THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



77 



must keep within the rainy line or where 

 there is a visible water supply, for every- 

 body familiar with that region knows very 

 well there are thousands of acres there that 

 are valueless from lack of water. Keep 

 within the rainy line or have a visible 

 water supply and the vield is pretty sure 

 to be abundant and valuable. 

 An old Ac- Joel Shomaker. the well known 

 quaintance western journalist was born in 

 Pendleton County, Ky., Oct. 2, 1862, and 

 grew up on a farm. He was educated in 

 the home high schools and Kentucky 

 State University, and began his journalis- 

 tic work while attending college. In 1883 



he went west and located in Utah, where 

 he has since been engaged as an experi- 

 mental farmer and gardener, editor and 

 publisher and general writer for a score of 

 prominent magazines and newspapers. 

 He has made the subject of irrigation a life 

 study and is recognized as an authority on 

 all subjects pertaining to practical irriga- 

 tion. His connection with the AGE began 

 in 1891 and although much of his matter 

 has been unsigned, his contributions have 

 covered the pages devoted to irrigation, 

 farm, garden and orchard subjects. 



He served as agricultural editor during 

 the three years the AGE was published in 

 Salt Lake City and is very familiar with 



thousands of its readers. In the January 

 number he will begin a series of articles 

 on "Co-operative Irrigation Colonies'" and 

 treat the subject of western colonizatio 

 from a practical standpoint. 



During the past fifteen years he has 

 traveled over almost every section of the 

 irrigated west and personally investigated 

 the various systems of individual, co-oper- 

 ative and corporation canals, the result of 

 which will be described in the AGE. 



Mr. Shomaker was the first editor of the 

 Manti Messenger and was for a time editor 

 of the Logan Republican. Besides his 

 other literary ventures he has written 

 four books on irrigation and kindred sub- 

 - jects. his latest work, "The Farmer and 

 Financier A practical exposition of the 

 principles of co-operation of capital and 

 labor," is soon to be published. About the 

 middle of November. 1898. Mr. Shomaker 

 " became editor and manager of the Farmer 

 and Dairyman.a, weekly published at North 

 Yakima. Wash. Under his able manage- 

 ment the publication will probably become 

 one of the foremost weeklies of the North- 

 west, and the AGE joins with his many 

 friends in wishing him success in this new 

 field. 



Secretary The report of James Wilson. 

 Wilson's . . . . . 



Report. Secretary of Agriculture, for 



I the year ending June 30. 1898. has been re- 

 , ceived and the attention given to irriga- 

 tion during the past year by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, is especially gratify- 

 ing to all friends of the movement. ''All 

 of our country west of the Missouri River 

 is interested in irrigation.'' says Sec ! y 

 Wilson, "and facts are being collated re- 

 garding soil moisture, the supply and dis- 

 tribution of water, uniformity of laws and 

 court decisions relating to irrigation, and 

 the requirements of different crops in this 

 regard." 



The friends of the irrigation movement 

 secured an appropriation of $10.000 from 

 Congress for the current fiscal year, to be 

 expended under the direction of the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture in collecting statis- 

 tics and information on the subject of irri- 

 gation from agricultural experiment sta. 

 tions. agricultural colleges and other 

 sources. As a matter of economy, re- 

 searches and the expending of this fund is 

 to be done in co-operation with the De 



