THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



359 



quests those who have any evidence or information 

 leading to the exposure of such frauds, to prepare it, 

 ready to present to the Twelfth Congress at El Paso, 

 where the matter will be inquired into seriously un- 

 less the corporation lawyers run the Congress, which 

 borders on insult even to intimate, but they have been 

 defying the power and authority of the Government 

 itself so long and to such a monstrous extent, that 

 it is difficult to say what they will not do or attempt 

 to do with a voluntary organization. 



We have received a letter from a distiu- 

 Drainage guished surveyor and civil engineer, Mr. 

 and J. Arnett, of London, Ohio, whose ablo 



Irrigation. article on "Laying Drain Tiles" appeared 

 in the September issue of THE IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE AND DRAINAGE JOURNAL, intimating that we 

 had sounded the death knell of the DRAINAGE JOURNAL 

 by attaching so much importance to the subject of 

 irrigation. Mr. Arnett says among other things: 



"In some of their bearings the AGE AND JOURNAL 

 are identical. They both deal with water. They both 

 must have canals", ditches and laterals. But the use 

 made of the water by the two systems differ diametri- 

 cally. Irrigation wants to carry water into the soil; 

 drainage wants to carry the superabundant water out 

 of the soil. Barren, arid land will not produce with- 

 out irrigation, neither will flooded land produce without 

 drainage. 



"The perusal of THE AGE shows that its editor is 

 a pioneer and at home in its field. But where, 

 where, is the champion for drainage?" 



THE IRRIGATION AGE does not deserve this impu- 

 tation, and it has spoken very little to the purpose if 

 its readers fail to understand that it is the pioneer 

 and champion of both drainage and, irrigation. Both 

 are essential to advanced, scientific .agriculture, not 

 as mere temporary makeshifts, but combined mechan- 

 ical essentials whether on flooded . lands or on arid 

 lands. There are times of drought in the humid 

 regions when irrigation is essential, and it is now 

 extensively practiced in Illinois and elsewhere, and 

 it is also of vital importance in the arid/regions where 

 the land will not produce without irrigation;, that there 

 must be a perfect system of drainage to produ'ce any 

 sort of a crop. 



Professor Aruett himself solves the whole problem 

 when he confesses "that drainage wants to carry off 

 the superabundant water out of the soil," a fact we 

 admit without reservation, and that "barren, arid land 

 will not produce without irrigation," a fact which is 

 also admitted. Experience has demonstrated with 

 costly emphasis that the arid lands must possess as 

 perfect a system of drainage as flooded lands, for the 

 constant pouring of water "into the soil" without 

 drainage is as detrimental to the growth of plants 



as flooded lands in the humid regions without drain- 

 age. There is always ''superabundant water" to be got 

 rid of, and it makes no difference whether that super- 

 abundant water comes from the rains of heaven or an 

 irrigation ditch. Every housewife who keeps growing 

 her pots of flowers in the winter time understands that 

 the pots must be perforated at the bottom to carry off 

 the surplus water she sprinkles on the top. 



It is time for the advocates of drainage and those 

 of irrigation to join hands in the common cause of 

 scientific agriculture. Both have been practiced since 

 the flourishing days of Babylon the Great, and the 

 combination of the two systems is as old as the Nile 

 of Egypt. In the Primer of Irrigation, in course of 

 preparation by the editor of this journal, the whole 

 subject is treated fully and at large, and the cause of 

 its preparation was the demand for a combined system 

 of drainage and irrigation. We maintain that this 

 journal is a true journl of drainage and irrigation, 

 the only one in the country, and from our correspond- 

 ents and subscribers in India, Australia and South 

 America, we feel at liberty to claim that it is the 

 only one in the world. To separate the subjects would 

 be impracticable, unwise, unscientific, and to repudiate 

 all our progress in the art of agriculture. 



The National Irrigation Congress that 

 The Ogden ended its eleventh annual session at Og- 

 Congress. den, Utah, on the 18th of September, 

 demonstrated that it is a living, working 

 actuality, and announced to the world that it is not 

 and will not be the mere personal instrument of any 

 schemer or combination of schemers for personal gain. 

 The effort to destroy it ignobly . failed, and if there is 

 a'grain of intelligence left to those who hope to trans- 

 form it into a private land syndicate, they will cease 

 their efforts from now on and either join with it in 

 its great aim to benefit the, 'public, or step out of it 

 and employ their own agencies to accomplish their 

 underhand work. If they refuse to do either, then 

 they -must expect to receive liberal doses of purgative 

 medicines during the coming year, so that the Twelfth 

 Congress to be held at El Paso will be free from 

 their pernicious influences. They are hereby notified 

 that the doses administered them will not be gentle 

 triturations, but in good, old fashioned Allopathic 

 quantities. 



The National Irrigation Congress peremptorily re- 

 fused to turn over its prerogatives to any man or set 

 of men, and when that certain man who attempted to 

 compel them to surrender -their objects to him says: 

 "I am too busy attending to irrigation matters to run 

 for the Vice-Presidency," we wonder whose irrigation 

 matters he is attending to? 



Begin to prepare now for the Twelfth National 

 Irrigation Congress. 



