10 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the district a water commissioner is appointed, but he 

 does not begin work until there is a written demand 

 by two or more ditch owners. If the lawmakers wish 

 these offices can be made elective. Suppose they are 

 appointive, is there more danger when appointments are 

 made by state authority instead of national or less? 

 Is the state government less competent and trustworthy 

 than the National Government. If an appointee proved 

 iinfit could or would removal be quicker from Wash- 

 ington than the state capital ? 



An additional reason for state control is that the 

 arid states have millions of acres of land granted to 

 state institutions the value of which land is affected 

 by laws relating to water; the state should guard and 

 advance its interest in such lands. 



Should we not heed the sugges- 

 tions of President Roosevelt and Sec- 

 retary Wilson for proper state codes, 

 the experience of Wyoming, Nebras- 

 ka and Colorado with state control, 

 the recent legislation for state con- 

 trol by Utah and Idaho, and the 

 strong sentiment for such control 

 in California, Montana and other 

 states? 



The opposition to state laws is 

 not based on experience 'nor sup- 

 ported by valid reasons. State con- 

 trol by adjudicating conflicting 

 claims, by supervising the construc- 

 tion of works, the appropriation and 

 division of water, by co-operating in 

 measurement of streams and obtain- 

 ing other data will ably supplement 

 the work of the National Govern- 

 ment. The task of reclamation re- 

 quires the united efforts, the intelli- 

 gent co-operation of both State and 

 Federal GoVernments ; action along 

 these lines will hasten the benefits 

 we all desire. 



It is the impression of those 

 most deeply interested that if out- 

 side influences such as represented by Mr. Maxwell and 

 his straggling fellows should be relegated to the rear, 

 where they belong, the trouble would end. 



THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION. 



BY D. H. ANDERSON. 

 COPYRIGHTED, 1908, BY D. H. ANDERSON. 



CHAPTER VII. 



FOODS CEREALS FORAGE PLANTS FRUITS 



VEGETABLES ROOT CROPS. 



Plants of every variety are very hearty feeders 

 as a rule; in fact, if a plant be furnish with un- 

 limited quantities of its proper food, and the environ- 

 ments of soil and climate are favorable, it will increase 



PLANT 



THE BARNES WELL, SAN ANTONIO, TEX. 



In this issue are shown three views of the famous 

 Barnes well near San Antonio, Tex. This well has 

 a flow of three million gallons in twenty-four hours 

 with a pressure of thirty-five pounds. Engineer Smith, 

 of Waco, Tex., estimates that this well will irrigate 

 easily five hundred acres of land once in ten days. 



Mr. Barnes is a prominent hotel man of Texas 

 and informs us that he will eventually dispose of 

 his hotel interests and devote his energies to farming 

 by irrigation. The 160-acre tract on which this well 

 was sunk is said to be worth at the present time $1,000 

 per acre. The same land without water would not sell 

 for to exceed $10 per acre. The land under the new 

 arrangements will be developed for truck farming. 



Plants grow so luxuriantly in the Valley of the Rio 

 Grande, that many of its farmers have little idea of 

 what is meant by a commercial fertilizer. 



DAWSON COUNTY NEBRASKA DELEGATES TO ELEVENTH NATIONAL 

 IRRIGATION CONGRESS, OGDEN, UTAH. 



its bulk to enormous dimensions; the case is the same 

 with fruits. 



Sir Humphrey Davy introduced plants of mint 

 into weak solutions of sugar, gum, jelly, etc., and 

 found that they grew vigorously in all of them. He 

 J .hen watered separate spots of grass with the same 

 several solutions, and with common water, and found 

 that those watered with the solutions throve more lux- 

 uriantly than those treated with ordinary water. From 

 this it may be reasonably inferred that different or- 

 ganic substances are taken into the circulation of plants 

 i;nd then converted by them into its own substance, 

 or acts as food and nourishes the plant. Of course, 

 it will be understand that by "plant foods" are meant 

 whatever material tends to make the plant grow to 

 maturity. 



We have learned that plants absorb carbon in the 

 shape of carbonic acid, and the part ammonia plays in 

 the plant economy. Indeed, ammonia is actually pres- 

 ent in the juices of many plants, for example: in 

 beet roots, birch and maple trees, etc. In tobacco leaves 

 and elder flowers it is combined with acid substances. 

 It is also an element in the perfume of flowers, whence 

 the value of barn yard manure to supply that element. 



