ALONG THE DITCH. 



FOR A LARGER SYSTEM. 



Speaking of a local controversy over the 

 best and cheapest way to provide water for 

 neighboring orange groves the Riverside 

 Press makes this editorial observation 

 pointing to a national irrigation system: 



"Yery few individuals can afford to in- 

 stall expensive plants, and run long lines 

 of pipe to carry the water from wells in the 

 valley to the higher mesa lands to be irri- 

 gated. And we want to go on record as 

 saying that as a commercial proposition, it 

 will not pay to grow oranges on water lhat 

 costs much more than 15 cents per inch. 

 Growers may be warranted in paying $3 or 

 $4 to carry their groves through one or 

 two dry seasons but they must have a 

 cheaper supply to grow oranges for profit, 

 at present prices. Redlands, "Highlands, 

 Corona and other localities are learning 

 this lesson and going after more water and 

 cheaper water. 



year's crop will foot up between $16,000 

 and $18,000. Gothenlerg Independent 



HOW IRRIGATED FARMING PAYS. 



Thatfaiming by irrigation pays in west- 

 ern Nebraska has been demonstrated time 

 and again. The results attained by irriga- 

 tion in Dawson county are no greater than 

 in Lincoln county, the requisites for suc- 

 cess being thoroughness of cultivation and 

 the application of average intelligence in 

 the farming business. The farmer re- 

 ferred to by the Lexington Pioneer is A. 

 R. Merrit, who owns a section of land un- 

 der a ditch six miles north of Lexington, 

 and the Pioneer thus describes his suc- 

 cess: He raised the present year 100 acres 

 of winter wheat that yielded about 2.900 

 bushels. He has 100 acres in potatoes 

 that give promise of yielding considerably 

 more than 100 bushels per acre and po- 

 tatoes are worth something over $1 per 

 bushel. He has already sold a part of his 

 alfalfa hay, receiving therefrom $2,000 in 

 cash; he has several acres in onions, which 

 promise good returns, and taken altogether 

 the revenues he will derive from this 



ONE OF THE RESULTS OF THE 

 DROUTH. 



Through the West there has been four 

 times as much corn cut up, bound and 

 shocked as ever before. This forage will 

 release an immense amount of hay and 

 thus become indirectly a substantial source 

 of revenue to thousands of farmers. 

 Ike Corn Belt. 



EXPANDING. 



The big irrigation company in Platte 

 county has just expanded its articles of in- 

 corporation so it can increase its stock to 

 a million instead of a hundred thousand 

 dollars. Fremont, Neb. Tribune 



IRRIGATION LOVE FEAST. 



Irrigation, and irrigation by the national 

 government, was the feature of the Com- 

 mercial club executive committee meeting 

 this afternoon. Chairman George H. 

 Maxwell of the National Irrigation Associ- 

 ation, addressed the committee at length, 

 and later answered a number of questions 

 and made a number of suggestions. 



The National Irrigation association, de- 

 clared Chairman Maxwell, stands squarely 

 on the president's message and the report 

 of the secretary of the interior, and will 

 fight and win on these lines. It ts abso- 

 lutely and unalterably opposed to state 

 control. The opposition to irrigation by 

 the federal government is not, he declared 

 in the east, but in the west, and it is here 

 that the fighting must be done. The east- 

 ern business men, senators and congress- 

 men, are favorable to irrigation under fed- 

 eral control. Omaha World Herald 



THE GOTHENBURG CASE. 

 The state board of irrigation has reversed 

 the decision handed down by Former Sec- 

 retary Wilson in the case of the Farmer's 

 and Merchant's Power company against 



