168 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



use of pumps, manufacturers can decide as to the adapt- 

 ability of their particular pumps where crops depend 

 upon an artificial water supply, and it is our impression 

 that a good market for pumps of all kinds is soon to 

 be opened up in that country. 



The suggestion from Mr. Gilbert, who prepared 

 the information for Vice-Consul Williams, involves the 

 installation of a sample plant, say on the Yellow River, 

 in the northwestern part of Shantung Province, where 

 they are now having a famine on account of drought. 

 This simple plant should be put in at the manufac- 

 turer's expense and a nominal water tax could be 

 charged, which, at the very least, would pay the run- 

 ning expense. It is possible, as suggested by Mr. Gil- 

 bert, that the Government could be induced to properly 

 irrigate at a maximum cost, at so much per acre, with 

 the understanding that proper reimbursement would be 

 made upon fulfillment of certain conditions. The ques- 

 tion of getting permission from the authorities to put 

 in a plant, the manner of collecting the tax, and all 

 other details could be solved by the local or traveling 

 agent. The report sent in by Vice-Consul Williams con- 

 tains a letter from the physician at the Methodist 

 Episcopal Hospital at Peking, which deals with this 

 pump question. The names of persons who might act 

 as agents in this connection in China are on file in the 

 Bureau of Manufactures at Washington. 



The physician at the M. E. Hospital writes as 

 follows : 



"The well was bored in 1902; finished about De- 

 cember 1. It is 210 feet deep. There is no definite 

 way of telling how much water is used. The capacity 

 of the engine pump is 3,500 gallons per hour, when 

 running at its capacity. We run the pump on an av- 

 erage of eight hours a day. We discarded a windmill 

 simply because it could not do the work. There is no 

 mill that could possibly keep us supplied. It would 

 take an immense reservoir for reserve water, as the 

 winds are too eccentric. A hot-air engine is in use. It 

 is a fine machine. The sale of water pays all current 

 expenses. Our well is in rather too secluded a place 

 for the sale of much water, and then there are so many 

 wells now that competition is rather large. By running 

 pipes to another part of our compound we could sell 

 much more water, I am sure. The sale of water, with 

 the tax paid by our own people (missionaries), would 

 pay for the plant in time. We have duplicated our 

 engine this year and expect to pay for it from the sale 

 of water. How long it will take to pay for the engine 

 out of the water sales will depend entirely upon how 

 well the water sells." 



We would suggest that manufacturers who are con- 

 templating the development of trade in China would 

 do well to correspond not only with this physician at 

 Peking, but with the proper authorities at Washington 

 as well. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



BY Q. L. SHUMWAT. 



It remained for Congressman Tawney, chairman 

 of the appropriations committee, to plow through the 

 381 pages of the "Homes Commission" report submitted 

 by President Roosevelt to Congress as he surrendered 

 his position, and to find the choicest bits of information 

 that have ever been communicated to the august body 

 of legislators, or benefited a farmer. Here are a few 

 of the important items : 



''Skimmed milk is the residue after the cream has 

 been removed." 



"Butter is formed by churning the cream of milk." 



"Boots and shoes are intended to protect the feet 

 from the uneven and rough surfaces of the ground, 

 from cold, wet and heat 



"It is a good plan to uee night shirts and pajama* 



"Practical experience also teaches us that dream- 

 less sleep is in every way recuperative, while a dream- 

 ful night produces a tired feeling 'in the morning; 

 hence dreams should be avoided if possible." 



The nerve-racking task of compiling such a val- 

 uable lot of information must have produced brain 

 fag, or collapse, and I am sure that a year's recupera- 

 tion in Africa, or some other seaport, would do them 

 good. If they should happen to drown while there 

 what a loss it would be to the scientific world. We 

 can't imagine a more curious specimen for one engaged 

 in psychological research than the brain of a man that 

 will dish up such rot, and label it information. 



When the last Congress appropriated $1,000,000 

 to ferret out land frauds it no doubt expected that the 

 money would be spent in trying to return to the fed- 

 eral government a large acreage of land, but it seems 

 that the first result was to put more immature Sher- 

 locks upon the trail of home-makers. Let us hope that 

 Mr. Ballinger will remedy this. There seems to be a 

 portion of the affidavit of a homesteader to the effect 

 that he does not possess 320 acres of land at the time 

 of making entry. Now the juvenile sleuths are visit- 

 ing the homesteaders who have not yet made proof, and 

 if he finds one who has since acquired an acreage that 

 exceeds 320 acres he is informed that his proof will be 

 rejected. 



Why are these millions wasted in such work? 

 Why is it not used for the purposes for which it was 

 appropriated? There are no doubt thousands of acres 

 that have been illegally acquired from the government, 

 but why do they not go after the large malefactors, 

 and not send these pie-faced brats around bothering 



