366 



THE IRRIGA210N AGE. 



they largely run to waste during flood 

 times. The government reports and sur~ 

 veys show that the building of a great 

 dam on the Gila would store up enough 

 water to irrigate thousands of acres of as 

 fertile land as the sun shines upon. 



Cannot some of our friends who have 

 anon professed such interest in the poor 

 redman come to his assistance now and 

 see that he may be accorded simple just- 

 ice? The cause is worthy; the means 

 are at hand ; the interest alone is lacking. 



IRRIGATION AND PLANTING. 



Ohino Champion: It is an animated 

 scene out on parts of the ranch now where 

 the sugar company is grading and irrigat- 

 ing land and planting beets. Southwest 

 of town about fifty teams are now engaged 

 in this work, and it is really transforming 

 the appearance of the country there. 



The fields are first graded and leveled, 

 so that all parts may be reached with the 

 water. It is then furrowed and the water 

 turned on from the main ditches which 

 reach out to all these tracts. After the 

 ground is thoroughly soaked it is allowed 

 to stand two or three days until it gets 

 solid enough to put a team on, when it is 

 cultivated and planted. 



Up to date there have been about 400 

 acres irrigated and about 375 acres pl.-iuted 

 on the Chino ranch. The scattered acre- 

 age at outside places reaches 1000. 



The beets planted here are making a 

 splendid start and are growing nicely, and 

 are giving promise of a good crop. 



One feature of the irrigation now is that 

 the refuse lime from the factory settling 

 reservoir is being mixed with the water 

 and in that way carried out and distrib- 



uted over the land. Experts have given 

 as their opinion that lime will be of great 

 value to this soil, and will give the young 

 beets a vigorous thrifty growth at the 

 start, and carry them through the ills that 

 young beets are sometimes subject to, es- 

 pecially when they start weakly or under 

 adverse conditions. 



The work done by the company is 

 really the advance step towards the most 

 intense culture of the soil and putting the 

 sugar beet industry here upon a firmer 

 basis than it has ever so far been upon. 

 For the work being done is not for this 

 season alone, but for the years to come 

 as well. 



CONQUER THE DESERT. 



There is no more vital question to 

 the West today than irrigition develop- 

 ment. What the West is today she has 

 become in a large measure through irri- 

 gation and what she will develep into in 

 the future will be largely due to the same 

 cause. The union of land with the waste 

 waters which now flow uselessly to the 

 sea during flood seasons will mean the 

 incarnation of an inland empire and the 

 upbuilding of rural homes to conquer and 

 occupy the desert. 



THOUSANDS FOR IRRIGATION 



Congress again showed its interest in 

 and friendless for irrigation in the West, 

 by raising last year's appropriation of 

 $35,000 to $100,000 for continuing the irri- 

 gation investigation of the Department of 

 Agriculture during the coming year. 

 The work is proving of great value to the 

 arid region. 



