THE IRR IGA TION A GE. 269 



that sinneth it shall die." "The sins of the father are visited unto 

 the third and fourth generation," etc., but it lies within us to do 

 much to relieve the hardships we have imposed upon generations yet 

 unborn by constructing dams in thousands of those northern and New 

 England hollows and holding in store for later in the season much of 

 the spring overflow thereby avoiding the rapid swelling of the streams 

 below. Also the forests should be protected from further extermina 

 tion, and every man as he fells a tree should plant two and keep them 

 alive, and while growing a forest may seem discouraging as a slow 

 process, let us bear in mind those we have destroyed were once planted 

 for us, and it matters but little by whom. 



But the quickest and greatest relief that has suggested itself to 

 the writer for those along the Mississippi delta is possible by adapt- 

 ing Col. A. Hoagland's patented steel ship canal or aquaduct to a sys- 

 tem of relief by tapping a river at different points and relieving of its 

 overburdened supply of water and conveying in another direction; for 

 instance, at a point about 100 miles above New Orleans on the Missis- 

 sippi, f j om La Place to Lake Poutchertrain is but four and one-half 

 miles, and this lake is on a level with tide water at the Gulf, or nearly 

 so. Now while it would not be practical to open the level and dig a 

 ditch or canal to drain off a portion of the river to relieve the congested 

 condition from here to New Orleans, but the writer fully believes it to 

 be entirely practical and perfectly feasible to open the land at a point 

 say ten or twelve feet below the danger line, and place Col. Hoagland's 

 canal or aquaduct on the surface of the ground, say 300, 400 or 500 feet 

 wide and ten or fifteen feet deep, and thus drain off water sufficient 

 to relieve all danger of overflow below this point, and the loss to crops 

 and money expended by government one year would pay for and com- 

 plete the aqueduct. 



After a careful examination of Col. Hoagland's aqueduct and a 

 conversation with different civil engineers that pass upon it as a prac- 

 tical invention, we fully believe it is a means capable of proving a 

 solution of this problem that has cost so much of time in Congress the 

 past twenty years, and so much of money with s unsatisfactory 

 results. 



LOUISVILLE, KY., April 20, 1901. 



Editor IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111., Dear Sir: I have with more 

 than ordinary interest noticed in the February number of the AGE, 

 communications on irrigation by Gen. Nelson A. Miles, of the United 

 States army; one by Ulrich, your own editorial and still another arti- 

 cle by Dr. C. D. Parker, all of them, to some extent, grouping the re- 

 sults of the recent irrigation convention held in Chicago, and each 

 one referring to the importance of calling on the government of the 



