PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



been tested practically, and one factory is in 

 operation in New York. The capacity at 

 the outset will be two car-loads daily, em- 

 ploying ten machines, and it is expected 

 that an enlargement of the plant will be 

 necessary next year. 



COLORADO. 



Grasshoppers are causing trouble on the 

 ranges near Golden. 



Crops under the Larimer county canal 

 are in splendid condition. 



Many cloudbursts, some attended with 

 loss of life, have been special features 

 of this season. 



The sheep sheared this year have aver- 

 aged over seven pounds to the fleece in 

 the dirt. 



The apple crop is a little short in the 

 Arkansas valley, about equal in loss to a 

 good thinning. Other crops are up to the 

 average. 



There are 85,000 trees being watered 

 under the Price ditch, in the Grand Val- 

 ley this year, of which 75,000 have been 

 planted this year. 



The Farmers' Protective Association, at 

 Evans, has brought suit to recover $50,000 

 of damages from the ditch companies on 

 Clear creek for taking water that does not 

 belong to them. 



The ranges in southwestern Colorado 

 and northwestern New Mexico have suf- 

 fered fearfully from drought, and thou- 

 sands of cattle had to be shipped out to 

 save them from starvation. 



The Monte Vista Journal says the losses 

 through shortage of water this year will 

 amount to more than it would cost to 

 build the necessary storage reservoirs on 

 the upper Rio Grande to insure an ample 

 supply at all seasons. 



Smith & Struthers have completed their 

 gravity ditch through which they flow the 

 water from Plateau creek, across the Grand 

 river to the plateau above Grand Junction, 

 thereby bringing under cultivation a body 

 of extra choice fruit lands. It will re- 

 quire the balance of the season to fill the 

 ditch with water and get it into good 

 working condition, but it will be ready 

 for full operation next season. 



The severity of the drought in some 

 portions of the West is well illustrated in 

 the records of the Poudre river, which 

 have been accurately kept for a number 



of years. The average flow for the week 

 ending July 14 was 417 cubic feet per 

 second. In 1895 for the corresponding 

 week it was 1,408 cubic feet, and for 

 twelve years previously the average has 

 been 1,336 feet per second. The lowest 

 record previously was 484 feet in 1888. 



The Mancos Times says the drought has 

 given the ranchers a new wrinkle in al- 

 falfa raising. Heretofore they have used 

 too much water, making the ground soft 

 and the roots of the plants so tender that 

 even a light wind would topple over whole 

 fields before it was ready for the mower. 

 Authorities at the State Agricultural Col- 

 lege maintain that too much water is ordi- 

 narily used, and that the grass should be 

 cut before it has fully blossomed. 



IDAHO. 



There was an active demand for the 

 Snake river cherry crop, and the harvest 

 was hastened by it. 



There is a rock found along the upper 

 Snake river which has been used to some 

 extent for building. When first quarried 

 it is soft and can be sawed into blocks of 

 almost any size with little labor. It is so 

 light that a man can lift a yard cube block 

 of it. It will not stand fire, but it be- 

 comes very hard when exposed to the 

 weather. It is of three colors, gray, white 

 and pink. 



At Boise, hot artesian water is piped 

 from the foot-hills and is used for heating 

 many of the largest buildings. They are 

 now sinking a well which is down four 

 hundred feet at the government army post, 

 and if they succeed in striking the heavy 

 fldw, as anticipated, it will save $400 a 

 year in fuel. If the post is increased to a 

 regimental headquarters, the saving will 

 amount to over $10,000 a year. 



KANSAS. 



The Kaw bottoms, between Lawrence 

 and Kansas City, have 11,000 acres in 

 potatoes this year, with the promise of a 

 splendid crop. 



Farmers in the Arkansas valley are suf- 

 fering loss of crops again this year be- 

 cause of the shortage of water in the river. 

 There can be no effective remedy except 

 to store the flood waters, and the sooner 

 the people get about it the better it will 

 be for them. 



