44 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



THE ELEVENTH NATIONAL IRRIGATION CON- 

 GRESS. 



BY EDWIN F. HOLMES, PRESIDENT. 



The Eleventh Irrigation Congress to be held in 

 Ogden, Utah, next September, is destined to become 

 one of the most important, if not the most important, 

 meeting of that body from the time of its inception 

 as a Congress of Irrigators and there will be present 

 at that time a notable gathering of representative people 

 from all over the country, as there was at Colorado 

 Springs for the tenth session of that Congress. 



There are already under way plans and arrange- 

 ments for the perfect accommodation of delegates and 

 guests, and in every way we hope to show our appre- 

 ciation of the great honor done to Utah by holding the 

 Congress in that state, the birthplace of the irrigation 

 movement in the United States, and which movement 

 we hope to see grow and develop to a remarkable de- 

 gree, not only in the arid and semi-arid sections, but 

 wherever the soil is cultivated in this country, believing 

 that even where large crops are now raised without 

 irrigation, even larger crops may be grown with irri- 



COL. E. F. HOLMES, 

 President Eleventh National Irrigation Congress. 



gation, and the value of every acre so treated to have 

 a largely increased value in producing crops. 



We earnestly recommend that State Irrigation 

 Congresses be formed in every State, to look after the 

 particular interests of that State, provide maps of 

 irrigation districts, together with lines of canals built 

 and to be built. Compiling statistics as to the work 

 accomplished each year ; locating possible reservoir sites, 

 keeping lists of all parties interested in the great move- 



ment, and all matters of general interest in the work. 

 The National Congress of the future to be composed 

 mainly of delegates from these several State organiza- 

 tions, together with such others as may be appointed, 

 thus meeting upon a common ground for the exchange 

 of ideas in the development of the work from year to 

 year, to learn of improved methods in the use of water, 

 and its more economical distribution to the benefit of 

 all parties interested in this great movement. Let 

 each State congress possess itself of a library of cur- 

 rent publications on the subject of irrigation and for- 

 restry, which is so closely allied to the main question 



MY SKIES ARE SELDOM GRAY. 



I've had my share 

 Of carking care, 



Of fickle Fortune's frowns; 

 I've braved and borne 

 The cold world's scorn, 



And had my ups and downs. 

 Yet I can still 

 A ditty trill 



Or sing a roundelay; 

 For though I hold 

 Nor lands nor gold, 



My skies are seldom gray ! 

 The stress and strife 

 Of toilsome life 



Have taught me one glad truth 

 Not he who must 

 Crawls in the dust, 



But he who will forsooth ! 

 And so I sing 

 My song, and fling 



My load of care away ; 

 For though I hold 

 Nor lands nor gold, 



My skies are seldom gray ! 

 I would not give 

 A fig to live 



Divorced from fret and moil; 

 The bread I eat 

 Is rendered sweet 



Because of daily toil. 

 And so I still 

 A ditty trill 



A blithesome roundelay; 

 For though I hold 

 Nor lands nor gold, 



My skies are seldom gray ! 

 James B. Naylor, in National Magazine. 



A MERRY CAN. 



"I can fly kites, oh, awful high, 

 Away up higher than the sky!" 



Thus Bobbieboy began. 

 "You can !" said I, with quick surprise 

 At Bobbieboy's indignant eyes. 



Cried he, "I'm not a can !" 



Then laughing at his queer mistake, 

 I said "My word I never break ; 



So. Bobbieboy, my man, 

 A 'can' you are, a- 'can' were born, 

 But yet a 'can' we do not scorn 



For you're A-mer-i-can !" 



Washington Star. 



