THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



233 



REPORT OF THE INVESTIGATIONS IN IRRIGA- 

 TION CARRIED ON COOPERATIVELY BETWEEN 

 THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS OF 

 THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 

 AGRICULTURE AND THE STATE 

 BOARD OF EXAMINERS OF THE 

 STATE OF CALIFORNIA. 



S. FORTIER. 



In Charge Pacific District Irrigation Investigations, United States 

 Department of Agriculture. 



It is no easy task to supply food and clothing for 

 450,000,000 people. The American farmers during the 

 past year have not only raised sufficient products to 

 supply the home demand, but the surplus, when sold 

 to foreigners, has reached the enormous sum of $878,- 

 000,000. Were it not for the cotton of Georgia, the 



large increase in the value of soil products is largely 

 due to the more careful selection of plants and animals, 

 to the prevention of disease and to the better methods 

 of culture. In all of these improvements which have 

 resulted in an annual net gain to the nation of several 

 billion dollars a year, the Department of Agriculture 

 and the State experiment stations, which form a part 

 of it, deserve a share in the credit. 



That the investigations of these institutions have 

 proved beneficial is favorably shown by the action of 

 so many State Legislatures in voting money to assist 

 them. Last year the Agricultural Experiment Station 

 of Illinois expended, in addition to the regular Gov- 

 ernment allowance of $15,000, a considerable sum ap- 

 propriated by the State. The various amounts of these 

 grants and the specific purposes for which State funds 

 were appropriated are as follows: 



For live stock investigations $25,000 



For soil investigations 25,000 



For corn investigations 10,000 



For horticultural investigations 10,000 



For dairy, investigations 15,000 



s. FORTIER. 



In charge Pacific Irrigation Investigations. 



tobacco of Kentucky, the corn of Illinois, the dairy 

 cows of Wisconsin, the wheat fields of the Dakotas, the 

 sheep of Montana and the fruits of California, this 

 country could not afford to build the Panama Canal. 

 Men are beginning to realize, as they never did before, 

 that the wealth of this nation is derived from the soil 

 and that national prosperity follows as the direct result 

 of abundant harvests sold at fair prices. So long, there- 

 fore, as the soil can be made to yield profitable returns 

 the danger of hard times will be averted. Prosperous 

 farmers make a prosperous country. 



At the present time much is being done by both 

 the National Government and the several States in aid 

 of the farmer, the fruit raiser and the stockman. For 

 a number of years the National Government has ap- 

 propriated, in accordance with the provisions of the 

 Hatch act, nearly $750,000 a year in support of Amer- 

 ican agricultural experiment stations. That these sta- 

 tions have been the most potent factor in bringing 

 about the recent great change is shown by the census 

 returns. The value of crops on American farms in 

 1900 was about 48 per cent greater than in 1890. This 



Total $85,000 



Was it wisdom on the part of the Legislative As- 

 sembly of Illinois to grant $85,000 to be expended in 

 one year in making scientific experiments in agricul- 

 ture? A brief consideration of the item of $10,000 

 for corn investigations may aid in finding the proper 

 answer to this question. In 1902 the State of Illinois 

 had nearly 10,000,000 acres in corn, which produced 

 372,000,000 bushels, valued at $134,000,000. If we 

 assume that as a result of careful selection and breed- 

 ing a kind of corn can be produced which will yield 

 two bushels more per acre than the common kind, the 

 gain to the State is over $7,000,000 on one corn crop. 

 It has been clearly demonstrated that it is not only 

 possible to increase the yield, but to improve the quali- 

 ty. Men know in a general way the many points of 

 difference between the scrub steer and the pure-bred 

 Hereford. As a result of the far-reaching experiments 

 of such men as Luther Burbank, of Santa Rosa, Cal., 

 we are beginning to realize that the cultivated plants 

 are as plastic as clay in the hands of the potter. "There 

 is not a weed or flower," says Mr. Burbank, "which will 

 not, sooner or later, respond liberally to good cultiva- 

 tion and persistent selection." 



If California is to rank high as an agricultural 

 State and keep the pace set by the rich farming States 

 of Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Ohio, more money 

 must be spent in agricultural education and in scientific 

 experiments for the benefit of the farmers. The last 

 Legislative Assembly made the following appropria- 

 tions for the biennial period ending May 30, 1905 : 



Protection of viticulture interests $ 3,000 



Establishment of a poultry station 5,000 



Ascertaining the best methods of using and 



distributing water 10,000 



The last named item was to be expended in con- 

 junction with a like sum from the irrigation investiga- 

 tions of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 in cooperative irrigation experiments. 



In other ways the last Legislative Assembly was 

 quite liberal. The sum of $15,000 was appropriated to 

 be expended with a like sum by the Bureau of Forestry 

 in determining the forest resources of the State, while 



