THE IRRIGATION AGE ' 273 



out of the country, thus building up some foreign competitor, but by 

 thus increasing the variety of our products, we by that much reduce 

 the chances of our production of any one kind. Alfalfa, the 

 wonderful fodder plant, should be far more generally utilized, 

 especially in all regions where other kinds of grass do not success- 

 fully grow, but its culture will amply pay in almost any region, even 

 in direct competition with other leading grasses. 



Another means of success, far surpassing all past results in 

 farming, lies in proper irrigation, by a system which will always 

 supply the water as it is required. Its advantages have already been 

 proved beyond possible question, in various parts of our country 

 where the natural rainfall is not sufficient. Especially in the Pacific 

 Coast states, and in some other regions, has it been thoroughly tried, 

 and the result is the finest fruits, wheat and various other products, 

 that are grown anywhere in the whole world. Compare the results 

 of irrigation on the wonderful soil of Nebraska, which, near Ord, 

 produced a yield of 105 bushels of barley to the acre. The work in 

 this state is comparatively new, and only in the western part has the 

 lack of rain aeemed to make it necessary, but enough has already 

 been done in the central part, to prove that whenever it can be done 

 in any state, irrigation will fully repay its cost, in the increase of 

 crops that it always produces. At Green River, Utah, in the very 

 heart of the wilderness, where nothing grows except now and then a 

 scraggly sage bush, is fully demonstrated what irrigation from an 

 artesian well will do. Three years ago fire removed every vestage of 

 civilization. Since then a row of cotton wood trees around the 

 grounds of the railway eating house has been produced, each one of 

 which now measures six inches through and sixty feet high. In the 

 garden are grown all the vegetables needed for the table and in 

 quality they easily excel those shown at the county fairs throughout 

 the Eastern states. Five crops of Alfalfa are cut during one 

 season. 



The results are simply marvelous, and beyond the belief of those 

 who have not actually seen them. Irrigation is bound to revolution- 

 ize the entire agricultural interests of this country, and the sooner 

 the work is begun the sooner the reward will follow. United effort 

 to that end should be made not only by different local communities, 

 but by the various states as such, and the general government also, 

 giving every p,id possible by legislation, and the free appropriation of 

 money when the desired result can be thus sooner attained. In 

 regions where running water can not be utilized to better advantage 

 proper wells should be sunk. This can be easily done, as is already 

 proved in several states, for instance Wisconsin, the Dakotas and 

 eleswhere. Each state has various streams that by proper storage 

 systems, can be advantageously utilized to irrigate the greater, if not 

 the entire portion of soil that can be used for farming. The various 



