1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



977 



used being lava rock or granite. The spring, being 

 nicely walled, is covered over by slabs or stone, and 

 upon them earth is placed. The water is led out from 

 the spring, so arranged, by means of pipes, the usual 

 gas-pipe, and carried far enough to reach outside the 

 inclosure about the spring, where strong troughs are 

 placed, raised about two feet above the ground, and 

 they are arranged to be one foot wide and one foot in 

 depth, and 12 to Iti feet long. These troughs are 

 placed in rows in such a way that the excess of water 

 from the upper trough, instead of overflowing, is car- 

 ried to the next trough, and so on through the series. 

 Finally the waste water is led away by means of a 

 drain, which is usually paved with stone to prevent 

 its becoming muddy. 



I know of several cattle-ranges supplied in this way, 

 and have been led to admire the fine condition of the 

 stock upon them. On the other hand, those cattle- 

 men who avoid the expenditure and labor necessary 

 for putting their water supply in this condition are 

 continually attacked by some form of blood-poison- 

 ing, the common form being anthrax. I have passed 

 by the water-holes on some ranges, and found them 

 tramped into a ma.ss of mud several hundred feet 

 across, and have counted as many as fifty head of 

 cattle lying in the mvrd dead, the living ones obliged 

 to drink the water from this mud and the carcasses. 

 It is no uncommon thing to hear of a certain herd 

 being attacked by anthrax, and almost wiped out of 

 existence, and in every case it is where the water 

 supply has not been properly attended to. Where it 

 is known that the water below the surface will flow to 

 the surface with sufficient force to form what is called 

 an artesian well, and if the distance to the water is 

 not very great, it is usual to drive a two or three inch 

 gas pipe down to the supply. In this way many 

 cattle-ranches are furnished with good pure water, 

 the pipes being three or four feet above the ground, 

 continually flowing over into a series of troughs 

 arianged to keep the ground about the pipe from 

 becoming muddy. The ranch of the Hon. Theodore 

 Winters, in Washoe Valley, Nevada, is a fine exam- 

 ple. He keeps a large amount of blooded stock, both 

 horses and cattle. He has sunk at various points these 

 wells, varying in depth from 150 to 350 feet, and there- 

 by is brought to the surface a continual supply of 

 water. The land where these wells are sunk is grav- 

 elly and sandy, and therefore never becomes muddy 

 through the flow of water and he does not make use 

 of this trough system for that reason. I think that 

 nowhere in Nevada or the West can be found a ranch 

 so well supplied with good pure water for stock, and 

 at the same time a more healthy herd of stock, horses, 

 cattle, and sheep. There might be cases in which 

 your spring water would need to be conveyed through 

 a pipe to a water pool. This is a contrivance fre- 

 quently made use of in the West, and works well. 

 The prime condition to be attended to is to secure a 

 clean orifice for the discharge of the spring w^ater ; 

 and, if possible, to cover that over to avoid its contam- 

 ination by dust from the atmosphere, dead leaves, 

 and other sources of filth which will reach open 

 wells, and the pool should be paved with stones. 



I think if you have new ideas on the subject it 

 would be well to publish a book, as you propose, and 

 I should be very glad, in ca.se you do, to be the recip- 

 ient of a copy. I believe in furnishing thirsty human- 

 ity and thirsty animals with the proper kind of drink, 

 by which I mean pure water, and to furnish it ad 

 libitum. Very truly yours. Chas. W. Irish, 



Chief of Irrigation Inquiry. 



Permit me to add right here a hearty amen 

 to the concluding sentence in the above very 

 valuable letter. 



come a pest if mown before it goes to seed, as it dies 

 out root and branch in two years. 



SWEET CLOVER — ALL ABOUT IT IN A NUT- 

 SHELL. 



