18 



777 A' I It If J(; AT/OX A(tK. 



pump, until it becomes a thick creamy mass. 

 Dilute this with ten times its bulk of water 

 before applying it to the trees." 



Besides producing annually almost an 

 ocean of wine, the people of France also 

 make large quantities of cider. In 1892, 

 the French vintage amounted'to 039,804- 

 000 gallons of wine of the various classes, 

 while the cider output of that year is 

 given by Le Cidre of Paris at 333,109.000 

 gallons. In 1893 the vintage reached 

 the enormous quantity of 1,101,540,000 

 gallons, or about thirty-six times the 

 amount produced the same year in the 

 United States. 



TEXAS. 



The wheat crop of the Wichita Valley, 

 Texas is reported in fine condition for a 

 large crop the next season. That part 

 of the state has recently been visited by 

 abundant rains and farmers are much 

 encouraged over the lookout. 



The valley has become famous as the 

 center of the wheat belt of Texas, but 

 being too far west for a dependence on 

 rainfall with much certainty, its enter- 

 prising citizens have succeeded in inter- 

 esting capitalists to install an irrigation 

 plant, which, in its greatness of concep- 

 tion, will at once attract the attention 

 of all who delight to see the Great West 

 brought forth from its state of aridity. 



The reservoir to be constructed on the 

 Big Wichita river will be numbered 

 among the largest in the world. We 

 hope to be able, in the near future, to 

 give our readers a complete account of 

 the whole affair. 



1NTERST1NG ITEMS. 



Distilling sweet potatoes for alcohol 

 and whisky is a new industry in the 

 south. 



The United States consumed last year 

 more than 4,000,000 bunches of Jamaica 

 bananas. 



A man in South Carolina has about 

 forty acres of land under cultivation 

 devoted to tea plants. His shrubs are 

 about three feet high and planted in 

 rows six feet apart. 



Foreign lemons are being shipped in- 

 to New York and sold in such quantities 

 that the California growers of lemons 

 have abandoned the eastern market. 



Over the 10,500 miles of railroad in 

 Illinois last year there were carried 03,- 



485,413 passengers with a loss of only 

 twelve lives. 



It requires 15.000.000 cows to supply 

 the demand for milk in this country and 

 the products of 00.000.000 acres of land 

 to feed them. 



The state farms in North Carolina 

 where convicts are employed have 5,000 

 acres in corn and 4.000 acres in cotton. 



There are more than 500.000 telephones 

 m use m the United States and they are 

 used more than "J.000.000 times daily. 



Oregon has 25,000 acres of prune or- 

 chards. 



BOOKS AND REPORTS. 



During the past month THE IRRIGTION 

 AGE has been favored with copies of the 

 following books and reports, all sub- 

 stantially bound for preservation. 



Tenth Biennial Report of the State 

 Board of Agriculture of Kansas, includ- 

 ing the state decennial census of 1895; 

 edited by F. D. Coburn, Secretary.Topeka. 

 Can be obtaind by remitting 30 cents 

 to cover postage. 



Thirteenth Annual Report of Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station of the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin; Madison. 



Report of the work of the Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station of California 

 for the years 1894-1895; Berklely! 



Agriculture by Irrigation; Eleventh 

 Census of the United States, New Edi- 

 tion prepared by F. H. Newell of the 

 Geological Survey, Washington. 



Manual of Irrigation Engineering, 

 by Herbert M. Wilson, C. E. Second 

 Edition Revised. Published by John 

 Wiley & Sons., New York City. 



Tables showing Loss of Head due to 

 Friction of Water in Pipes. Bv Kdimmd 

 B. Weston, C. E. Published by 1). VMM 

 Nostrand & Co., New York City. Price 

 $1.50 



Tenth Annual Report of the Commis- 

 sioner of Labor on Strikes and Lockouts, 

 Carroll D. Wright, Washington, D. C. 



Eight Special Report of the Commis- 

 sioner of Labor on the Housing of the 

 Working People, Carroll D. Wright, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Production of Gold and Silver in the 

 United States in 1895. R.E. Preston, Di- 

 rector of the Mint. 



