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8 

 PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



s 



CENSUS OF IRRIGATION. 



The prompt and careful responses to the 

 recent request by the Director of the Cen- 

 sus, for information relating to canals and 

 ditches, indicate that the importance and 

 value of a complete and accurate Census of 

 Irrigation are appreciated by those engaged 

 in this branch of agriculture. 



Director Merriam is very well pleased 

 with the great interest evinced in the work 

 of collecting data, and is confident that 

 with the continued assistance of the irri- 

 gators and the press, the present investi- 

 gation will be a success. 



The returns from the preliminary inqui- 

 ries furnish evidence of the material prog- 

 ress made in arid America and give prom- 

 ise of an advance in the twentieth century 

 exceeding the wonderful development of 

 the Mississippi Valley during the past 

 decade. The boundary line, which so long 

 has divided the arid and humid regions, 

 will no longer stay the onward march o* 

 agriculture. Today it is realized that just 

 beyond that line lies an empire greater and 

 far more resourceful than any yet con- 

 quered. With the narrowing of the un- 

 occupied limits of Government lands in 

 the humid zones the question of reclaim- 

 ing the arid and subhumid regions grows 

 in importance, and is today claiming the 

 attention of the wisest minds of the 

 nation. 



Many of the preliminary schedules sent 

 out in December and January have been 

 received and are already tabulated. The 

 mailing of the principal schedules is being 

 pushed as rapidly as possible. 



The questions in this schedule are num- 

 erous and important. Director Merriam 

 requests that they be carefully answered, 

 as upon these answers an accurate and 



perfect Census of Irrigation largely de- 

 pends. 



The scope of the present inquiry is 

 broad. Its purpose is to determine the 

 present conditions and results of irriga- 

 tion, and to tabulate the same in such a 

 manner that they may be fully compre- 

 hended by every one. Such a work, suc- 

 cessfully conducted, will result in bring- 

 ing about a more complete realization of 

 the fact that the development of irrigation 

 is affecting the prosperity of our nation as 

 well as the progress and stability of many 

 Western States. 



EXCHANGES. 



SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE. 



H. J. Whigham, the correspondent of 



Scribner's Magazine, who is now with 



Methuen's division at the Modder River, 



has had very good fortune in getting his 



articles and photographs to this country 



promptly. Scribner's has been the first of 



the magazines to publish articles written 



on the field of battle. Mr. Whigham's 



article in the March number will describe 



three fights. All the illustrations are from 



his own films, which were developed after 



they reached this country. 



THE LADIES' HOME JOURNAL. 

 ''The return of the Business Woman," 

 by Edward Bok, "The Anecdotal Side of 

 Mr. Beecher," -'College Girls' Larks and 

 Pranks." "The Modern Son and Daugh- 

 ter," "Where the Founder of the Kinder- 

 garten was Born" are among the notable 

 features of the March Ladies' Home Jour- 

 nal. "The Autobiography of a Girl," "The 

 Theatre and its People" and "The Parson's 

 Butterfly" are continued, and "Edith and 



