THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



139 



use 1 , will no longer be required in measuring water for 

 irrigation. 



7. The size of any module desired will be de- 

 termined by the maximum discharge required, and each 

 module may be set to discharge any volume between 

 zero and its maximum capacity. 



8. It may be established in position by any 

 farmer who can handle a corn-planter or a mowing 

 machine. 



For very few water-measuring devices used in ir- 

 rigation can half of these virtues be claimed, and the 



SIMPLE METHOD OF ESTABLISHING SELF-ADIUSTING WEIR 

 IN A DITCH. 



most important of them, such as uniformity of dis- 

 charge, no matter whether the water in the stream, or 

 canal rises or falls, and accuracy of discharge with 

 immediate reading of the amount, are not claimed for 

 any other module so far as known. The claims that the 

 machine, which will be made of metal, will be durable, 

 will not leak, needs the assistance of neither dams 

 nor commonly understood head-gates, and may be es- 

 tablished by any farmer, are also interesting. The 

 chief value of the machine is centered in the imper- 



SELF-ADJUSTING WEIR IN A RICE CANAL. 



vious and frictionless mercurial joint which permits 

 the floats supporting the movable conduit to raise or 

 lower the crest of that conduit, which is a circular 

 weir, as the water rises or falls in the canal. 



The demand for a device which will measure water 

 accurately and under the varied conditions which obtain 

 along a ditch, canal, or river, is very great and should 

 this invention meet this demand, difference of opinion 

 as to amount of water given and received between 

 farmers and canal owners or between either party and 

 officials dividing water, would be a thing of the past. 



TRIBUTE TO CAREY. 



To Senator J. M. Carey, of Wyoming, more than 

 to any other single delegate, are the friends of the Na- 

 tional Irrigation Congress indebted for the continuance 

 and present existence as a separate, distinctive organiza- 

 tion. The surprise that was sprung, the long, labored, 

 eloquent appeals of our United States congressmen, 

 delegates from Utah, the orators from California and 

 Kansas, will long be remembered by those present, in 

 their appeal and endeavor to convince the National Irri- 

 gation Congress, when in its late session at Colorado 

 Springs, of the great importance and untold benefits to 

 be derived by merging with another national association 



entirely foreign to our interests, to drop our name, our 

 identity, and, in fact, to pass out of existence as an irri- 

 gation congress. The older, faithful delegates that had 

 followed and attended every Irrigation Congress since 

 its inception, were amazed by the sudden outburst of 

 eloquence, and especially on the last day ana at almost 

 the last hour. They -were loath to give up that which 

 they had so earnestly worked for and had learned to 

 love for its broad principles and humanitarian objects 

 especially, immediately after the magnificent recogni- 

 tion the Congress of the United States had given the 

 principles they were laboring for, so generous and sub- 

 stantial support by passing its National Irrigation Act. 

 We will long remember that at the very moment it 

 seemed the advocates of merging had carried the day, 

 Senator Carey took the floor and eloquenUy pleaded 

 for hours for rational thought and discussion over the 

 action the Congress was about to take. Finally his 

 earnestness and manly plea appealed to delegates, and 

 the merging was defeated for at least another year, and, 

 from talk after the heat of the discussion was over, we 

 doubt if another attempt will be made next year at 

 Ogden, Utah, to destroy the usefulness and individual- 

 ism of the National Irrigation Congress. Modern Irri- 

 gation. 



The agricultural appropriation bill reported to the 

 national House of Representatives carries an appropria- 

 tion of only $25,000 for the irrigation investigations 

 now conducted by the Agricultural Department under 

 the direction of Mr. Elwood Mead. 



In explanation of this small appropriation the 

 committee said that, while it was believed that the in- 

 vestigation was valuable, the work could be done for a 

 much smaller amount than that appropriated for the 

 current year, which was $65,000. 



In this the committee is mistaken, and the bill 

 should be amended in the House to make the appropria- 

 tion at least what it was for the current year. It looks 

 as if certain influences hostile to this investigation have 

 been at work. The purpose of this opposition is to crip- 

 ple the investigations of the Department of Agriculture 

 in connection with irrigation in order that as far as 

 possible irrigation work under the direction of the na- 

 tional government may be confined to the Department 

 of the Interior and the Geological Survey. To this the 

 members of Congress should not yield, for there is no 

 need of conflict between the two branches of the gov- 

 ernment in relation to this matter. 



The work of the Department of the Interior is con- 

 nected with the reclamation of arid land through the 

 construction of ditches and reservoirs, whereas that of 

 the Department of Agriculture is for the purpose of 

 promoting agriculture by irrigation in places where the 

 land has already been reclaimed. The investigation Mr 

 Mead is conducting is below the ditches; that of the 

 Geological Survey is above. Their jurisdictions are en- 

 tirely distinct, and to promote the interests of one there 

 is no occasion whatever to cripple the other. 



Doubtless some members of Congress from States 

 outside the arid region do not appreciate the value of the 

 investigations which the Department. of Agriculture is 

 making in connection with irrigation and the methods 

 of applying water to land. If they understood it, they 

 would recognize that, viewed from the standpoint of 

 agriculture, they are but little if any less important than 

 the reclamation of new land now arid. Denver Repub- 

 lican. 



