THE IRRIGATION AGR. 235 



water tax of about five per cent, of the average annual crop revenue. Thus taking 

 the average citrus yield as one hundred and fifty dollars per acre and that of decidu- 

 ous or miscellaneous as one-half or seventy-five dollars per year, we deduce, that for 

 an ample water supply citrus land can stand a tax of eight to ten dollars per acre 

 and deciduous land from four to five dollars. 



6. Can the necessary water be furnished and supply amply maintained at the 

 price the land can easily afford to pay? 



With the data furnished by the preceding questions, this is largely an engineer's 

 problem and capable of accurate solution. Whether the supply is to be from the 

 surface sources, as streams and storage basins, or whether from artesian or pumped 

 wells, in any case ample provision must be made for dry years. Especially must 

 there be strict regulations against a needless waste of water. It is safe to say that 

 during the last two seasons many wells have failed and orchards gone dry, because 

 of the prodigality in the use of water by those having flowing wells on the lower 

 ground. 



There should be a state of government control in the use of all waters. Mr. 

 Jas. D. Schuyler, our prominent Los Angeles hydraulic engineer, has suggested the 

 wisdom of government supervision in the building of dams and irrigation works with 

 full authority to compel the builders to work upon safe lines or not at all. This idea 

 will certainly be adopted in the near future. 



I am fully convinced that it would be economy for every new irrigation district 

 to pay for the services of a skilled hoi ticulturalist and irrigator, who has made a suc- 

 cess under conditions similar to the new locality; should such a man superintend the 

 initial planting, not only would the agricultural and horticultural success of the 

 community be assured, but the people would be protected from many impositions 

 usually practiced upon new settlers. 



In conclusion; no one can long remain indifferent to the great problem which 

 affects our material prosperity, and that the problem of irrigation is of paramount 

 importance, we must all acknowledge. On the success of the irrigated home, will 

 some day rest the prosperity of our State and the stability of our government. 



The impetus which has been given the study of irrigation by the annual meet- 

 ings of the National Irrigation Congress, by the wide dissemination of the literature 

 and information through the National Irrigation Association and by the personal 

 work of its executive chairman, Mr. George H. Maxwell, that champion of irrigation 

 add to this the new momentum given by the convention at San Francisco all this 

 proves that irrigation will be, if it is not already, one of the greatest questions before 

 the American people. Our universities will soon establish departments of irriga- 

 tion, and young men will make its problems a life study. The field for research and 

 for invention seems almost limitless. Mechanical devices for lifting water, or the 

 application of some now unused or unknown force, which will greatly cheapen the 

 present method of pumping; such discoveries are sure to be made if the inventive 

 American mind is but turned in that direction. 



He who helps to solve the problems of irrigaton either legal, engineering or ag- 

 ricultural, is a public benefactor. He who helps to establish the security of the ir- 

 rigated home will also help to establish the prosperity of that larger, that composite 

 home, the United States of America. 



