now as 

 "the garden spot 'of the West." 1 - The 

 depth of their wells varies all the way from 

 10 feet to 240 feet, the average money 

 cost of windmill plants, not including any 

 labor by proprietor, $118; of steam plants, 

 $293; of gasoline plants, $486; of horse 

 power, $73. These figures are given by 

 the Kansas State Board of Irrigation. 

 Number of answers to the question "Is 

 irrigation by pumping a success?" 

 affirmatives, 338; negatives, 6. In their 

 neighborhood, the waters of the streams 

 are of course utilized. 



Inventors and manufacturers will find 

 it a paying investment to devote some 

 thought to the question of cheaper pump- 

 ing plants for irrigation purposes. 



