214 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. 



WALLULA, WASH., Feb. 15, 1899. 

 EDITOK IRRIGATION AGE : 



Dear Sir: I saw an article in the Feb- 

 ruary mimber that is so at variance with 

 years of observation and experience that 

 I cannot help calling your attention to it. 

 The writer says : "There is no kind of 

 culture that can compare with horticulture 

 in this particular of appropriating water, 

 except cow culture. Milk is also mainly 

 water, but wet as milk is, it contains more 

 dry matter than an equal weight of plums, 

 gooseberries or turnips. And there is this 

 difference between milk and fruits : the 

 more water milk has in it the poorer the 

 milk is ; the more water you can get into 

 fruits the better they are.'This may be a fact 

 in Kansas but it is not so in the far West. 



I have seen fruit ruined by over water- 

 ing. You can injure the color of phecaes 

 by over-irrigating. I speak of peaches 

 because they have been my specialty. I 

 have seen many hundreds of sacks of po- 

 tatoes ruined by over-irrigation. It is a 

 science not easily learned to know when 

 you have irrigated them just enough ; it 

 can be learned only by careful observa- 

 tion and experience. Porous soil can be ir- 

 rigated with more impunity, with less dan- 

 ger of injuring the crop thaa compact soil . 



I am aware that milk can be ruined by 

 over- watering, in fact I am not sure that 

 water, when put in the richest of milk 

 helps it in the least, while water on some 

 soils when applied in large quantities, will 

 make an almost unrecognizable change in 

 color, size and flavor in both fruits and 

 vegetables. But do not deceive your- 

 selves and think because water is a good 

 thing for all crops that you cannot overdo 

 it. If your conditions are like they are 

 in the West, over-watering will make your 

 potatoes soggy, your fruit sour and insipid. 



I once shippad a carload of watermel- 

 ons to Helena, Montana. After I had 

 made arrangements with the commission 

 merchant to handle my melons, I told 

 im I had forty boxes of peaches 



wanted to know what he would give m< 

 for them. He said, "I wish you would 

 see if you can't dispose of them to some 

 retail dealer; they would have to be of 

 better quality than I have seen from your 

 state if I could afford to give you more 

 than 45 or 50 cents per box." He took 

 me around to see his fine California 

 peaches. "Now see how large and fine 

 those are; try them; .all in fine condition. 

 Peaches from your state do not stand up 

 well Aint those fine ?" I replied, ' 'Yes, 

 sir, you have fine looking peaches, but 

 that is all. I offer you a real peach." He 

 asked what I meant. "Sir, when you eat 

 one of my peaches you want another and 

 another, until your hunger for peaches is 

 satisfied. One or two is all you want of 

 this kind. " 



A few hours later my peaches arrived. 

 After examining them he said : "I will 

 give you 80 cents per box." "Kaise her 5 

 cents and they are yours," and they sold 

 at 85. He said they had the finest flavor 

 of any he had tasted since he had been in 

 the commission business. 



Those peaches were raised on sub-irri- 

 gated land. The river is the highest 

 about the 20th of June. I do not believe 

 any kind of irrigation is so good as this, 

 although I have had one or two crops that 

 were not good on account of the river re- 

 maining up too long, and I think they 

 were not cultivated enough. I have land 

 that the river does effect, that I hope some 

 day to irrigate by steam or current wheel. 

 In this I shall have much to learn as my 

 soil differs greatly from other irrigated 

 land near me. Yours respectfully, 



T. B. H. 



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