Cooperation in Irrigation 265 



irrigation systems in Southern California and in the 

 United States have been constructed piece by piece by 

 land-owners with no other aid than small loans from local 

 banks. 



" Under some of the mutual companies in the fruit dis- 

 tricts it was originally intended to have one share of stock, 

 with par value of $100, for each acre to be irrigated. As a 

 rule a share represented the equivalent of one-tenth miner's 

 inch of water flowing continuously, although this varied 

 to some extent. Sometimes there were ten shares per 

 acre, with par value of $10, so that the valuation per acre 

 and per miner's inch was about the same. Experience 

 proved that one miner's inch was hardly sufficient for ten 

 acres of mature citrus orchards, but that it was enough 

 for seven or eight acres. Extra shares in water com- 

 panies were purchased by orchardists to provide the 

 additional water needed for full-grown trees, so that the 

 par value of an acre water right, based on present use, is 

 about $125. Under other companies one miner's inch 

 served only five acres from the start. The market value of 

 shares is influenced by supply, demand, and various local 

 conditions as well as the original cost, and acre rights are 

 now valued at from $100 to $300 for citrus fruits. 



"A mutual company may legally provide in its by-laws 

 that each of the shares or water rights be appurtenant to 

 certain land, but often the water is instead made appur- 

 tenant to the entire tract as a whole which the irrigation 

 system serves, then stock may be transferred within the 

 tract separately from the land if the transaction is entered 

 on the books of the company. 



"There is no fixed rule by which mutual companies 



