302 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



methods of diverting and distributing it over the fields 

 and the problems connected with the regulation of 

 tidal rivers so as to determine what may be done, 

 either by the Government or by the concerted action of 

 private individuals, and the construction and main- 

 tenance of levees for the protection of fields against 

 floods or injury from breaks above or below. 



Rice growing in the Carolinas and Georgia is not 

 as important an industry as it was fifty years ago. In 

 part this decline is due to the cost of labor. The rice 

 fields are located along the low, alluvial bottom lands, 

 where the greater part of the work must be done by 

 hand. This leaves only a small margin of profit at 

 present prices, and the danger of this being occasional- 

 ly lost through breaks in levees or river floods has tend- 

 ed to retard a revival of what was once an important 

 and valuable industry. 



There seem to be two or three questions which this 

 investigation can properly deal with. One is to what 

 extent State or Government aid is required to assist in 

 the regulation of streams, and to study the topography 

 and watersheds of streams to ascertain what measures 

 may be taken to furnish a supplemental water supply 

 through storage. 



The growing of rice on the uplands in Louisiana 

 and Texas presents an entirely different condition of 

 affairs. Here the industry has been from the first 

 unusually successful, and it has increased until it has 

 assumed a national importance, promising to make the 

 United States an exporter instead of an importer of 

 this staple product. 



Aside from the agricultural questions peculiar to 

 rice farming, the irrigation of these uplands presents 

 new problems in canal construction and the lifting of 

 water. In the arid region streams as a rule have a 

 heavy fall, and it is, therefore, easy to get water onto 

 the lands to be irrigated by gravity. In the rice dis- 

 tricts the water supply is below the lands to be served, 

 in streams which have hardly enough fall to produce 

 a perceptible current, and the water must, therefore, 

 be raised by pumps. Even with this expense, rice grow- 

 ing has proven remarkably profitable. The rice lands, 

 which were 'formerly worth from $1 to $3 per acre and 

 used only for grazing, now sell for from $30 to $50 

 per acre and yield an annual return equal to the value 

 of the land. About 250,000 acres of these lands have 

 already been devoted to rice culture, and much more 

 is capable of the same use. 



Along a few of the streams used more land has 

 already been devoted to rice than the streams can 

 properly water, and the question of protecting the early 

 users against the demands of those coming later is 

 pressing for settlement. Louisiana has no laws or cus- 

 toms affording this protection. The publications of 

 this office place at the command of the canal owners 

 and lawmakers of that State the results of the ex- 

 perience of other States and countries, and will afford 

 them the means of enacting a just and intelligent law 

 governing water rights whenever such action becomes 

 necessary. 



A report will soon be published showing the 

 methods used in irrigating rice and discussing the 

 problems which have arisen in the rice districts. This 

 investigation should be continued by the experts em- 

 ployed by this office, whose familiarity with conditions 

 elsewhere makes them especially fitted for the solution 

 of the problems arising in this new field. 



CANTALOUPE SEED. 



Improvement by Selection. 



BY PHILO K. BLINN, 



Of the Agricultural Kxperiment Station of the Agricultural College 

 of Colorado. 



The cantaloupe now known as the Rocky Ford 

 was originally Burpee's Netted Gem, but under the 

 favorable conditions which prevail in the arid regions 

 of Colorado it has developed into a melon surpassing 

 in quality the parent stock, and its superior merits 

 have won for it a new name and a popular reputa- 

 tion. 



In the early days of the cantaloupe industry at 

 Rocky Ford the growers relied on . Eastern seedsmen 

 for their supply of seed, and to a certain extent had 

 satisfactory results, unitl the growth of the industry 

 exceeded the supply of reliable seed, when a number 

 of growers were supplied with seed which produced a 



PLATE I. 



mixed lot of varieties, wholly unfit for market as 

 Rocky Ford cantaloupes. The loss not only fell heavily 

 on the disappointed grower, but through the agency of 

 bees and other insects carrying the pollen the injury 

 was easily transmitted to neighboring fields of choice 



' melons, producing crosses of an undesirable nature. 



On account of the introduction of these mixed 

 strains and the varying ideas of seed selection, the 

 Rocky Ford cantaloupe lacks uniformity in many re- 

 spects. A large percentage of melons are unmarket- 

 able on account of size and form, which render them 



unfit to crate. Defective netting and thin, soft flesh 

 are also common imperfections. Because of these de- 

 fects the growers sustain a loss that could largely be 

 prevented by planting a better grade of seed. 



The cantaloupe is a product of years of systematic 

 selection, and it requires the same methods to main- 

 tnin its excellence as were employed in its development. 

 Without care in selection, the natural tendency of all 

 cultivated plants to vary will soon cause a good strain 



'of cantaloupes to revert to an undesirable type. 



