THE 1RR1GA T10N A GE. 



137 



we are agitating our needs for artificial 

 storage reservoirs we must not lose sight 

 of those which nature has given us. The 

 forests on our mountain sides which check 

 the rapid run off and evaporation which 

 takes place where the mountains are bar- 

 ren, hold the water back until it can per- 

 colate into the earth and gradually find its 

 way through subterranean channels to the 

 points where we lift it from wells for use. 

 * * If we do not stop the destruction 



of our forests, we will find too late that 

 'The tree is the mother of the fountain,' 

 and the underground water that is being 

 so rapidly developed will fail utterly." 



ROUGH ON THE HOGS. 

 Here is the way the Tamworth breed of 

 hogs is described by the Indiana Farmer: 

 "Tamworths are a slab-sided, loog-legged, 

 big-headed, lardless, unlovely, red. rusty 

 or sandy, half-civilized sort, from Eng- 

 land." Rather rough on the Tamworths. 



SECRETARY WILSON'S VIEWS OF 

 THE SOUTH. 



Secretary Wilson .accompanied the pres - 

 ident on his recent trip through the South. 

 As usual he kept his eyes open to the ag- 

 ricultural conditions. From an interview 

 reported by Win. E. Curtis in the Record 

 we may make some interesting extracts. 



"The cotton-grower, "says the secretary, 

 is no more to blame than any one-crop 

 man. All suffer when the product is 

 larger than the market. I wish the south- 

 ern people could realize, as I do, how 

 well adapted their soil is to the produc- 

 tion of domestic animals. Yet each of 

 the gulf states spends in the neighbor- 

 hood of 500.000 a year for mules brought 

 from Missouri and the states farther north. 

 They could breed them at home just as 

 well. Grasses can be grown that are en- 

 tirely suitable for fodder, the climate is 

 mild, so that the animals do not have to 

 be sheltered, and the pasturage can be 

 had all the year round. During the hot 

 season an abundance of fodder could be 

 afforded by growing such legumes as cow- 



peas, sand vetch and the velvet bean. 

 Georgia last year produced 6.000 tons of 

 cotton seed, enough to fatten all the 

 400.000 head of cattle which we shipped 

 abroad. If mixed with cornfodder, crab- 

 grass or any other nutrient, it is the best 

 kind of fattening material. " 



The Redland (Cal.) Horticultural Club 

 met in that city, Dec. 14, and held an in- 

 teresting session. A law on the manufac- 

 ture and sale of fertilizers was formulated 

 by the committee appointed for that pur- 

 pose ; the most important sections of which 

 were the ones which provides that all 

 brands of fertilizers sold within the state, 

 be analyzed by the Director at least once 

 a year; that all packages of fertilizers be 

 labeled with name, brand and trademark, 

 address of the manufacturers, weight and 

 chemical analysis of the fertilizer. 



A resolution urging the immediate con- 

 struction of the Nicaragua canal was 

 unanimously passed by the society, whose 

 next meeting is to be held Jan. 11, 1899. 



Myron Eeed says: "A small, compact, 

 occupied home has never been the ambi- 

 tion of the American. He has desired 

 more land than he can use, -more house 

 than he can occupy. The five and ten 

 acre farms near Milwaukee, tilled by 

 Germans, yield a living and an income. 

 Seldom the cloud of mortgage darkens 

 one of these little cultivated spots of Wis- 

 consin earth. The American with a big 

 farm usually despises a garden. Not 

 many years ago a Califoroian said to me 

 that he could ride horseback from San 

 Francisco to San Diego, 700 miles, and 

 sleep on his own land every night. He 

 cannot do it now. But even now there are 

 big, half-cared for farms in California." 

 This day is happily waning, however, and 

 it is the dawning hour of small farms well 

 tilled, under a convenient system of irri- 

 gation. 



An oiince of thoughtfulness is worth a 

 pound of apology. Ex. 



