THE IRRIGATION AGE. 13 



company is equally void it is plain that the right to water depends 

 upon the tender of the rates fixed by law. According to this how 

 much water am I to have? The law will say so much as is reasonably 

 sufficient. This answer might do for a greenhorn but not for one who- 

 knows anything about irrigation. Before I plant a tree or an alfalfa, 

 seed or a vine I must know how much water I am to have during the 

 year, and not this year only but the next and the next ten and the 

 next twenty. Not only does my orchard need such certainty, but if I 

 want to sell, it governs the price of the land. I also want to order 

 water several days ahead, sometimes a week or more so that lean have 

 plenty of time to get my ground all ready for it. Am I, with an old 

 orchard in full bearing, to be at the mercy of any Chinaman with a 

 temporary vegetable patch, or some new alfalfa rustler who happens 

 to be ahead of me with a tender of the rates and a demand for water? 

 And if the company can make no contract how can it even save me a 

 head of water for a full run a week from now if in the meantime some- 

 body putting himself in the legal position to demand it comes for it? 

 In a spell of hot weather for instance, when there is a rush for water, 

 what a beautiful state of affairs this will make. Is the company under 

 any obligation to say to any one. "No sir you cannot have more than 

 so much water or have it more than so long, for this hot spell dimin- 

 ishes the supply and greatly increases the demand and there are others 

 beside you to be considered. " 



Granting that it could legally refuse what was claimed as neces- 

 sary for his crops by one tendering the full rate a dangerous thing 

 to do with the evidence of damage all in the hands of the other party 

 what inducemeut is there for the company to refuse? In contempla- 

 tion of law it gets so much money for so much water and it is none of 

 its business how much water any one wants as long as it has the water 

 and he is ready to pay for it. A few irrigators in a pinch could thus 

 leave the others high and dry and the respective values of the crops 

 would be quite immaterial when there was an abstract question of law 

 involved Now the company under contracts sees that every one is 

 treated alike. The man with a contract is put on the list of consum- 

 ers and so much saved for him unless he chooses to let it run away. 

 When there is a shortage or a big rush in a hot spell, and often both 

 together, the company regulates everything so that every one is 

 taken care of. And one may put in his order for so much water, so 

 many hours or so many days run, even weeks ahead with the certainty 

 that no one else can get it and that exactly on the minute the full 

 quantity will be turned out to him for the required time. Any at- 

 tempt to irrigate in any other way will lessen a saint's prospects of 

 heaven. 



And still we are not through with this one point. Under contracts 

 the company sells so much water and no more. To the credit of com- 

 panies it must be said that over- selling the supply is exceedingly rare 



