THE IRRIGATION AGE 



VOL. XXI 



CHICAGO, JULY, 1906. 



No. 9 



THE IRRIGATION AGE 



With which is Merged 



MODERN IRRIGATION THE DRAINAGE JOURNAL 



THE IRRIGATION ERA MID-WEST 



ARID AMERICA THE FARM HERALD 



THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO., 

 PUBLISHERS. 



112 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 



Entered at the Postoffice at Chicago, 111., as Second-Class Matter. 



D. H. ANDERSON, Editor 



W. J. ANDERSON .. G. L. SHUMWAY 



Associate Editors 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 



"The Primer of Irrigation" is now ready for delivery. Price, 

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Official organ of the American Irrigation Federation. 

 Office of the Secretary, 309 Boyce Building, Chicago. 



Interesting to Advertisers. 



It may interest advertisers to know that The Irrigation Age is the 

 only publication in the world having an actual paid in advance 

 circulation among individual irrigators and large irrigation corpo- 

 rations. It is read regularly by all interested in this subject and has 

 readers in all parts of the world. The Irrigation Age is 21 yean 

 old and is the pioneer publication of its class in the world. 



The inauguration of many large engi- 

 Demand for neering works at this time, such as the 

 Engineers. National reclamation projects, the Pana- 

 ma Canal, and the New York Barge 

 Canal, and the unusual amount of railroad building 

 has so stimulated the demand for engineers that it is 

 found difficult to hold good men at the salaries the 

 Eeclamation Service is now paying. 



About forty engineers of various grades have re- 

 signed from the bureau during the last year, and a 

 similar number have requested furloughs, nearly all of 

 these being on account of railroad or other organiza- 

 tions. The emoluments of a Government position are 

 seldom commensurate with the value of the services 

 rendered by the engineering profession, and but for 

 the magnitude of the works projected by the Govern- 

 ment and the opportunities offered to obtain distinc- 

 tion in their construction, few engineers of ability 

 would seek these positions. 



The regulations do not permit the engineers to 

 accept outside work, even in an advisory capacity, a 

 privilege which is not denied other members of the 

 profession, and from which they are able to add ma- 

 terially to their salaries. In the matter of subsistence 

 and other expenses the Government is not as liberal 

 as other employers, and it is not to be wondered at 

 that Uncle Sam is losing a large number of skilled and 

 experienced men, whose services are greatly needed. The 

 gravity of the situation is appreciated, and is giving 

 the Department much concern. 



The great importance of leguminous crops 

 Soil in maintaining and increasing the fertil- 



Inoculation. ity of soils was long ago shown to be due 

 to the nitrogen-fixing power of certain 

 bacteria which gain entrance to and live in legume 

 roots. It is now generally recognized that without 

 these bacteria, legumes, like other crops, exhaust the 

 soil of nitrogen. It is thus a matter of the greatest 

 importance in the cultivation of these crops that the 

 proper bacteria be present in the soil under conditions 

 favorable for their development. The old method of 

 inoculating soils is not only expensive, but there is very 

 great danger of spreading weeds and destructive crop 

 diseases at the same time. 



Investigators in America, as well as in Europe, 

 appreciate the great importance of securing nitrogen- 

 fixing bacteria in pure cultures for distribution, and it 

 remained for Dr. George T. Moore to perfect a pure 

 culture method of distribution. 



In the course of his investigations Dr. Moore soon 

 discovered why it was that the former methods of 

 culture and distribution were so uncertain in their 

 results. He worked out improved methods of making 

 the cultures and increasing by growth in non-nitrog- 

 enous media the nitrogen-fixing power of the organ- 

 isms, and perfected a method of drying them by which 

 their activity can be preserved indefinitely. These 

 processes have been patented by the Department in 

 the name of Dr. Moore for the purpose of protecting 

 them for the use of the general public. 



