18 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



points out the overshadowing importance of a wise 

 administration of the forest reserves for the perpetu- 

 ation of the forests and their protection as sources of 

 water supply. 



"In this message the president made the following 

 recommendations : 



" 'At present the protection to the forest reserves 

 rests with the general land office, the mapping and 

 description of their timber with the United States geo- 

 logical survey, and the preparation of plans for their 

 conservative use with the bureau of forestry, which is 

 also charged with the general advancement of practical 

 forestry in the United States. These various functions 

 should be united in the bureau of forestry, to which they 

 properly belong. The present diffusion of responsibility 

 is bad from every standpoint. It prevents that effective 

 co-operation between the government and the men who 

 utilize the resources of the reserves, without which the 

 interests of both must suffer. The scientific bureaus 

 generally should be put under the department of agri- 

 culture. The president should have by law the power 

 of transferring lands for use as forest reserves to the 

 department of agriculture. He already has such power 

 in the case of lands needed by the department of war 

 and of the navy.' 



"We earnestly urge upon Congress the enactment at 

 its next session of a law which will carry into effect this 

 recommendation of the president in his message. 



"We believe that the principles of irrigation and 

 forestry and their relation to our social and economic 

 problems should be taught in all the higher institutions 

 of learning of the country. 



"We urge the Legislatures of the several states to 

 provide for a full representation of their irrigation and 

 forestry interests at the exposition to be held in St. 

 Louis, Missouri, in 1904, and pledge them our support, 

 believing that such action will not only prove to be of 

 incalculable educational advantage to the people directly 

 interested, but will demonstrate to our own countrymen 

 and to the world that the estimate which we place upon 

 the importance of forestry and irrigation to mankind is 

 not excessive. 



"The Tenth iSiational Irrigation Congress has 

 learned with sorrow of the death of Major John Wesley 

 Powell and mourns the loss as that of one of the pioneers 

 in explorations and studies of the arid region. In par- 

 ticular we wish to express our profound appreciation of 

 his unremitting efforts for national irrigation during 

 the early days of the movement. 



"We express our appreciation of the successful 

 labors of the president and other officers of this congress, 

 who have worked earnestly and faithfully, and the re- 

 sults speak for the value of their efforts." 



A Calif ornian has placed an order with New Or- 

 leans fanciers for all the chameleons he can get at $10 

 a hundred. He does not want them as a decoration for 

 ladies, nor as dainty dishes for the Chinese, but to rid 

 the orchards of insect enemies. The chameleon lives 

 entirely on insects. Its green color deceives the average 

 insect, and when it shoots out its long, pink tongue, it 

 never fails to hit the mark and capture the game. To 

 them is due the protection afforded New Orleans from 

 the swarms of insects that prevail in that semi-tropical 

 climate. The value of the lizard in keeping down and 

 destroying insects has long been recognized, and the 

 dealers say they have done considerable business in 

 lizards for years, particularly in the East. 



THE OLD MILL. 



"There's a dusty old mill on the bank of a stream 



Where the road winds its venturesome way, 

 And the waters that urge the old wheel ever seem 

 As they leap down the rocks with the j oiliest gleam 

 On a midsummer's day, as they're running away, 

 To be chasing the sunbeams in play. 



"But the dusty old mill on the bank of the stream 



Sings a song of content thro' the day, 

 And the miller in white, like the soul of a dream. 

 Flitting busily on in pursuit of his theme, 



Measures time to the lay that the stories ever play, 

 As the waters go laughing away. 



"When the shadows glide out from the trees on the hill, 



At the close of a midsummer's day, 

 To caress and enfold the old moss-covered mill 

 Till the wheel, soothed to rest, becomes passive, then still. 



There are fortunes to weigh that the waters in play, 



Have tossed up to the genius in gray. 



"Oh ! the mossy old mill nestles under the hill, 



Taking toll the soft night-breezes pay, 

 Resting there in the fairylike moonlight until 

 The quick flashes of dawn its gray spirit shall thrill, 

 And the glad waters play, ever laughing and gay, 

 Thro' the wheel all the long, golden day. 



Geo. E. Bowen, in Inter Ocean. 



When the grafters discovered the other day that 

 the fund available for irrigation reclamation in the 

 West had suddenly grown to $9,500,000 a great gleam 

 of joy overspread the face of nature. Just think of all 

 that money brought so quickly into the grasp of men 

 who a few months ago could not flag a bread wagon and 

 we have some idea of the opulence in store for them. 

 Denver Field & Farm. 



The big irrigation project near Wichita Falls, Texas, 

 is already proving a great success. An immense storage 

 reservoir was constructed which is now partly filled. 

 This reservoir forms a lake nine feet deep and covering 

 an area of more than 1,200 acres. When filled the reser- 

 voir will be eighteen feet deep and cover 2,200 acres. 

 A complete system of canals and ditches leading from 

 this reservoir has been constructed and next season 20,- 

 000 acres of land will be placed under irrigation. No 

 effort at irrigation from this reservoir was made until 

 August of this year, when the water was turned on 

 about two thousand acres and the ground softened so 

 that plowing could be done. Different kinds of crops 

 were planted as an experiment even at that late date, 

 and the results have been simply marvelous. Denver 

 Field & Farm. 



When it comes to the actual work of building reser- 

 voirs the government at Washington will have to send 

 us out better engineers than those whom we have already 

 seen or we will be threatened with flood and disaster 

 worse than the Johnstown horror. Three parties of 

 geological surveyors are now playing at work in run- 

 ning the lines on the Pawnee site in eastern Colorado. 

 They are a fine set of amateurs in hydraulic work. Re- 

 cently they started near Jackson lake to run levels. 

 Instead of running a preliminary line to see how the 

 grade could be determined as any of our Colorado en- 

 gineers would have done, they began the expensive work 

 of cross-sectioning at once and the first thing they knew 

 they had run slap-dab up against a range of hills which 

 they could not circumvent by climbing over, digging un- 

 der or going around. All the work was thus lost and 

 they had to do it over again along different lines. 

 Exchange. 



