THE IRRIGATION AGL. 



47 



According to a report from Phoenix, in 

 that territory, officials at the government 

 experimental farms, and land owners in 

 that portion of the country, are very en- 

 thusiastic over the outlook for the intro- 

 duction of the cotton industry, 



"Last spring at the government stations 

 near Phoenix, nearly an acre was planted 

 in the Egyptian seed, and a planting of 

 the same size was made on the great 

 Chandler tract, and in the eastern and 

 higher part of the valley. The crop has 

 just been gathered, and from samples sent 

 to the secretary of agriculture, a reply has 

 been received by Director McClatchie, in 

 charge of the experiments, that the cotton 

 was the finest ever seen in the department, 

 and that the yield, according to Prof. Mc- 

 Clatchie's figures, was better than that of 

 the average Egyptian cotton in its native 

 soil. 



''It is claimed that in many respects the 

 valleys of southern Arizona, New Mexico 

 and of Old Mexico are similar to the val- 

 ley of the Nile. The soil is almost iden- 

 tical; there is little difference in climate, 

 and irrigation is as necessrry as in 

 Egypt." 



DESTINY OF THE HOG SKIN. 



The oily, greasy, thick pigskin is arous- 

 ing new interest. Heretofore the slaugh- 

 terhouse has not seriously bothered itself 

 about skinning the hog while his green 

 hide left on the carcass and unemcum- 

 bered with expense brought eight cents 

 per pound and more as pork, or 12 cents 

 per pound when weighed in as cured ham 

 or smoked bacon. 



The scientist will not let things alone, 

 however, and it may yet pay to strip the 

 hide from the hog for commercial pur- 

 poses. The leather splitter has demon- 

 strated his ability to shave hides almost 

 into tissue leather. With this implement 

 at his command and a new process in his 

 possession, an American inventor claims 

 that he can split a pig skin to the fineness 



of a cologne bottle stopper cover and man 

 ufacture that article at a ridiculously low 

 price. He can make the finest of "im- 

 ported" kid glove stock, can displace oiled 

 paper with a better and cheaper article 

 and do the same with the fine texture of 

 rubbered goods now used for waist shields. 

 A hog hide can be treated so finely and 

 split into so many separate skins as to 

 astound the uninitiated. With this pros- 

 pect before it, the hog skin has a right to 

 come off and to expect much, in the near 

 future. Nashville Provisioner 



FARMER OWNERSHIP OF DITCHES. 



The example of the farmers owning land 

 under the Otero ditch in Otero county, in 

 arranging for the purchase of the water- 

 rights, 13 one worthy of consideration by 

 agriculturists in other sections of the state. 

 The farmers themselves have far greater 

 interest in the irrigation ditches than even 

 the capitalists who have heretofore been 

 the only constructors of these benificenfe 

 enterprises. Having practical knowledge 

 of their own needs, they ought to be able 

 to manage the business successfully. 



If the farmers about Fowler and those 

 about Eaton who have recently acquired 

 large interest in irrigation works, make 

 successes of the management and there 

 is no real reason why they should not the 

 idea may be extended generally and may 

 result in the happiest solution of the many 

 problems soon to come from the national 

 irrigation enterprises now in full sight. 

 Practical, and not political control of res- 

 ervoirs and ditches are absolutely essential 

 to their success and farmers themselves 

 are the ones possessed of practical knowl- 

 edge to eminent degree. 



The Union Pacific and other corpora- 

 tions that have censtructed ditches and 

 opened up vast sections of land by irriga- 

 tion have succeeded because they have 

 gone about it intelligently. State control 

 has, on the contrary, been anything but a 

 glowing success because of politics. It 



