304 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



with a luscious bunch grass that furnishes feed for horses, sheep and cattle 

 all the year round, and alfalfa, corn and roots can be grown so cheaply 

 that one of the safest and surest methods of making the farm pay is to 

 market its products in meat and wool. Sheep pay handsomely every- 

 where throughout the west, and in Washington there are over one half 

 million head, shearing an average of 7 pounds of wool each, and increas- 

 ing at the rate of thirty per cent annually. The farmers have about 

 100,000 hogs and double that number of horses and mules, all of which 

 may feed outdoors without expense, throughout the year. The income 

 from a million fowls aggregate an immense sum every year, and yet 

 these valuable domestic farm appurtenances are kept at almost no ex- 

 pense, on account of the natural food products growing everywhere. 



An eastern correspondent who is somewhat of a moralist, files a gen- 

 eral objection to irrigation and irrigated countries, on the ground that 

 man loses all reverence for a supreme being, when he feels that he is 

 not dependent upon prayerfulness for rain to mature t his crops. That 

 argument certainly can not apply to Washington because there are 392 

 church organizations, having 532 edifices, costing over two million dol- 

 lars, bSing patronized by 58,798 members. Some of the finest church 

 buildings in the state are in the eastern or irrigated section. All the 

 prominent denominations are represented, the exact membership of the 

 leading ones being as follows: Catholic, 20,848; Methodist, 12,697; 

 Baptist, 3,941; Presbyterian, 4,343; Lutheran, 1,912; Disciples, 5,816; 

 Protestant Episcopal, 1,698 and Congregational, 3,154. Education is not 

 neglected as some suppose.as there are 1,844 teachers with 60,194 pupils 

 enrolled, with numerous modern school buildings. Books of a sectarian 

 character are excluded and three months compulsory attendance is re- 

 quired of pupils between five and twenty-one years of age. 



Irrigation is in its infancy in Washington and farmers have many 

 things to learn about the making of ditches, utilizing water supplies and 

 proper application of moisture. The presence of dews and occasional 

 summer showers supply enough moisture to grow some crops, but wheat, 

 oats and grasses usually demand one period of irrigation and in extraor- 

 dinary dry seasons require two applications of water. Potatoes fre- 

 quently grow too large, with holes in the center, or take on a second 

 growth if irrigated more than once, hence the necessity of exercising 

 the greatest caution in supplying the requisite moistures. Every man 

 cannot succeed as an irrigation farmer. Irrigation is a science that must 

 be thoroughly studied and properly understood before its practice will 

 be of material assistance to the man who has been trained up to depend 

 on rainfall. Washington is a state of great possibilities in agriculture 

 when modern irrigation methods shall be general]y adopted and the sci- 

 ence practically handled. 



