THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



43 



portance, as irrigation was not under- 

 stood or appreciated four years ago to 

 the extent that it is today, and even 

 now it is far from occupying its right- 

 ful position in the public mind. The 

 exposition opens the way for the con- 

 version of many thousands who have 

 been sceptical as to the results of water 

 properly applied, and every portion of 

 the Irrigation Empire should be ade- 

 quately represented. Let the friends of 

 irrigation cast aside sectional and per- 

 sonal differences and unite in a strong 

 effort to place before the world an exhibit 

 that will do justice to the progress of 

 the indutry. 



Some With all due regard 



Suggestions f r the many 

 branches of industry which will claim and 

 occupy an important place at the expo- 

 sition, it must not be forgotten that agri- 

 culture by irrigation is the foundation of 

 all western development, and as such it 

 should be given the position of promin- 

 ence. A building devoted exclusively to 

 irrigation, is of course a necessity, and 

 no niggardly hand should dole out the 

 funds to erect and equip it. While this 

 is being done let the irrigation exhibits 

 be prepared on a generous scale; first, 

 the machinery for the earth and water 

 handling: the dredgers, graders, scrapers, 

 etc., for constructing canals and ditches; 

 the cable-ways and appliances f )r build- 

 ing dams and headgates; the pumps, en- 

 gines and windmills for lifting water; 

 then the special machinery for cultiva- 

 ting the soil, and lastly, the finished 

 product, the fruit and flower of field, 

 garden and orchard. 



A miniature model irrigation system 

 w r ith reservoir, canals and laterals, with 

 headgates, flumes and wiers should be 

 constructed, and it should cover a model 

 farm, with a few square feet each allow- 

 ed the various crops, showing in actual 

 practice the details of furrow and check 

 systems. Can you conceive of anything 

 more attractive and convincing than 

 such a display? It will bring forth 

 good results. 



Stimulate One of the great 

 Home problems before the 



Consumption producing communi- 

 ties of the west is the stimulation of 

 home consumption. The wheat grower 

 of Washington and the fruit raiser of 



California alike, compete in the eastern 

 markets, not only with the foreign 

 products, but with the grain, fruit and 

 vegetables grown in other sections of 

 our own country, and the long and ex- 

 pensive freight haul across the Rocky 

 Mountains and the Great Plains, takes 

 away whatever advantage the west pos- 

 sesses in being able to produce greater 

 quantity and better quality. Nearly 

 every one of the western states are ex- 

 porting products w r hich should be con- 

 sumed at home, but here is one of the 

 peculiarities of this anomalous condition 

 of affairs; fresh peaches are exported 

 and canned peaches imported; live hogs 

 exported and pork products imported. 

 However, not considering the establish- 

 ment of factories at this time, the 

 thousand and one mining camps and 

 country towns, are the natural markets 

 for such articles as are produced in their 

 neighborhood; but they are not properly 

 cultivated. The consumption of fresh 

 fruit and vegetables can be greatly stim- 

 ulated, but if the farmer is content to 

 dispose of his produce to a shipper who 

 puts it on a car bound for a foreign 

 market, he cannot reasonably expect to 

 get a better price than it will bring in 

 such a market in general competition, 

 less transportation charges and shipper's 

 profit. It should be a matter of pride 

 with each community to increase the 

 local consumption of home-grown pro- 

 ducts to the greatest extent, and then to 

 see that the surplus is offered to con- 

 sumers within the boundaries of their 

 own state, wherever practicable, before 

 being sent to outside markets. 



The Problem of The supervision o f 

 the Grazing the grazing lands is 

 Lands. a subject but little 



understood, and one regarding \vhich no 

 comprehensive public policy has been 

 inaugurated. These lands belong to the 

 Federal government and they serve as a 

 free range for cattle and sheep, without 

 any provision for the protection of the 

 grass which gives them their sole value, 

 or for the protection of the small stock 

 grower, who is often at the mercy of the 

 larger one, or even for the protection of 

 the residents and tax payers of a partic- 

 ular state, who frequently see their 

 ranges overrun with foreign herds and 

 it becomes a question of physical force 



