ADVANTAGES OF IRRIGATION AND OPPORTUNITIES 



FOR CAPITAL. 



BY JAS. W. WILSON. 



Farming by irrigation is the oldest, most scientific and successful 

 -method .of tilling the soil. It began in the Garden of Eden, which 

 was watered by the rivers which flowed out of it, and was the basis of 

 agriculture in ancient Egypt, India and Assyria. It was also followed 

 by the ancient Aztecs in New Mexico, Arizona and other countries in- 

 habited by that remarkable extinct race, whose teeming population 

 was fed by the products of irrigated fields. The Chinese are among 

 the best irrigators in the world, producing a large yield from a small 

 acreage. Without the larger and surer product which farming by ir- 

 rigation supplies and insures China could not begin to feed her teem- 

 ing millions. Also the most successful, all around small farm farmers 

 in the United States are the Mormons, who farm exclusively by irri- 

 gation. 



With control of the water supply and an ample quantity to use 

 when needed crops are sure, and as it can be applied at the right time 

 when most needed and in just the right quantity the yield is larger 

 and the quality of the product improved. The farmer also does not 

 have to hurry during the harvest, or concern himself for fear of dam- 

 age by unseasonable rain. Eow often it happens that the fruits of a 

 season's labor are damaged or lost through beating storms, rust, or 

 wet spells during or following harvest, or in the season of hay- mak- 

 ing. Also there are many occasions when it would be worth much to 

 a farmer in any country if he could supply water artificially to his 

 crops during a drouth. 



This advantage is well illustrated by last year's experience in the 

 central Mississippi and the Missouri valley states, where crops were 

 materially reduced by drouth an experience often duplicated. 



Whereas in contrast at Greeley, Col., on the western edge of the 

 great Missouri valley and on other irrigated farms, crops were abund- 

 ant, wheat yielding 50 bushels per acre, alfalfa 5 tons, potatoes 200 to 

 300 bushels. The very misfortunes of the ' 'providence farmers" result- 

 ing to the advantage of the irrigators in the greatly enhanced value of 

 their products. Greeley potato patches proved veritable gold mines. 



The Denver Post is authority for the statement that ex Gov. Eaton, 

 who reclaimed a large area adjoining Greeley on the north and estab- 



