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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Why Deserts Bloom 



BY DON FARNSWORTH 



If public attention is being focused upon any one 

 branch of scientific investigation more than any other in 

 the United States, it is the problem of reclamation of the 

 arid West by irrigation. This unusual interest is full of 

 meaning. It is not the creation of speculators or land 

 dealers but is the result of the natural growth and develop- 

 ment of the genius of our country. Homes must be pro- 

 vided for the increasing millions of population; their 

 diversified needs and wants must be supplied in fields 

 of natural production: and hence more land must be 

 brought under cultivation. True to the old proverb. 

 "Necessity is the Mother of American Invention," which 

 is solving by irrigation this great problem inherited from 

 nature. 



Irrigation is not a new proposition under experimenta- 

 tion in this country. It is merely the application to our 

 needs, of scientific principles that have been in practical 

 utility from time immemorial. Several nations have used 

 this method of cultivation so long that they consider 

 irrigation as essential a step as seed planting, in the rout- 

 ine of agriculture. Remarkable examples of its operation 

 and evidences of its value are found among the ancient 

 customs of Egypt, India, China and Japan. 



The success of the primitive methods of cultivation 

 adopted in these countries in the early ages magnifies the 

 importance of pursuing modern, systematic and scientific 

 methods in our country. 



History of irrigation is traced back 3,000 years B. C. 

 when Menes, the first historical King of Egypt, (the 

 cradle of modern civilization), built the city of Memphis 

 on the banks of the Nile. Legend says the people of this 

 time were created by Gods from the dust of the earth 

 but history tells us they were a branch of the Cushites 

 from Asia or belonged to the Semitic race, descended 

 from the Canaanites. However, they were wise enough to 

 irrigate their lands from the annual overflow of the Nile 

 river, so as to produce two crops a year. The inundation 

 took place about the 28th of July each year lasting from 

 three to five months. Large ditches were dug into which 

 the water flowed, where it was retained until required 

 to moisten the soil, which became so fertile from a black 

 deposit swept down from the interior, that seed is said 

 to have grown on the surface of the ground. Though 

 nature was a kind nurse in that region and the soil needed 

 little plowing or attention, it is evident that her maternal 

 genius has been somewhat exaggerated by tradition. 



The annual rise of the Nile is caused by the early 

 rain-falls in the equatorial regions and the elevated 

 regions drained by the Kir, Solbut and other streams that 

 discharge their waters into the upper Nile. They had 

 an instrument called an Nileometer to record the floods. 

 so as to determine each year how high the river rose and 

 what proportion of the valley was inundated, for there 

 was no rain-fall in the section of Egypt bordering on the 

 lower Nile. Famine was sure to invade such localities 

 as the water failed to reach, and as the farmer planted 

 to raise only enough for his own personal needs, it was 

 essential that his irrigating ditches and ponds should be 

 well supplied with water when the overflow came. 



Kinds of Irrigation. There are as many different 

 systems of irrigation as there are circumstances surround- 

 ing its introduction in different localities, each system 

 being designed to supply nature's needs and to over- 

 come her faults. There is the contest against alkali in 

 the soil, involving all methods but removing that element so 

 deadly to all vegetation, a warfare which is a study in itself. 

 There are millions of dollars being expended annually in 

 the irrigation of lands in the humid regions, to improve the 

 already productive soil, for though cultivation without 

 irrigation in these sections is abundantly profitable, the 

 excessive yield due to irrigation pays many times over 

 the expense incurred in the outlay for irrigation. 



Reclamation of Waste Land. By far the most im- 

 portant branch of irrigation, however, is the reclamation 



EDITOR'S NOTE. Mr. Farnsworth's comprehensive review of the irri- 

 gation field will he continued in several future issues of the AGE. 



of the arid lands the conversion of desert wastes into 

 fertile valleys and productive farms. There is rain-fall 

 enough on the earth to make every square foot of land 

 productive. The fact that there are, deserts in some sec- 

 tions and fertile valleys in others is due to the unequal 

 distribution of rain-fall, which is essential to all vegetable 

 and animal life. By irrigation, man has outwitted the 

 weather elements, and has made gardens of Eden from 

 land that Nature designed for deserts. He has changed 

 the courses of streams so as to water his farms, and he 

 has built reservoirs to retain water in the seasons of 

 plentiful rain to be used to moisten his parched and thirsty 

 acres during the months of drought. In no land has this 

 artificial agent been so -reductive of beneficial results as 

 in our own Great West. To a study of irrigation in this 

 area will this article be confined. 



History of Irrigation in the United States. The his- 

 tory of irrigation in the L'nited States is the history of 

 the growth of population. Our forefathers had, east of 

 the Appalachian Mountains, an abundance of natural re- 

 sources. When the population tilled that section of the 



Mr. Farnsworth is one of Chicago's successful young business men. 

 He is president of the National Farm Land Congress, president of 

 Farnsworth, Bills & Co., timber lands, vice-president Hough Shade 

 Corporation, Janesville. Wis. ; director Osage Oil Company, New York, 

 one of the large independent producing oil companies of Oklahoma. 

 He is manager of Don Farnsworth and associates, which syndicate is 

 one of the most extensive handlers of high grade agricultural lands 

 in the United States, and no doubt the largest advertiser, and is an 

 authority on irrigation and drainage, 



Mr. Farnsworth's recreation is civic and commercial work and he 

 was last year general secretary of the Chicago Association of Commerce, 

 of which body he is now chairman of the ways and means committee. 



country, pioneers started westward and gradually settled 

 the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. The westward move- 

 ment of population is a well-known story in which the 

 settler was the evangel of commerce and industry. The 

 country continued to increase in population, and. as a 

 natural sequence, more territory had to be provided for the 

 growing immigration. A large portion of the great west 

 lay "rainless," and devoid of that element so vital to 

 productivity, until some of the early settlers, driven by 

 necessity, started irrigation in a crude way, found their 

 experiments crowned with success and opened the way for 

 the transformation of almost one-half of the area of the 

 United States, from a desert, to a land of fruitful farms. 



