146 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



A correspondent at Sterling, 111., sends in the fol- 

 lowing information concerning the work of draining 

 the swamp known as the Green river bottom, extending 

 through Lee, Whiteside, Bureau, and Rock Island coun- 

 ties, a distance of fifty miles. 



This has been completed and the great pumping sta- 

 tion in the Meridocia swamp is now throwing 3,000,000 

 gallons of water into the Mississippi river every hour, 

 day and night. 



The drainage system now completed has reclaimed 

 200,000 acres of once valueless land, but now worth $75 

 per acre. The work began fifteen years ago and cost 

 $2,500,000. 



This land was redeemed by the digging of large 

 drainage ditches. The size of these ditches ranged from 

 an ordinary small ditch to a ditch the size of a regu- 

 lation water canal. There are forty-seven of these 

 ditches. They are on the average of five miles apart, 

 and so arranged as to completely drain the entire swamp 

 lands. 



The biggest undertaking was the draining of the 

 Meridociar swamps. ' This swamp lies in the northern 

 part of Rock Island county and the southwestern part 

 of Whiteside and is bounded by the Mississippi on the 

 west. The Mississippi river surface is a few feet above 

 the level of the swamp. To overcome this difficulty a 

 great pump has been installed at the lowest part of the 

 swamp and the water is daily being pumped from the 

 swamp. It is said that the pump is one of the largest 

 of the kind in the world, and hourly throws millions 

 of gallons of water into the Mississippi river. This 

 pump is running night and day, in addition to smaller 

 pumps. 



Several of the reclaimed farms have sold as high 

 as $90 an acre. It is considered to be one of the 

 most fertile regions in Illinois and is the great corn 

 belt of the state. New villages hare sprung into exist- 

 ence, every village being a corn center. The farmers 

 have become independently rich, and school houses and 

 churches dot the land that formerly was mud and water. 



" 'They didn't say anything about the scarcity of 

 clay, did they?' cheerfully asked a sidewalk contractor, 

 as he looked down upon an accumulation of about three 

 inches of clav on his shoes." 



The following is from The Kansas City Journal 

 of recent date : 



"A sewer pipe combine is the latest. Yesterday 

 contractors and builders received notices from the mak- 

 ers of sewer pipe in Kansas City that the prices on that 

 commodity would advance 3 per cent from the present 

 rate, beginning February 1, and that those who wanted 

 to save money would better get their orders in before 

 the first of the approaching month. 



" 'I have a contract for a big sewer,' observed a 

 sewer contractor at the city hall yesterday, Trot I can- 

 not begin the work before the frost is out of the ground 

 in the spring. I based my bid on the work on the 

 present prices, and this threatened raise will bankrupt 

 me and cause me the loss of a big pot of money. 



" ""When I received the notice of the advance after 

 February 1, I went to the several sewer pipe makers 

 who have entered into the combine to boost prices, and 

 told them of my fix. The only consolation they would 

 give me was that I could buy the pipe prior to the raise, 

 but this means to me more money than I have at my 

 command to tie up. Their excuse for the advance is 

 that owing to the high price and scarcity of coal and 

 the increase in wages demanded by labor, they have been 

 forced into it.' 



The Isle of Pines, lying south of the Island of 

 Cuba, is supposed to be the original of Stevenson's 

 "Treasure Island." Professor John Finley recently 

 paid a visit to the island which he will describe in the 

 February Scribner's. He found there at the present 

 day a man digging for treasures. 



TWO BOYS. 



(Original.) 



BV HARRY H. TRAVERS, WOODSTOCK. WIS. 



"Tommy, my boy," said grandpa one day, 

 "Come here and I'll tell you about 



Two little boys I used to know, 

 Whose names were Merry and Pout. 



"They lived side by side in a queer little town 

 Of the name of Tweedle-tee-dee. 



Merry was glad from morning till night, 

 While Pout was glum as could be. 



"Merry was a very good little boy; 



He helped his mamma each day; 

 Carried the water and brought in the wood, 



And always was happy and gay. 



"Whenever he chanced to have 



An apple, or peach, or pear, 

 He always was sure to give 



His sister the largest share. 



"Every one who lived on his street 

 Loved him because he was good; 



Because he was kind and cheerful, 

 And never saucy or rude. 



"Now Pout was a different kind of boy, 



Quite a different kind was he. 

 H.e was always finding fault with things, 



With the toast, or the eggs, or the tea. 



"The toast was always a trifle too brown, 



The tea too 'weak or stout, 

 Or the eggs too done; he always found 



Something to grumble about. 



"He never would share his apple or orange 



With his sister so small, 

 But would say, ' 'Tis too small to divide,' 



And selfishly eat it all. 



"He liked to idle the days away, 



He hated to do a thing; 

 He would let his mamma bring in the wood 



And the water from the spring. 



"And no one who lived on his street, 



In this town of Tweedle-tee-dee, 

 Loved this Pout I have told you about, 



Such a selfish boy was he. 



"Now, Tommy, my lad. of these two boys 



I have been telling about, 

 Which would you rather be 



Happy Merry or grumbling Pout?" 



And from wee Tommy, whose golden hair 



Clustered about his head, 

 Quickly the answer came: 



"I'd rudder be Merry," he said. 



A good deed is never lost. He who sows courtesy 

 reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers 

 love. 



