306 



THE IRBIGATION AGE. 



oration. The amount of evaporation was shown to be 

 largely dependent on the temperature of the water. 



The effect of water on cereals in well-worn soils of 

 the San Joaquin valley has been tried. The application 

 of sixteen inches of water increased the yield of barley 

 from nine to twenty-two bushels per acre. In a wheat 

 field that produced only straw four inches of water 

 produced a yield of ten bushels per acre, and sixteen 

 inches of water increased the yield to thirty-eight bush- 

 els. 



WATER FOR FRUIT. 



An investigation into the value of irrigation in 

 fruit orchards showed that the quantity of fruit in- 

 creased where irrigation was practised and that the 

 quality was superior. Hundreds of growers contributed 

 testimony to this effect. Alleged injuries to fruits and 

 vines by irrigation was found to be due to errors in 

 irrigation and not to irrigation itself. 



One of the most important branches of work 

 planned by the irrigation staff of the university is de- 



WIND AND WATER. 



Professor Elwood Mead, chief of irrigation, Wash- 

 ington, D. C., has recently ordered shipped to Cheyenne, 

 Wyo., a two-wheeled power windmill manufactured by 

 the Double Power Mill Co. of Appleton, Wis. It is the 

 intention of Prof. Mead to erect this mill on an experi- 

 mental farm belonging to the government at that point 

 for the purpose of pumping water used to irrigate the 

 farm. He expects to order two more mills of the same 

 make for like work in the western states. 



Eecent tests with this new design of windmill at 

 the Iowa State College Experimental Farm leads him 

 to extend the experiments to the far west. 



It is to be hoped that Prof. Mead will teach those 

 in need of irrigation just how to harness the wind for 

 that purpose, and sooner or later the same good wind 

 may be used by Edison to create power for his new 

 storage batteries whereby electricity can be furnished 

 for power, light and heat wherever the wind blows. 





Fig. 8. Wheel in Lower 



clared by Professor Portier to be now under way in 

 southern California, where Dr. Loughridge is conducting 

 a series of experiments in the orange groves to demon- 

 strate what are the relative merits of shallow and deep 

 furrows; how much more water is evaporated from a 

 wet than a dry soil ; what amount of water will produce 

 the best results and when it should be applied. 



Field experiments in irrigating wheat near Modesto 

 by each of the three standard methods, namely, checks, 

 furrows and flooding from first laterals, are being made. 

 A continuation of the investigations of pumping plants, 

 to determine how their efficiency may be increased and 

 their cost decreased, is in progress. 



The great TJintah reservation will be open for 

 homestead entry August 28th, although registration will 

 commence at Grand Junction, Colo., Price, Provo and 

 Vernal, Utah, on August 1st and continue until August 

 12th. The procedure necessary to secure lands in this 

 greatest of Government reservations is outlined in de- 

 tail in a pamphlet just issued by the passenger depart- 

 ment of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. 



Natchez Valley, Washington. 



Next we must look to the waves of the sea to create 

 power for this same storage battery, but as we can 

 all get nearer to the wind than the sea in this locality 

 we would suggest sticking to our "first love," the wind. 



AFTER MORE MONEY. 



The following, clipped from The Globe-Democrat, 

 St. Louis, of recent date, will give a fair idea of how 

 the Maxwell-Boothe band organize and lay plans to 

 secure contributors to their "two-man" combination 

 known as The National Irrigation Association. If the 

 gentlemen who are likely to join the St. Louis branch 

 could know that other branches throughout the country 

 have withdrawn from membership as soon as they 

 learned about the history of the organization and that 

 the two men, Maxwell and Boothe, are not able to con- 

 trol either legislation or development work along irri- 

 gation lines, they would not be likely to put up good 

 money for some one else to spend. The ever decreasing 

 membership in different sections of the country is evi- 

 dence of the weakness of the deal. St. Louisans would 



