406 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



farmer is sufficient reason for the change. 

 " It has discovered remedies for diseases 

 of 'wheat, corn, cotton, fruit trees, and 

 garden crops, and told the farmer how to 

 apply them. It has taught fruit-growers 

 how to care for and improve the orange, 

 pineapple, and other fruits; how to pack 

 fruits for shipment, and the secret of pro- 

 pagating the fig. It is constantly hunting 

 up new crops, furnishes him with seeds, 

 and directs him to a market. It has shown 

 him that jute can be raised with profit in 

 the South and flax equal to Ireland's on 

 Puget i-ound. It tells what crop best suit 

 his land, and teaches him how to judge 

 the fitness of soils for different sorts of 

 vegetables. It warns him of the appear- 

 ance of dangerous weeds and noxious in- 

 sects, and tells him to combat them. 



" Nor do the department's activities end 

 there. It separates the farmer's diseased 

 from his healthy cattle and puts upon the 

 latter a mark which assumes the highest 

 price in both domestic and foreign mar- 

 kets. It tells him what kinds -of butter 

 and chese are desired in the several mar- 

 kets and how to pack these products. It 

 counsels him about sheep and goats, 

 poultry and bees, and tells him how to 

 raise calves on sMmmed milk. It has de- 

 creased the number of forest fires, stimu- 

 lated interest in forest preservation, and 

 told the farmer how to manage his wood 

 lot. It instructs the farmer how to make 

 good roads at the lowest cost, and is grad- 

 ually convincing him of the value of such 

 roads. It warns him of the approach of 

 storms, and tells him the best way to save 

 weather-damaged crops and live stock. It 

 is at work for the farmer all the time. 



"The United States annually spends 

 about $3,000,000 in performing these ser- 

 vices for the farmer, an ) the money is 

 well spent. For the farmer provides more 

 than 65 per cant of the materials for our 



export trade, and in making his business 

 more profitable every line of industry is 

 helped. Out of that $3,000,000 the weather 

 bureau, whose storm warnings have saved 

 thousands of lives and millions of shipping 

 and other property, is also maintained. 

 All foreign observers agree that the 

 United States does more than any other 

 government for its farmers, and does the 

 work better and cheaper. It is very 

 doubtful if the American people have any 

 investment so profitable as the $3,000,000 

 which they annually spend upon their De- 

 partment of Agriculture." 



With such advantages as these, it is no 

 wonder the farmer has ceased to regard 

 the Department as a yoke. 



Interesting irrigation devel- 

 Irrigation in opment is reported from the 

 Hawaii. island of Hawaii, in the dis- 



covery of underground cur- 

 rents. Immense subterranean streams of 

 the purest wat-r have been uncovered 

 from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the sea level. 

 The water will be flumed down to the 

 sugar plantations at lowest elevations, af- 

 fording an abundance for irrigation. 



From five subterranean stream tapped 

 within the past ftw weeks the Olas plan- 

 tation has secured a continuous flow of 

 20,000,000 gallons every twenty-four hours, 

 more than enough to irrigate the plan- 

 tation which is the largest in the island. 

 The water has drained from the surface 

 into the subterranean beds of ancient 

 lava. 



In the Hawaiian cane fields, under irri- 

 gation, the average yield is reported as 

 5f tons of sugar per acre and reaches in 

 some cases as high as 10 tons per acre. 

 The Louisiana sugar yield is on an average 

 only 2.800 pounds per acre and reaches as 

 high as 3,200 pounds or a little over 1 

 tons. 



