14 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VEGETABLE ACIDS. 



There is another class of compound substances 

 which play an important part in the development of 

 plant foods and the perfection of growth. They are 

 Icnown as the vegetable acids, and it is due to them that 

 plants possess a taste and flavor, every plant having its 

 own peculiar acid. They are usually classified into five 

 species and enter into combination with all of the sub- 

 s-tances heretofore referred to. They are : 



Acetic acid (vinegar), tartaric acid (acid of wine), 

 citric acid (acid of lemons), malic acid (acid of ap- 

 ples), and oxalic acid (acid of sorrel). Acetic acid is 

 the most extensively diffused and the most largely pro- 

 duced of all the organic acids. It is formed wherever 

 there is a natural or artificial fermentation of vegetable 

 substances. It easily dissolves lime, magnesia, alumina, 

 and other mineral substances, forming salts known as 

 "acetates," which are all soluble in water, and may, 

 therefore, be absorbed by the root pores of plants. It is 

 an acid common in everything, and may be manufac- 

 tured from wood, alcohol, cane sugar and from the juice 

 of apples, or by any vegetable fermentation, the process 

 of fermentation throwing off carbonic acid and forming 

 vinegar. 



Tartaric acid finds lodgment in a variety of plants. 

 The grape and the tamarind owe their sourness to it, 

 and it exists also in the mulberry, berries of the sumach, 

 in the sorrels, and in the roots of the dandelion. It is 

 deposited on the sides of wine vats, and when purified 

 and compounded with potash, it becomes the familiar 

 "cream of tartar," which is known to every housewife. 

 In the grape it is converted into sugar during the ripen- 

 ing of the fruit. 



Citric acid gives sourness to the lemon, lime, orange, 

 grape fruit, shaddock and other members of the citrus 

 family. It is the acid in the cranberry, and in numerous 

 small fruits such as the huckleberry, wild cherry, cur- 

 rant, gooseberry, strawberry, and the fruit of the haw- 

 thorn. In combination with lime, it exists in the 

 tubers, and with potash, it is found in the Jerusalem 

 artichoke. 



Malic acid is the chief acid in apples, peaches, 

 plums, pears, elderberries, the fruit of the mountain 

 ash. It is combined with citric acid in the small fruits 

 above mentioned, and in the grape and American agave 

 it is associated with tartaric acid. It has exactly the 

 same chemical constitution as citric acid, and the two 

 bear the same relation to each other as starch, gum and 

 sugar. They undergo numerous transformations in the 

 interior of plants, and are the cause of the various 

 flavors possessed by fruits and vegetables. 



Oxalic acid has poisonous qualities, but an agree- 

 able taste. It occurs in combination with potash in the 

 sorrels, in garden rhubarb, and in the juices of many 

 lichens, or mosses. Those mosses which cover the sides 

 of rocks and the trunks of trees sometimes contain half 

 their weight of this acid in combination with lime. 



This chapter is, of course, one step farther in ad- 

 vance of the one immediately preceding, and the facts 

 stated are intended to lead on up to a complete, prac- 

 tical knowledge of the forces df nature operating in 

 the soil and within the plant to attain perfection. Noth- 

 ing but the bare essentials, the mere outlines, have been 

 given so far; to attempt to enter into all the details 

 would be to write an entire volume, the reading of which 

 might prove tiresome and unproductive of anything 

 practical. All that it is desired to do in these prelim- 



inary chapters is to furnish the reader with sufficient 

 elementary knowledge to enable him to go farther on 

 his own account and to infer what the soil needs for the 

 cultivation of plants; how that soil is to be cultivated, 

 and how the element of water is to be applied to it in 

 order to increase its productiveness and his profit. 

 This is the true preliminary to irrigation, as we imag- 

 ine, for it would convey no information to suggest the 

 pouring of water on the soil, and drenching plants and 

 crops with it, unless the intelligence is prepared to 

 understand why that should be done, and all the details 

 and consequences laid before the reason and common 

 sense. 



So far, the reader ought to have a comparatively 

 clear idea of the chemical constitutions of the substances 

 which enter into the soil, and from the soil into the 

 plants, but there still remains the question : How do 

 the substances necessary to plant life get into the con- 

 dition of plant food? This question will be answered in 

 the next chapter. 



STATE PROGRESS WYOMING. 



CLARENCE T. JOHNSTON, STATE ENGINEER. 



Read before Jlth National Irrigation Congress, Ogden. 



The irrigation law of Wyoming, practically as it 

 stands today, was passed by the first State Legislature 

 in the winter of 1890-91. Under its provisions a State 

 Engineer and four division superintendents have super- 

 vision of the waters of the State. The five constitute 

 a Board of Control which has quasi- judicial functions 

 in the settlement of rights to use water. Each division 

 is divided into districts and local supervision is exercised 

 by a water commissioner. The object of the law was 

 to prevent controversy over water, and the experience 

 of the last thirteen years shows that it has not been a 

 failure in this respect. 



The State Engineer is, under the law, required to 

 keep informed as to the water supply of the streams of 

 the State, and water can not be diverted without first 

 obtaining his consent. His decisions are appealable to 

 the Board of Control, and from that body to the courts. 

 When a stream becomes fully appropriated during the 

 irrigation season further permits to divert water are 

 refused and the proposing irrigators are advised to con- 

 struct reservoirs and store the flood waters. When these 

 become exhausted, all further diversions are prohibited. 

 So successful has this supervision been that no decision 

 of the State Engineer on questions of water supply has 

 been appealed. 



Where conflicts have arisen on streams over the 

 division of water the Board of Control has adjudicated 

 the claims. The doctrine of priority of right has here 

 been carried fully into effect, and 5,000 certificates of 

 appropriation have been issued under the decrees which 

 have been rendered. The decrees issued by the Board 

 of Control can be appealed to the courts, but only five 

 appeals have been taken, and two of these are now 

 before the Supreme Court. The Board has been sus- 

 tained in every case where a decision has been ren- 

 dered by the court. Appeals are becoming even 

 less common than they were during the first few years 

 after the law went into operation. After an adjudica- 

 tion has been completed and the decree of the Board 

 carried into effect, peace reigns and it is but seldom 

 that a water commissioner is called upon to distribute 

 the water to those who are entitled to it. Under the 



