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PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY 



EAST AND SOUTH CATCH THE IRRI- 

 GATION FEVER. 



THE agricultural papers of the East 

 aud South are discussing irrigation. 

 Various experiments have been made dur- 

 ing the past season in portions of Pennsyl- 

 vania, Ohio, New York and New Jersey; 

 also in North and South Carolina aud 

 other Southern States. The results have 

 also attracted the attention of the daily 

 press, and lengthy articles are being pub- 

 lished. Wonderful as these achievements 

 are in the Southern. Eastern and Middle 

 States, they are eclipsed on the former 

 arid lands of Western America because of 

 the more thorough irrigation there. An 

 elaborate, displayed article of several 

 columns in the New York Times will do a 

 world of good in waking up the old style 

 farmers of the entire country. The fol- 

 lowing is an extract: 



Not the least remarkable of the many 

 picturesque anomalies which the cosmo- 

 politan population of Long Island City 

 presents is a colony of Chinese farmers, 

 located on a I'igh bluff overlooking 

 Bowery bay. It was founded a few years 

 ago by Shen Ho Joe, the son of a mandarin 

 who made a fortune in the cultivation of 

 every form of growing thing which 

 nourishes within the great wall of China. 

 Previous to the advent of Shen, the China- 

 men of New York and the neighboring 

 cities were forced to depeud upon the 

 Pacific coast for vegetables of their own 

 peculiar cultivation. 



Sheri's initial effort created a commotion 

 among the truck farmers of Astoria. His 

 beans were as large as an ordinary-sized 

 radish, and all the other celestial vege- 

 tables were the envy and admiration of 

 the neighborhood. The gourmets of Mott 

 street were in ecstasies of delight over 

 the new venture and the demand for 

 Sheu's vegetables far exceeded the sup- 

 ply. In order to meet the growing de- 

 mand for garden truck which came from 

 Mott t-treet alone, five other Chinamen 



176 



started rival farms adjoining that of Shen 

 Ho Joe a year afterward. Shen mean- 

 while had established a prosperous line of 

 trade and had saved a snug sum of money 

 from the proceeds of the first year's crop. 



In the spring of the second year he 

 sunk two wells on his farm for irrigation 

 purposes and built a sausage factory and 

 a large manure tank, from which liquid 

 fertilizers are spread over the ground by 

 means of a rubber hose. This innovation 

 revolutionized Chinese farming in Astoria. 

 The same kind of soil afterward yielded 

 twice as much net for Shen as for the 

 others. Of course, gradually, the influence 

 of this progressive man extended through- 

 out his neighborhood, and the old-fash- 

 ioned methods of watering and manuring 

 the ground soon gave way to new methods. 

 The Chinese farmer from time immemorial 

 has been a great believer in irrigation. 



At the end of the third year Shen Ho 

 Joe had acquired a competence and sold 

 out his farm. With the proceeds of his 

 three years' venture he sailed for China, 

 leaving Yu Lee, Yung Gee Tschiu, Chu 

 Lick and Yumb Yab in undisputed pos- 

 session of the field. 



The soil of the celestial farms is sandy 

 and poor. The fields are divided into 

 squares called wells, from their resem- 

 blance to the Chinese character signifying 

 a well, surrounded and furrowed by 

 ditches. 



There are upward of fifty different 

 kinds of vegetables grown on this celestial 

 farm. 



DR. RUSK ON THE MORMONS. 



The Rev. Dr. John Rusk, of the Militant 

 Church, Chicago, is not following the 

 policy of the ordinary orthodox preacher. 

 He is taking up live subjects of interest 

 at present. In a recent sermon he re- 

 ferred to the enterprise and thrift of the 

 Mormons. "A man's share in what is go- 

 ing on in this world" is not a dog's share 

 nor a hog's share, but a man's share," he 



