THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



97 



than it has been given. It is the growing 

 of all kinds of garden seeds, under contract 

 with some of the biggest seed houses in the 

 world, these houses having found the soil 

 and climate there the best in America for 

 that purpose. 



AN AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION. 



Several years of cultivation of Kaffir 

 corn in Kansas have demonstrated that it 

 is one of the most remunerative crops that 

 can be grown under conditions existing in 

 that State. That the farmers realize this 

 fact is proven by the remarkable increase 

 in the acreage shown by the reports of 

 Secretary Coburn of the State Board of 

 Agriculture for 1895. In 1893 the total 

 Kaffir corn acreage was 46,911; in 1894, 

 95/237; and in 1895, 184,198. 



There will be an agricultural revolution 

 in Kansas this year. It will not only 

 affect Kansas, but will spread all over the 

 western half of Nebraska and Oklahoma. 

 King Kaffir will contest every inch of an 

 area equal to 105,000 square miles with 

 'King Corn, and the best judges of con- 

 ditions prophesy that Kaffir will win. 



MAKING ORANGE WINE. 



At Riverside, Gal. , a great building is 

 now being erected for the purpose of 

 working up the culled oranges into wine. 

 There is always, even under the most fa- 

 vorable circumstances, a percentage of 

 culls for which there has been no market 

 at any price. The oranges are good, but, 

 from some external defect, are not mar- 

 ketable. These oranges can be had at a 

 very low price, of course, and any way of 

 working them into marketable products, is, 

 of course, so much clear gain. Redlands, 

 Cal., will also have an orange winery. 



NATIONAL IRRIGATION LEGISLATION. 



The Secretary of the Interior recently 

 sent to the Senate the report of the Board 

 of Irrigation Executive Department. It 

 was referred to the Committee on Irriga- 

 tion and Reclamation of Arid Lands, and 

 ordered printed, and copies of the pam- 

 phlet can now be had. The report is of 

 the greatest importance to irrigation in- 

 terests. It shows the progress of the 

 Board of Irrigation, including a statement 

 of its organization; the existing legislation 

 relative to irrigation; the operations of the 

 various subdivisions; the principle which 

 should govern subdivisions, and the list 



of official publications on irrigation. This 

 latter list was given in detail in the Jan- 

 uary number of THE IRKIGATTON AGE. 



It is evident that the importance of ir- 

 rigation is appreciated at the national 

 capital, and that the Board of Irrigation 

 is doing excellent work. Hon. Francis 

 E. Warren, of Wyoming, who has been 

 made chairman of the Senate standing 

 committee on the subject, is the very man 

 for the place, and that he will push for- 

 ward all the urgently needed new legisla- 

 tion may well be expected. 



ANNULLING LAND GRANTS 



The President has sent a special mes- 

 sage to Congress urging the necessity for 

 immediate legislation to extend the limit 

 of time within which suits can be brought 

 by the government to annul grants of 

 public lands. He called attention to the 

 numerous complications that had arisen 

 between railroads as to grants that over- 

 lapped and the necessity for adjustment. 

 The time in which suits can be brought 

 expires March 3, 1896, and if the time 

 limit were allowed to expire then a por- 

 tion of the adjustment act would be ren- 

 dered nugatory. The government, the 

 President says, in conclusion, should not 

 be prevented from going into the courts 

 and righting wrongs perpetrated by its 

 agents. 



THE COAST SALMON PACK. 



The salmon pack, spring and fall season, 

 for the entire Pacific coast, was 2.034,877. 

 Of this amount Alaska furnished 637,000; 

 British Columbia 512,877. 



NEW MEXICO CFFERSHOMESTO THE ARMENIANS. 



Amadeo Chaves, territorial superintend- 

 ent of public instruction for New Mexico, 

 has addressed a letter to Edward F. 

 Cragin, chairman of the Chicago executive 

 committee to aid the Armenians, thanking 

 him for his suggestion of colonizing these 

 people in New Mexico and offering to sup- 

 ply the necessary land free of cost. Mr. 

 Chaves considers Mr. Cragin' s idea the 

 happiest solution of the Armenian problem- 

 that has yet been advanced. He has 

 looked into the character of the Armenians 

 and regards them as a very desirable class 

 of settlers. In Western Valencia county, 

 along the line of the Atlantic & Pacific 

 Railroad, Mr. Chaves has extended landed 

 interests, and he proposes to place at the 



