THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



great country we will then be able to raise all the 

 cereals required in the world." 



Thus from the recorded statement of the highest 

 authority in Europe, goes to prove, beyond doubt, that 

 this great western country oi' ours, these millions 

 of acres, will, with the aid of irrigation (which is 

 nothing short of a blessing) and with the aid and 

 means that we are now giving 'and asking our govern- 

 ment assistance to this noble work, will be tlie means 

 of making this country one of the greatest ancl rii-Vst 

 and most nourishing countries of the work,. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Hoou RIVER, ORE., Oct. 30, 1903. 

 EDITOR IRRIGATION AGE: 



Dear Sir Will you kindly inform me of the name and 

 address of firm making tools for irrigation purposes, who 

 make an implement that can be pulled by a horse, that will 

 make a rill similar in size and shape to the Planet, Jr., 

 garden plow, arranged so as to make the furrow on the same 

 side of each row, to throw all the soil way preferable. Yours 

 truly, . H. SHEPARD. 



EAGLE PASS., TEX., Oct. 12, 1903. 

 THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING Co.: 



Gentlemen In your IRRIGATION AGE there used to be 

 advertisements of levels for laterals, suitable for aiding in 

 the selection of dam sites, or any short line, at reasonable 

 price. I need one now. Several people of late have asked 

 me about such an instrument. Can you kindly tell me where 

 to get such an instrument and oblige. Yours truly, 



P. W. THOMSON. 



DENVER, COLO, Oct. 25, 1903. 

 1655 Downing Avenue. 

 MR. D. H. ANDERSON, THE IRRIGATION AGE: 



My Dear Sir Yours of the 10th ult. met me on my return 

 irom a three weeks' absence on a state road survey in the 

 mountains. The September AGE also to hand. Wonder the 

 postoffice authorities keep up with me, even sometimes, with 

 as many changes of address as I have had in the last five 

 years. In some ways 1 am perhaps "a well known citizen." 

 I shall mail this at Castle Rock, Colo., today, whither I go 

 on professional errands, and to attend meeting called by 

 supervisor of forests for farmers, miners, cattlemen and mill- 

 men. Please address as above "till forbid." I am with 

 Prof. Carpenter in state engineer's office. Very truly thine, 



JOHN S. TITCOMB. 



LONDON, OHIO, Oct. 18, 1903. 

 D. H. ANDERSON, EDITOR IRRIGATION AGE: 



Dear Sir After respects, etc., permit me to ask you 

 to turn to page 326, September number of THE AGE, under 

 your editorial heading, "Merging, Fusing and Amalgamation," 

 and read the third sentence beginning with "But" and end- 

 ing with "the wall" (go no further in thought or otherwise) 

 and you will read the death knell of the Drainage Journal. 

 The surgeons at the operating table were Messrs. C. G. 

 Elliott, C. E. and D. H. Anderson, editor IRRIGATION AGE. 

 Leaving out, as not applicable herein, the latter part of the 

 third sentence, never did I read an editorial that so fully 

 describes the cause of a thing giving unimpeachable reasons 

 therefor. But there are no grounds for blaming either party 

 for the demise of the Drainage Journal. 



In some of their bearings THE AGE and Journal are iden- 

 tical. They both deal with water. They both must have 

 canals, ditches and laterals. But tne use made of the water 

 by the two systems differ diametrically. Irrigation wants 

 to carry water into the soil. Drainage wants to carry the 

 superabundant water out of the soil. The Primer of Irriga- 

 tion will show how drainage water is used for irrigation. 

 Barren, arid land will not produce without irrigation ; neither 

 will flooded land produce without drainage. 



The perusal from time to time oi THE AGE shows that 

 its editor is a pioneer and at home in his field. But where, 

 O where, is the champion for drainage? 



I have just received a letter from a party in Iowa, who 

 wrote me after reading squib in the September number of THE 

 AGE inquiring if I knew of any publication devoted to drain- 

 age. In all friendship, yours, etc. J. ARNETT. 



We have answered this letter editorially and the reader is 

 referred to that answer, which is believed to be satisfactory. 

 EDITOR IRRIGATION AGE. 



SILAS THORNAPPLE'S OPINIONS. 



ON GITTIN' A HOME. 



"Deacon Turnbull is tryin' to argufy with them 

 ez hain't got none, to git a home by all means, an " 



"An 5 at all hazards," says Sam 

 Durkee, who had been preached to by 

 the Deacon on several occasions, 

 'leastways, thet's the way it 'pears 

 to me sence the Deacon hez the 

 homes to dispose uv." 



"What is a home ?" inquired Zeke 

 Pennywhacker, who sot by the crack- 

 er barrel, utilizin' his opportunities. ;* 

 "Is it suthin' you can git ready made 

 like them all wool skeeter net wove 

 suits at the department stores? Is it suthin' like the 



turkey hash you git at the fifteen-cent eatin' emporiums 

 pervided you hev the fifteen cents?" 



"I ruther guess not," says I. "When anybody says 

 to me: 'Silas, git a home',' I allus recall what the sick 

 feller said to his doctor when he wuz sufferin' from loss 

 uv appetite. Says the doctor to him : 'You must go out 

 every mornin' bright an' early an' take a walk on an 

 empty stummick.' Til do it cheerfully,' says the pa- 

 tient, 'ef you'll pervide the stummick fur me to walk 

 on.' An' so, when a feller says to me: 'Git a home,' 

 I ask in puffeck good faith : 'Whose home shell I git ?' 

 No, sirre, thar ain't no homes flyin' around hopin' to 

 git took." 



"I dunno about thct," says Ezra Gregg, "thar's 

 Ozone George who is a promisin' homes to fifty million 

 families in the great arid pastures of the West, whar 

 land is wuth twenty-five cents an acre an' water six 

 bits a quart. Whar the air is so pure an' dry that you 

 don't need a refrigerator to keep meat from spoilin', 

 and whar thar is potash enough in the back yard to 

 make a car load uv soap. Whar the cuckoo sings hot 

 two steps an' the hens lay hard boiled eggs. Whar 



"You durn fool," says I, impatient like, fur I wuz 

 riled, "hev you gone an' paid in a subscription to the 

 good cause?" 



Ezra hung his head ez if shamed an' said no more. 

 His confusion beiir evidence uv his guilt, I needed 

 nu thin' further to explain why he hed recently put a 

 mortgage on his ranch. So shakin' my head mournfully 

 I remarked : 'What is home without a m-m-m ?" 



"Mother," added Zeke Pennywhacker, thinkin' I 

 hed forgot the word. 



"No, mortgage," said I, laffin' fit to kill, at which 

 good humor wuz once more restored. 



"Thar wuz oncet a time," perceded I, in a reflective 

 tone uv voice, "when a man could git a home when- 

 ever lie wanted one without desirin' the improvements 

 which are now considered ez the necessary attributs uv 

 any sort of a home. He took his axe an' goin' into the 

 woods hewed one out uv of the forest. 



"It is true thar wuz bar an' Injuns which occa- 

 sionally skulped him, but they left him the greater por- 

 tion uv his hide fur his own use an' behoof. He killed 

 the bars and convarted their hides into clothes, an' he 

 bamboozled the Injuns out uv numerous extras in the 

 way uv home comforts at the expense uv a few glass 

 beads, sheet iron tomahawks, an' all wool cotton blank- 

 ets, the runnin' colors uv which durin' the fust rain 

 transformed the surface uv the noble red man into the 

 stars an' stripes. The home maker wuz free ez air an' he 

 asked no man fur odds. 



