THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



161 



statute would convulse the state. John 

 P. Irish in the April Forum. 



IRRIGATING OHIO. 

 Whether the canals of Ohio are aban- 

 doned or not, the head waters and reser- 

 voirs should not be drained. They shpuld 

 be retained for irrigating purposes and be 

 piped below and laterally for stock-water- 

 ing purposes. Dams should be made across 

 the other rivers of the state for irrigation 

 and stock-watering uses. 



With the denuding of the forests, Ohio 

 is -rapidly taking on arid characteristics. 

 With the wise agricultural and horticultu- 

 ral methods of the future, the waters that 

 fall from the clouds upon the bosom of our 

 state will not be allowed to run away to the 

 sea, but will be retained and used to more 

 than double its food production, wealth 

 and beauty. 



Irrigation can be as profitably promoted 

 by Congress in Ohio as it can be in the 

 far West; indeed any one that is engaged 

 in cultivating the soil knows that the lack 

 of moisture is the greatest impediment to 

 production. 



Our Ohio soils should be made to pro- 

 duce twice the amount they now produce, 

 and if you now multiply our present prod- 

 uct by two or three, you will see we do not 

 need to go to the Klondike for gold nor 

 send our armies on foreign conquests for 

 increase of trade. 



Congress need not go to the western des- 

 erts to create soils when the naturally fer- 

 tile soils of Ohio and other nearer states 

 can be made to double or treble their pro- 

 duction by conserving their moisture; and 

 it can be done by far less expense than in 

 the West; besides the retention of the 

 moisture in this manner would greatly in- 

 crease the annual rainfall, especially in the 

 cropping season. JOHN BRYAN. 



Yellow Springs, Ohio. 



IRRIGATION IS COMING. 



The irrigation bill has passed the Senate 



a id it is believed that it will get through 

 the House without serious opposition. 

 President Roosevelt will surely sign it be- 

 cause it is one of his pet measures. This 

 is one of the few bills in which there is no 

 chance for politics to cut any figure. It 

 has friends in every party or faction, and 

 therefore ought to have easy sailing. The 

 only opposition expected is from some of 

 the Eastern Congressmen, who claim that 

 its effects will be to depreciate the value 

 of farm lands in the older states. That 

 this contention is fallacious is evident. Its 

 passage will probably have just the contra- 

 ry effect. It will add millions of arable 

 acres to the public domain, opeu up thou- 

 sands of farms and homes for new settlers 

 in the West and send back a stream of 

 money to Eastern manufacturers for sup- 

 plies. This will add to the wealth of the 

 East, both in its industrial and farm life., 



Farm Machinery. 







Uneven channels in irrigation ditches 

 retard the flow of water seriously, as do 

 also water plants if allowed to grow. 

 Orange Judd Farmer. 



IMPORTANCE OF IRRIGATION. 



It h gratifying to observe a growing in- 

 terest in irrigation, writes Mr. H. A. 

 Crafts in The Wisconsin Farmer. The 

 East has been slow to investigate the ques-- 

 tion, but for this it can hardly be blamed. 

 So vast are our humid regions and so lim- 

 itless have seemed the resources of their 

 soil and climate that the idea of watering 

 our arid plains by artificial means has ap- 

 peared to the average mind to be almost an 

 impertinence. But the very serious con- 

 sequences following the drouth in the mid- 

 dle West have tended to awaken in the 

 public mind some thought of future con- 

 tingencies. They teach by what blind 

 optimism our people have been providing 

 for the present with no apparent thought 

 of the future. But when we begin to sup- 

 port a policy of expansion by the argu 



