.352 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Realizing that all parts of each drainage basin are related 

 and interdependent, we hold that each stream should be re- 

 garded and treated as a unit from its source to its mouth, 

 and since the waters are essentially mobile and transitory 

 and are generally interstate, we hold that in all cases of 

 divided or doubtful jurisdiction the waters should be ad- 

 ministered by co-operation between state and federal agencies. 

 Recognizing the interdependf nee of the various uses of 

 the waters of the country, we hold that the primary uses are 

 for domestic supply and for agriculture through irrigation or 

 otherwise, and that the uses for navigation and for power, in 

 which water is not consumed, are secondary; and we commend 

 the modern view that each use of the waters should be made 

 with reference to all other uses for the public welfare in 

 accordance with the principle of the greatest good to the 

 greatest number for the longest time. 



Viewing purity of water supply as essential to the public 

 health and general welfare, we urge upon all municipal, state 

 and federal authorities and on individuals and corporations 

 requisite action toward purifying and preventing contamina- 

 tion of the waters. 



Approving the successful efforts of the United States to 

 provide homes on arid lands through irrigation, we indorse and 

 commend the reclamation service and urge its continuance and 

 the extension of the same policy to the drainage of swamp 

 and overflow lands, to be carried forward so far as appro- 

 priation through co-operation between states and federal 

 agencies. 



Viewing adequate and economical transportation facilities 

 as among the means of conservation, and realizing that the 

 growth of the country has exceeded the development of trans- 

 portation facilities, we approve the prompt adoption of a 

 comprehensive plan for developing navigation throughout the 

 rivers and lakes of the United States, proceeding in order of 

 their magnitude and commercial importance. 



Recognizing the vast economic benefit to the people of 

 water power derived largely from interstate sources and 

 streams no less than from navigable rivers, we favor federal 

 control of water power development; we deny the right of 

 states or federal government to continue alienating or con- 

 veying water by granting franchises for the use thereof in 

 perpetuity, and we demand that the use of water rights be 

 permitted only for limited periods with just compensation 

 in the interests of the people. 



We demand the maintenance of the federal commission 

 empowered to deal with all uses of the waters, and to co- 

 ordinate these uses for the public welfare in co-operation 

 with similar commissions or other agencies maintained by the 

 states. 



Approving the withdrawal of public lands pending classi- 

 fication and the separation of surface rights from mineral, 

 forest and water rights, including water power sites, we 

 recommend legislation for the classification and leasing for 

 grazing purposes on unreserved public lands suitable chiefly 

 for this purpose, subject to the rights of homesteaders and 

 settlers, or the acquisition thereof under the laws of the 

 United States, and we hold that arid and nonirrigable public 

 grazing lands should be administered by the government in 

 the interest of the small stockmen and homoseekers xintil 

 they have passed into the possession of actual settlers. 



We hold that the deposits of minerals und'irlyin;-', par- 

 ticularly mineral fields, iron ores and phosnhate deposits, 

 bould be leased for limitPd periods 'not exceeding fifty years, 

 but subject to renewal, the royalty to be adjusted at more 

 frequent intervals, such leases to be in amounts to such 

 regulations as to prevent monopoly and unnecessary waste. 



We hold that phosphate deposits underlying the public 

 lands should be safeguarded for the American people by ap- 

 propriate legislation and we recommend the earlv opening of 

 the Alaskan and other coal fields belonging to the people of the 

 United States for commercial purposes on a system of leasing, 

 national ownership to be retained. 



We urge immediate investigation by the federal govern- 

 ment of the damage done by the smelting of copper ores and 

 the feasibility of so improving methods as to utilize the 

 injurious by-products in connection with phosphatic fertilizers. 

 We favor co-operative action on the part of states and 

 the federal government looking to the preservation and better 

 utilization of the soils by approved scientific methods. 



We approve of the continuance of the control of the 

 national forest by the federal government, and approve the 

 policy of restoring to settlement such public Ifrnds as are 

 more valuable for agriculture. 



