PULSE OF IRRIGATION. 



IRRIGATING SMALL TRACTS. 



In several valleys of Montana the own- 

 ers of small tracts of land are putting in 

 windmills and small gasoliue engines. 

 This is noticeable in the Jefferson valley. 

 At Whitehall several residents of the 

 town are driving wells and erecting wind- 

 mills, and one citizen has installed a small 

 gasoline engine for pumping water on his 

 lawn. With the increase of the culti- 

 vated area and the settlement of the state 

 the era of wells and pumping devices for 

 irrigation purposes will increase. For a 

 small tract the windmill has been found 

 satisfactory and during the next twelve 

 months it is a safe prediction that 500 to 

 750 windmills will be installed in Mon- 

 tana towns and on farms. 



On the larger places where it is neces- 

 sary to lift more water than the capacity 

 of a windmill, gasoline engines will be in- 

 stalled, and in that way water will be 

 assured. 



In many places where running water is 

 not available for all, good wells abound 

 and abundant water can be had with no 

 greater lift than 20 to 30 feet. Montana 

 Stockman and Farmer. 



WINTER IRRIGATION. 

 Prof. A. J. McClatchie, who is so well 

 and favorably remembered by the fruit 

 and dairy men of Southern California, has 

 just issued a very valuable bulk-tin re- 

 garding winter irrigation. This gives the 

 result of very important experiments per- 

 formed by Prof. McClatchie. He finds 

 that deciduous trees, especially the peach, 

 which were very thoroughly irrigated in 

 winter, grew better and gave more fruit 

 than those not irrigated but which re- 



ceived the usual summer irrigation. This 

 was in the Salt River valley, where they 

 have almost no rains. Often water can 

 be had cheaply and in abundance in win- 

 ter whereas it is scarce and expensive in 

 summer. This makes these experiments 

 very suggestive and may well lead to indi- 

 vidual experimentation on the part of the 

 most of our deciduous orchardists. We 

 know that in seasons of copious rainfalls 

 our deciduous trees often do well with no 

 summer irrigation. Why. then, should 

 we not fairly soak the ground in winters 

 of light rainfall, if water can be had at 

 little or no expense? This is certainly a 

 matter of no slight importance. I would 

 advise all interested to send for the bul- 

 letin. Address Experiment Station, Tus- 

 con, Arizona. Col. Cultivator. 



WATER AND CANE IRRIGATION IN 

 QUEENSLAND. 



The following important letter from Dr. 

 Maxwell on the subterranean water supply 

 of the Bundaberg district is furnished by 

 the Department of Agriculture: 



Bundaberg, March 5th. 1901. 



Sir I have the honor to make a further 

 brief notice of the water and irrigation 

 questions, of which I have spoken on cer- 

 tain previous occasions. At this time 

 some remarks will be confined to investi- 

 gations that have been made during the 

 past two months at the Woongara division 

 of the district of Bundaberg. As stated 

 by me some three months ago, the indica- 

 tions were that underground water should 

 be found beneath the coastal lands, and 

 near the sea, at very shallow depths. 



The location where the present investi- 

 gations are being pursued is upon the 



