238 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



fically distributed and economically used, 

 thus affording homes for 25,000,000 

 people. 



The United States is the last of the 

 great nations to officially take charge of 

 this work, Italy, Spain and Russia spend 

 great sums every year for irrigation; Eng- 

 land has spent $300,000,000 on irrigation 

 in India and a German company is pre- 

 paring to restore the farms in the valley 

 of the Tigris and Euphrates. 



Study of The annual report ofthedirec- 

 Irrigation. ^ or O f ^ e O fii ce O f experiment 



stations of the National Agricultural De- 

 partment will, according to the New Or- 

 leans States, show a gratifying progress in 

 irrigation work in the Louisiana-Texas 

 rice section, to which particular attention 

 has been given during the past year. The 

 report says thai the lands in the South- 

 west furnish a striking illustration of the 

 profits to be derived from the adoption of 

 irrigation in that section. Even with the 

 expense of pumping, rice-growing in those 

 states has proven remarkably profitable. 

 Lands which were formerly worth $1 to $3 

 per acre, and used only for grazing, now 

 sell for from $30 to $40 per acre, and yield 

 an annual return equal to the value of the 

 land. 



While the irrigation investigations 

 have their greatest field of usefulness in 

 the region where farming without irriga- 

 tion is impossible, the report makes it 

 certain that irrigation is destined to be 

 widely adopted in the humid and sub- 

 humid portion of the country. 



During the past year important studies 

 have been made in the sub-humid region 

 by Prof, 0. V. P. Stout of the agricul- 

 tural experiment station of the University 

 of Nebraska. This station is in a section 

 where lands have been cultivated for 

 many years, and where agriculture is a 

 demonstrated success without the aid of 

 irrigation. Results thus far secured show 

 that the use of water on genera) farm crops 



will give sufficiently increased yields to- 

 repay the cost of providing the water sup- 

 ply and its distribution. 



A series of experiments in the humid 

 sections of the United States show that, 

 as an assurance against drouth and an aid 

 to intensive agriculture, irrigation is 

 yearly becoming of greater interest and 

 studies of the benefits of irrigation in 

 Wisconsin have been carried on under the 

 immediate direction of Professor King of 

 the College of Agriculture of the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin at Madison and at 

 Stevens Point. In both cases the water 

 supply had to be provided by pumping, 

 and records have been kept to show the 

 amount of water used, the time of its ap- 

 plication, the cost of pumping, and the 

 increase in yield of the various crops to 

 which it was applied. Owing to the ex- 

 ceptional drouth which prevailed, the re- 

 sults were highly favorable to ifrigation. 

 The difference in yield between the irri- 

 gated and unirrigated potatoes was 160 

 bushels per acre. If the results of one 

 season's trial would justify drawing a de- 

 finite conclusion, it would be that irriga- 

 tion in Wisconsin is a marked success. 



A similar investigation is being carried 

 on at the Missouri experiment station un- 

 der the direction of Prof. H. J. Waters. 

 Apples, strawberries and nursery stock 

 were the crops irrigated. It will require 

 next year's record of the yield to deter- 

 mine the full measure of the benefits of 

 this year's irrigation. Referring to the 

 results of this year's watering of nursery 

 stock, Professor Waters believes that nur- 

 serymen will find irrigation exceedingly 

 profitable; and that it will result jo secur- 

 ing larger growth in young trees, trees 

 with better formed heads, and possibly a 

 saving of one year in the time when nur- 

 sery stock can be placed on the market. 

 A New The first annual meeting of 



Organization. t h e immigration agents of the 

 Southern Pacific and Harriman systems 

 was recently held in Galveston, Texas. 



