96 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



out with a six-inch bore. It is claimed^ 

 that the wooden pipes last as long as the] 

 iron pipes. One town has a line of pipes] 

 seven miles long that, with all connections, 

 cost but $2,000. 



Additional artesian wells are being bored 

 in many parts of North Dakota, the water 

 to be used for irrigation purposes. The 

 city well at Mayville flows 9,000 barrels 

 every twenty-four hours, and has already 

 filled up a large lake in the park, the over- 

 flow going into Goose river. 



Irrigation is making more rapid progress 

 in Northwestern Texas than in any other 

 part of the plains country at this time. 

 Texas was one of the last to begin to ex- 

 periment with irrigation but she has a won- 

 derful supply of underflow waters and 

 there is destined to be, within a very few 

 years, some rich developments in agricult- 

 ure in what has been almost a desert. 



POSSIBILITIES OF BEET SUGAR 



That the people of Nebraska appreciate 

 the value of the sugar beet is indicated by 

 the fact that arrangements are complete 

 for a State Beet Sugar Convention, to be 

 held at Lincoln within a few days now. 

 The Salt Lake Tribune says: "The wires 

 tell us that Russia last year had under cul- 

 tivation 814,419 acres of sugar beets and 

 that the yield was 717,558 tons of sugar. 

 That at 3 cents a pound gives Russia over 

 $40,000,000. Could that sugar have been 

 raised in Utah, it would have been worth 

 something over $70,000,000. We do not 

 need that much for Utah, but there is no 

 possible sense, so long as this country is 

 tilled with idle men, in paying $100,000, 

 000 annually for foreign sugar. It is a 

 sort of impeachment of our own intelli- 

 gence. " 



Alameda county, California, did a very 

 fair season's work in beet sugar, the quan- 

 tity turned out by the sugar works at Alvar- 

 ado being 5,400,163 pounds; tonnage of 

 beets worked, 27,385. Acreage for next 

 season in the county is 3,550. 



The Chino Champion re-asserts that the 

 average price paid for Chino beets last year 

 was $4.30 per ton; but the detailed figures 

 of yield and amount paid for the whole, 

 as given by the Champion, do not show 

 that the price averaged above $4 per ton. 



Sugar was a somewhat short crop taken 

 as a whole in 1895, compared with 1894. 

 The total production for 1895 is estimated 

 at 7,117,700 tons, of which 4,000,000 tons 



ire beet sugar, showing that the beet in- 

 Idustry has already surpassed that of cane 

 Jin the sugar output of the world. The 

 [shortage from 1894 is estimated at 1,225, 

 000 tons, and 265,000 tons below the crop 

 of the previous season. 



Professor Hilgard of the University of 

 California announces that there is absolute- 

 ly no difference in the sweetening power 

 of sugar made from sugar cane and beet 

 root. 



BIG OIL FLOW IN KANSAS- 



The Standard Oil Company having pur- 

 chased the Kansas oil fields, they are to 

 be worked to their full capacity. Reports 

 from Neodesha, in Southeastern Kansas, 

 say: "The historic days of Oil City, Pa., 

 are to be repeated in sunny Kansas. By 

 the first of next week a still larger force of 

 drillers will be on the ground and will 

 average a rig a day until more than 200 

 new derricks will be added to the 120 now 

 standing. Besides these forces of the 

 Standard Oil Company, the Geiser Oil and 

 Gas Company will soon have drillers at 

 work, and, as stated by one of the com- 

 panies interested, Southeastern Kansas 

 will have 2,000 oil wells in less than six 

 months. ' ' 



The meeting of the Kansas State Board 

 of Agriculture was largely attended and 

 was, as usual, an event of great impor- 

 tance, the addresses, the papers read, and 

 the reports of officers indicating the sub- 

 stantial advancement of the State. Irri- 

 gation is going forward with a rush. Ex- 

 tracts from some of the papers and reports 

 are given elsewhere in this number. The 

 officers elected were: President, J. M. 

 Potter, Peabody. Vice-president, A. C. 

 Shinn, Ottawa. Secretary, F. D. Coburn, 

 Topeka. Treasurer, Samuel T. Howe, 

 Topeka. New members, Joshua Wheeler, 

 succeeds himself; A. W. Smith, succeeds 

 himself; J. H. Churchill of Dodge City; 

 I. L. Diesem, succeeds himself; George 

 W. Crane, of Sheridan succeeds A. C. 

 Shinn. 



PRODUCTION OF GARDEN SEEDS. 



A. G. Tillinghast, of La Conner, Wash., 

 the pioneer seed grower of Puget Sound, 

 shipped 800 bushels of cabbage seed to 

 Eastern seedsmen in September. 



In the Big Bend country of Central 

 Washington, says the Spokane Review, an 

 industry has been quietly springing up that 

 is entitled to a great deal more attention 



