108 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



years raise fair crops of all deciduous 

 fruits without any irrigation and with 

 good cultivation alone will produce fifty 

 bushels of corn to the acre in eight years 

 out of ten without a drop of rain touch- 

 ing the ground after the seed is planted. 

 On pure desert such irrigation would be 

 about useless, unless almost continuous. 



CULTIVATION NECESSAKY. 



For all this limited work good cultiva- 

 tion is about as essential as for any other. 

 The whole ground should be well stirred 

 to retain the moisture from the rains, and 

 basins should be broken up after each 

 irrigation. Some fill them with a mulch 

 of sand, manure, sawdust, tan bark or 

 other stuff, and never break them. Where 

 they are very small, as around flowers or 

 similar things, this will do well enough, 



and also around trees if you do not hire 

 help and have not the time to do it your- 

 self. But it will pay to spade them up 

 with a potato fork each time. And the 

 cultivation of the whole field should not 

 be neglected unless for very good reasons. 

 If the surrounding ground is left dry and 

 hard, it will quickly sap the moist ire 

 from the outer edge of the portion that 

 has been wet by the basins, and all the 

 evils of this system heretofore explained 

 will show themselves in their worst forms. 

 And try always to use about the same 

 amount of water for the same length of 

 time. Otherwise uneven wetting of the 

 flower- pot you thus form for the roots 

 will result, and those that are in wet 

 enough ground this time may be the next 

 time in ground too dry. 



SOME RECENT DECISIONS RELATING TO 



IRRIGATION. 



BY CLESSON S. KINNEY, OF THE SALT LAKE CITY BAR. 



IN all the states of the arid region there 

 should be a statute authorizing the con- 

 demnation of lands for rights of way and 

 reservoir sites. And for the purpose of 

 working the greatest good to the greatest 

 number this law should be broad enough 

 to permit the condemnation of water rights. 

 Of course, just compensation must be given 

 in each case. Coupled with this law there 

 should be another. A law should be enact- 

 ed compelling the various persons or cor- 

 porations operating irrigation plants to 

 deliver water (should they have it) to all 

 persons applying therefor in their order, 

 provided a tender of just compensation or 

 the legal rate for such water be made. 

 Some states have these laws, but many 

 have not. 



In the recent case of the Northern Colo- 

 rado Irrigation Company, plaintiff in error, 

 vs. Richards, decided in the Supreme Court 

 of Colorado, and reported in 45 Pac. Rep., 

 423, upon the above subject, it was held: 

 In an action against an irrigation company 

 for refusal to furnish plaintiff water for 

 irrigating Jand lying under defendant's 

 canal, and having no other source of sup- 

 ply, plaintiff testified that he applied to 

 defendant's manager to learn the water 



rates, and told him that he was willing to 

 pay $1.50 per acre, and that the manager 

 showed and read to him the contract, and 

 said he could not furnish him the water at 

 that rate unless he paid a certain bonus. 

 The court held that the evidence showed 

 a sufficient demand by plaintiff and an un- 

 warranted refusal by defendant. 



The general statute of Colorado provides 

 as follows : ' ' Any person or persons, acting 

 jointly or severally, who shall have pur- 

 chased and used water for irrigation for 

 lands" occupied by him, her or them, from 

 any ditch or reservoir, and shall not have 

 ceased to do so for the purpose or with in- 

 tent to procure water from some other 

 source of supply, shall have a right to con- 

 tinue to purchase water to the same amount 

 for his, her or their lands, on paying or 

 tendering the price thereof fixed by the 

 county commissioners, ' ' etc. The plaintiff 

 applied for and procured water for the 

 irrigation of 120 acres of his land during 

 the season of 1888, paying therefor the 

 rate fixed by the county commissioners; 

 broke and improved the land and used the 

 water on it for that season. This gave 

 him a status which enabled him to invoke 

 the foregoing provisions of the statute, in 