We clip the following from the New Eng- 

 land Cultivator. It has more boiled-down 

 truth in it than we have seen in a longtime in 

 regard to sweet clover : 



A Missouri correspondeirt of the Kansas Farmer 

 says of the Bokhara (or sweet) clover that he thinks 

 it one of the best forage-plants for the arid regions 

 of the Western States, and that cattle eat the hay in 

 preference to any other. It will grow on soils where 

 nothing else grows, and will soon make them fertile 

 enough to grow other clover. It will kill out all 

 weeds and small bushes, and take complete posses- 

 sion of the land ; yet as it is a biennial it can not be- 



BELGIAN HARES BEFORE THE SECRETARY OF 

 AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON. 



We clip the following from the report for 

 1900: 



Much interest in the Belgian hare has been develop- 

 ed during the last three vears, especially in Califor- 

 nia, Colorado, and other Western States. But how- 

 ever valuable Belgian hares may be for meat or fur, 

 their introduction in large numbers is accompanied 

 by a certain element of danger which should not be 

 overlooked. Some are sure to escape, and the State 

 Board of Horticulture of California has estimated that 

 several thousand of the animals are already at large 

 in the State. If they increase as rapidly" when at 

 large as they do in captivity, they will undoubtedly 

 become a source of danger, and stringent measures 

 may be required to keep them under control. Still 

 more dangerous would be the introduction of the 

 Belgian hare into Porto Rico, where the question of 

 its acclimatization has already excited interest. 



THE ARMY CANTEEN — A HAPPY SURPRISE. 



When our dailies recently announced that 

 a bill had just passed the House, absolutely 

 throwing the canteen out of the army as well 

 as from the navy, I think I am right in saying 

 it was a glad surprise to the temperance friends 

 and almost everybody else the world over. It 

 made me think of Our Homes for Nov. 15, 

 where I said there were unseen and unknown 

 agencies at work for temperance and right- 

 eousness. In iho: Q.\Q\&\a.ndi News and Herald 

 for Dec. 8, the whole thing is summed up so 

 much to my notion of things that I give it 

 here entire : 



SHOULD GO OUT OF THE LIQUOR BUSINESS. 



The adoption by the House of Mr. Littlefield's 

 amendment to the army reorganization bill, absolute- 

 ly prohibiting the sale of liquor upon the military 

 camps, reservations, or transports of the United States 

 Government, thus abolishing the army canteen, will 

 satisfy a growing popular sentiment against the sanc- 

 tion of the liquor-traffic in any form by the govern- 

 ment. Whether it makes for temperance among the 

 troops can be demonstrated only by the operations of 

 the law. 



Everybody who believes that it is grossly wrong for 

 the government to be responsible, directly or indirect- 

 ly, for placing temptation in the way of its .soldiers, 

 will rejoice at the action of the House, and hope for 

 similar action by the Senate ; and even if the abolition 

 of the canteen leads to an increase of drunkenness by 

 forcing the soldiers to go outside of their camps, bar- 

 racks, and reservations for a greater indulgence in the 

 use of intoxicating liquors than would have been re- 

 sorted to if all purciiases were made through the can- 

 teen, it will not be possible to charge that the govern- 

 ment is directly responsible. 



Congress should go further than to prohibit the sale 

 of liquor at army posts and camps, and upon govern- 

 ment tiansporis. The sale of liquor should be prohib- 

 ited at the capitol building in Washington, in the cafes 

 that are patronized by the members of the Hou^e and 

 Senate. It is shameful that the sale of intoxicating 

 liquor should be permitted in any building under gov- 

 ernment control, and which is supported by the money 

 collected from all the people. It is time for the gov- 

 ernment to sever its connection with the liquor traffic 

 entirely. 



I was really amused to read that Grosvt nor, 

 of Ohio, said that, while he did not think it 

 was the best thing to do, and he did not be- 

 lieve it would aid temperance in the army, yet 

 because ihe people were making such a clamor 

 about it he had voted to abolish the canteen. 

 Thank God that public opinion has for once 

 at least triumphed over the beer business and 

 over all the money they have back of it. 



