PULSE OF IRRIGATION 



SOLUTION OF THE DROUGHT PROB 

 LEM. 



The following editorial in the Drover's 

 Journal is a fair sample of the awakening 

 to the benefit of irrigation all over the 

 country after a year of universal drought: 



"The anxiety caused by the recent 

 drought and the attendant loss should 

 awaken this ingenious nation to the neces- 

 sity of providing in the future the mois- 

 ture that nature fails to supply. . Not only 

 the vast territory affected by drought, but 

 the whole of the United States have been 

 sufferers. It is not so much in the amount 

 of rain that may fall as it is to have it fall 

 at the right season of the year. One half 

 of the total rainfall would suffice if it 

 were distributed in proportions tanta- 

 mount to the needs of the crop. 



"The demand the west has been mak- 

 ing for national assistance in reclaiming 

 the arid and stmi-arid sections will be 

 strengthened by the drought of this sum- 

 mer. There are many clubs forming for 

 the purpose of bringing this matter before 

 congress at its next session, but as the 

 movement is in an incipient state it would 

 be difficult at this time to forecast the re- 

 sult. There is not the slightest doubt of 

 the need of irrigation both in the large 

 neighborhoods of the west and in the small 

 farming communities in the agricultural 

 section, and even though we fail to secure 

 the co-operation of the national govern- 

 ment, we should not remain idle and wait 

 for a repetition of the drought which has 

 just been broken. 



"In California, Colorado, Arizona. Utah, 

 Wyoming, Texas and New Mexico evi- 

 dences of the benefits of irrigation are 

 seen on every hand. In many instances 



barren desert wastes have been converted 

 into 1 fertile fields yielding abundant crops 

 of everything indigenous to each locality, 

 and in some sections the productive capa- 

 city of really good lands has been greatly 

 increased through the aid of irrigation. 

 In New Mexico the bounteous crops of 

 alfalfa. Kaffir corn, milo-ulai/e. apples, 

 pears, peaches, sugar beets and several 

 cereal crops are the result of irrigation. 

 In Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Califor- 

 nia the prosperity of the farmer, the stock 

 man, and the fruit-grower is the result of 

 the water from the mountain streams. In 

 Texas the immense rice plantations and 

 truck farms are irrigated by pumping the 

 water from rivers and artesian wells. 

 These are all large communities, and while 

 some are aide.d by state appropriations, 

 the majority of the irrigating plants are 

 operated by private individuals and cor- 

 porations. In the rice belt there are 

 numbers of plantations adjoining which 

 aggregate fifty to one hundred thousand 

 acres, all watered from the same stream. 



"The great value of artesian- well irriga- 

 tion is just beginning to be appreciated. 

 Not only the rice-growers are sinking 

 wells, but truck farmers and orchardists 

 have fallen into line and are sinking wells, 

 which supply their lands with the much- 

 needed moisture. A Drovers Journal 

 representative visited one of these im- 

 proved truck gardens during the annual 

 meeting of the Texas Cattle Kaisers' asso- 

 ciation in San Antonio last March. This- 

 farm consists of one hundred and forty 

 acres. At the time this land was pur- 

 chased it was almost barren nothing but 

 thorny mesquite bushes would grow upon 

 it. This land was bought at fifty dollars- 



