60 



THE 1RRIGA T10N A GE. 



production of the spring for the first week 

 was entirely evaporated until a shower 

 cooled the walls sufficiently to allow the 

 water from the spring which is a few feet 

 above the tank top, to cover the bottom. 



Having a plentiful supply of water for 

 domestic purposes from several good wells 

 I have used a sewerage pump to empty the 

 cisterns on the lawns with marked success. 

 Truly the western expression that rain is 

 a poor substitute for irrigation has been 

 demonstrated here this season. We are 

 debating now whether to catch the rain 

 water from the building which is nearly 

 two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, 

 in cisterns or uncovered tanks for basins 

 with equatic plants. Stones and spalls 

 costing only the drawing not over a mile 

 and a half we are peculiarly well situated 

 for doing concrete work and expect to use 

 a thousand barrels of Portland cement this 

 season; we were able to buy it put into our 

 buildings and piled up, for two dollars 

 and twenty cents a barrel, while the local 

 dealers were keeping the price at over 

 three dollar? a barrel. We have several 

 good floors (on beams) of concrete, one 

 roof and one floor over a stretch of nearly 

 thirty feet that is an arch and that was 

 put up last fall and seems to stand admir- 

 ably. One roof has a crack in it, but it 

 was done in freezing weather by using salt 

 in the mixture and we did not then know 

 that concrete floors and roofs should, to 

 use an Irish expression, be kept wet 

 till dry i. e. made to dry very slowly by 

 keeping damp bags all over the top." 



IRRIGATION PAYS. 



"Myriads of instances could be ad- 

 duced in this semi-arid region to approve 

 the assertion that irrigation pays," says 

 the Citrograph. "It is the common belief 

 however, that in the moist or humid 

 regions, irrigation does not pay. We of 

 the irrigated section are firm in the belief 

 that irrigation pays, even in the humid 

 region, and such a statement as this, 

 which we find in the Vacaville Reporter, 



goes far towards showing that our conten- 

 tion is the correct one.'' 



'The benefits to be derived from irriga- 

 tion are well illustrated in an experience 

 of Frank Buck this season. On his 

 upper place he has a tract of canning 

 peaches. Without irrigation this year it 

 would probably have produced about 400 

 lug boxes. With the amount of water 

 put on this was increased to over 1700, an 

 increase which well pays for the expense 

 and trouble of pumping the water applied 

 to the tract. Doubtless, the experience 

 of others is in the same direction. Irri- 

 gation pays. Of that there can be no 

 doubt even in season when this locality 

 ha& a normal rainfall of thirty-five inches. 



When the people all over the United 

 States once become convinced of the fact 

 that irrigation pays, we shall have no 

 difficulty in getting any needed amount of 

 appropriations from both nation and state 

 for the building of catchment reservoirs 

 for the conservation of water for dry sea- 

 sons." 



WOULD ASSIST THE WEST. 

 That eastern business men are genu- 

 inely alive to the importance of western 

 arid land reclamation is shown by the 

 continuons press reports of the actions of 

 various business and commercial organi- 

 zations endorsing the national irrigation 

 movement, and urging the reelamation of 

 the arid region. The recent action of the 

 executive committee of the National Busi- 

 ness League at Chicago, whose member- 

 ship represents tens ot millions, is an ex- 

 ample. Strong resolutions were adopted 

 urging upou congress the preservation and 

 development of national resources by the 

 construction of storage reservoirs by the 

 federal government for flood protection 

 and to save for use in aid of navigation 

 and irrigation the flood waters which now 

 run to waste and cause overflow and de- 

 struction, arid for the reclamation of the 

 arid public lands. Also, the necessity 

 for the preservation of the forest and re- 



