THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



171 



STATE NEWS. 



ARIZONA. 



The farmers in the Salt River Valley 

 are irrigating for all they are able at this 

 season. 



Two car loads of wool were recently 

 shipped from Phoenix to Boston over the 

 Santa Fe, making the twelfth carload 

 shipped this season. The weather is so 

 mild as to be very favorable for shearing, 

 and farmers in the vicinity of Phoenix are 

 daily arriving at that place with their 

 heavy loads of wool. 



Artesian wells in the San Pedro valley 

 now number twenty-six. It is probable 

 with little effort artesian water could be 

 produced in other parts of the territory. 



The following is the view taken by the 

 Arizona Gazette: 



"Parker, an enterprising member of the 

 Ohio legislature has introduced a bill to 

 require candidates for matrimony to sub- 

 mit to medical examination. This ought 

 to be amended to compel all unmarried 

 persons to pass an examination. Those 

 pronounced fit to marry should then be 

 coiiipelled to do so. There should be no 

 special privileges granted. If marriage is 

 a good thing, push it along." 



CALIFORNIA. 



In the month of February the represen- 

 tative of a large mercantile house in Ham- 

 burg, Germany, closed a contract by which 

 $400,000 worth of California dried fruit is 

 to be deiivered in Germany the coming 

 season. 



INDIANA. 



They say that La Porte, Ind. , expects 

 to have a factory for the manufacture of 

 electrical motor carriages. The La Porte 

 Herald states that the company for the 

 manufacture of these ''horseless carriages" 

 has already incorporated under the name 

 of The Munson Company, with a capital 

 stock of 100,000, and as soon as a suitable 

 location can be found and satisfactory 



arrangements made with the business men 

 of La Porte, the factory will prepare for 

 business. If the factory is established 

 there, it will be the only one of its kind 

 in the state, and one of a very limited 

 number in the West. 



KENTUCKY. 



As a result of a family feud a native 

 product of Kentucky a duel was fought 

 at Louisville with knives and pistols, two 

 men are in a very precarious condition. 

 This proves that dueling is not one of the 

 <: has beens" in Kentucky, at least. 



An epidemic of smallpox is reported 

 from Middlesboro; there are twenty-nine 

 cases of it. The schools and saloons have 

 been closed and Middlesboro is in quaran- 

 tine as far as neighboring towns are con- 

 cerned. 



VIRGINIA. 



The L. A. W. Bulletin and Good Roads 

 in a recent issue has an article in regard 

 to a bill that is to be introduced in the 

 Virginia Legislature, which provides that 

 all able bodied criminals shall be compelled 

 to work on the roads. Any well man who 

 is sentenced to jail or penitentiary for 

 more than ninety days is compelled to 

 work on the roads, not less than five, nor 

 more than twenty five to be assigned to 

 any one county. The assignment is to be 

 for a year unless other arrangements are 

 made. So far as work is concerned the 

 convicts are under control of the eounty 

 authorities, but, as prisoners, they are to 

 "remain in the custody of the State au- 

 thorities as if they remained in the peni- 

 tentiary." The county is to provide them 

 shelter, but the State must furnish the 

 funds for their transformation, guarding, 

 clothing, medical attendance and food. It 

 seems this would not only insure good 

 roads throughout the state but would fur- 

 nish the solution to the "convict-labor" 

 question that causes so much discussion. 

 Other states would perhaps do well to fol- 

 low Virginia's, example in this matter. 



