294 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



July, 



last few years large numbers of them 

 have been fed by the farmers of the 

 Sunny side country. In this way alfalfa 

 has been disposed of at $4.50 per ton 

 in the stack. When one realizes that an 

 acre of Sunnyside land produces eight 

 tons of alfalfa, the rate of profit is at 

 once apparent. 



There is no danger of an overproduc- 

 tion of hay in the Yakima Valley, for 

 there is scarcely a year when any hay 

 is left over in this section. The cities 

 of Puget Sound, the logging camps of 

 the great wooded belt west of the Cas- 

 cade Mountains, and of late Alaska, the 

 Hawaiian and Philippine Islands have 

 become great hay-consumers. 



It is, however, in the growing of fruit 

 that the rich lands of the Sunnyside 

 section can be best utilized. In the 

 great Northwest a large and increasing 

 population dwells, and the amount of 

 green, canned, and dried fruit consumed 

 by the people of this belt is enormous. 

 Fruit shipped in car-load lots from the 

 Yakima Valley is a common occurrence, 

 and the day is near at hand when it 

 will be moved in train-loads. That the 

 railway company is in accord with Sun- 

 nyside on the line of horticulture is 

 shown by the following statement by 

 President Mellen, of the Northern Pa- 

 cific : " Not a bushel of fruit will rot 

 in the Yakima Valley by reason of an 

 excessive freight rate." As evidence 

 that fruit does not rot in the Sunnyside 

 country, over two years ago two large 

 fruit evaporators were erected, but so 

 great has been the demand for the green 

 products that these dryers have scarcely 

 been operated. 



The Washington Irrigation Company 

 of Zillah, Washington, is proprietor of 

 the Sunnyside Canal. 



Owing to the recent large sales of 

 land by the Washington Irrigation 

 Company, it has become necessary to 

 extend the main canal from the forty- 

 second mile post to opposite the town 

 of Prosser, a distance of 14 miles. The 

 town of Pros.ser is a live place, and the 

 Prosser Falls at this point in the Yakima 

 River are capable of generating 2,500- 

 horse power, part of which is already 

 used in pumping water, driving a flour 

 mill, and generating electricity for light- 

 ing the town. 