We earnestly recommend that the states md federal sov- 

 em">nt pnnniro fr> r rv<v>restrfl tion lands not more valuable for 

 other rmrposes. and that all existing forests publicly find 

 privately owned be fully protected by state and federal gov- 

 ernments. We recognize the invaluable services of the forest 

 service to the people and earnestly recommend that it be 

 more generously supported by the federal goverrment. and 

 that state, federal and private fire patrol be more generously 

 provided for the preservation of forests and human life; and 

 appreciate and approve of the continuance of the service of 

 the United States army in fire patrol in ^mergencie:!. 

 We favor the repeal of the timber and stone law. 

 We indorse the proposition for the preservation by tho 

 federal government of the Southern Appalachian and White 

 Mountain forests. 



We recommend that the federal government conserve 

 migratory birds and wild game animals. 



We recommend the adeauate maintenance of a national 

 conservation commission to investigate the natural resources 

 of the country and co-operate with the work nf the state 

 preservation Commission*: and we urge the legal establish- 

 ment and maintenance of conservation commissions or corre- 

 sponding agencies on the part of all states of the Union. 



Nothing in these resolutions to be construed as question- 

 ing the rights of the states or the people of the United 

 States guaranteed under the federal constitution". 



ARID AGRICULTURE 



BY 

 B. C. BUFFUM, M. S. 



Manager of the Wyoming Plant and Seed Breeding Company, 



Worland. Former Professor of Agriculture in the \Jni- 



versity of Wyoming and the Colorado Agricultural 



College, and Director of the Wyoming 



Agricultural Experiment 



Station. 



PROF. B. C. BUFFUM. 



Methods in Irrigation. 



The easiest and crudest methods 

 were adopted in the earlier days of 

 irrigation. In sections of India and 

 Egypt, which are thought to be the 

 oldest among irrigated countries, the 

 practice of irrigation has remained 

 almost the same for centuries. 

 Primitive appliances are still in use. 

 such as buckets on sweeps, and other 

 simple animal-power machines for 

 lifting water from the streams or 

 wells to the height of the crop land. 

 In contrast with this is the rapid 

 development of irrigation practice in 

 the Western States. The beginning 

 of irrigation in this country was in 

 1847, when the Mormons made the 

 great experiment at Salt Lake City little more than a 

 half century ago. Since then development and improve- 

 ment have been rapid, though many reverses were met 

 with by the pioneers. Now, new methods are proving 

 so superior to the old. that the farmer who would make 

 the most of his land must keep abreast of the times and 

 adopt the more progressive ideas. 



Local Methods. 



Many localities are characterized by some general 

 method of irrigation. Sometimes this is a good method 

 for the local conditions and sometimes not. Usually 

 the pioneer has marked out his own system without help 

 Those who come at a later date take up the local prac- 

 tice and retain it, even though they may see other locali- 

 ties forging ahead of them. 



The Irrigator's Problem. 



Crops require water to grow or even to remain alive. 

 The irrigator with a reliable and sufficient water supply 

 has a great advantage over every other agriculturist. He 

 has it within his power to govern the application of water 

 to his fields, to apply it when and where he wishes and 

 in the quantity he thinks best. These advantages bring 

 with them the necessity of learning how to make the 

 most profitable use of the water supply. The problem of 

 the irrigator is to apply water in the right place at the 

 right time, in quantities that will give the best results, 

 and by the most efficient and economical methods. Local 

 conditions and the kind of crop grown should determine 

 the method most applicable. Changes in methods are 

 forced by increase in value of land and water; the inten- 

 sive system taking the place of extensive. 



Wild Flooding. 



This is the natural and primitive method cf apply- 

 ing water to crops. In its simplest form it is nothing more 

 than a diversion of the waters of a stream to the land to 

 be irrigated, leaving the laws of nature in charge without 

 further aid from man. Many native, or wild hay mead- 

 ows are irrigated in this way with little supervision other 

 than turning on the water in the Spring and turning it 

 off again a week or so before harvest time. The conse- 

 quence is usually that the meadow is continually under 

 water to a varying depth during the growing season. 

 Only the water-loving or swamp grasses, and the rushes 

 and sedges, survive such treatment. Trie finer native 

 grasses, as the wheat grasses, are rapidly killed out. As 

 the coarse grasses thrive, and give comparatively good 

 yields, the practice is in places retained, chiefly among 

 stockmen with only incidental interests in farming and 



