76 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the following brief sketch of his life, to- 

 gether with his portrait, feeling confident 

 that all of our readers will bu glad of a 

 glimpse at the personality of one whom 

 they have so long known through his pen: 

 T. S. Van Dyke is a native of New Jersey 

 and is about 56 years of age. From a 

 child he was fond of gardening, tree grow- 

 ing, anything connected with out door life 

 in fact, "and was," as he expresses it, 

 "fond of working in the ground with 

 spade, hoe or anything else, provided al- 

 ways that I did not have to." Having this 

 liking for agriculture, it was but natural 

 that, when at the age of 33 his failing 

 health forced him to give up the practice 

 of law and go to California, he should turn 

 his attention to the use of irrigation in 

 farming. He had tried irrigation in New 



Jersey and made a failure of it, but during 

 the ten years that he spent in the country 

 regaining his health, he lived among irri- 

 gators and on irrigated farms, and there 

 made the thorough study of the different 

 methods which has given him such an in- 

 timate knowledge of the subject, and 

 which puts life into his writings. To be 

 thoroughly conversant with your subject 

 is the first requisite to a good writer, Mr. 

 Van Dyke thinks, and he attributes the 

 success of his irrigation writings to the 

 fact that he "learned irrigation with a hoe 

 in hand, still keeps it up and is not a bit 

 alarmed at the sight of a spade." 



Tn 1885 he took up the building of irri- 

 gation works as a business, making a thor- 

 ough study of hydraulic engineering, 

 which he found quite as essential for a 

 promoter as for anyone else if he wants to 



know just what he is about. Finding that 

 the handling of water economically and 

 properly after it was on the ground was 

 fully as important as the getting it and 

 that it was folly to spend tens of 

 thousands of dollars to put water into 

 the upper end of a ditch and allow it to 

 be wasted at the other end, he made a 

 study of this feature, both in the United 

 States and Mexico and as a result is proba- 

 bly the best posted man, on every question 

 pertaining to irrigation, in the state of 

 California. 



Mr. Van Dyke is a resident of Los An- 

 geles and while most of the time is occu- 

 pied in his own business in engineering he 

 does some expert work outside of it. 



This issue contains the seventh paper in 

 the series on "Unprofitable Irrigation 

 Works," that have been running in the 

 AGE. 



Land In this number of the IRRI- 



and 



Products. GATION AGE we present our 



readers with the second letter from Wal- 

 lace Harrington on "Land and Products" 

 and like the first it is interesting and in- 

 structive, although the author deals with 

 the subject along different lines. They 

 are both somewhat general in character, 

 leading up to a practical examination of 

 the question from a local standpoint. The 

 articles that are to follow will deal with 

 climatology, temperature, precipitation 

 and sources of water supply which in all 

 that Southwest country is a question of 

 paramount importance, and it is one with 

 which Mr. Hanington is specially quali- 

 fied to treat. The soils will be, analyzed 

 with the view to determine the particular 

 class of crops for which they are best 

 adapted. Cattle ranching and farming, 

 like any other business, to be successful 

 must be conducted on rational lines by ra- 

 tional laws that demand study and obedi- 

 ence. One section of a country may be 

 specially adapted to grazing, another to 

 wheat and kindred crops, another tobacco, 

 flax, hops or canaigie, another to orchards 

 and another to vineyards and so on, there- 

 fore the investor or the homeseeker 

 should be careful in his selections in 

 order that the land and conditions are 

 suitable for his particular purpose. And 

 jn going to the Southwest the water is as 

 important a consideration as the sun. He 



