182 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



larged under the present elevated profit and price can 

 be annihilated and the product only represent labor 

 and material. But all things must come to that basis 

 sooner or later and the quicker the land of the earth is 

 given its place in the great economy of human life the 

 better it will be for us. 



To institute this tiling there will be an expense of 

 $10 per acre for labor. At the present it is no uncommon 

 thing for twice this sum to be expended on "leveling" 

 the ground. At the present we are aware that the pro- 

 ducing power of land is often reduced many tunes by 

 the removal of the present surface down to a formation 

 that will not grow vegetation and by putting a part of 

 this poor soil on top of the good soil in the "low" place 

 for which it has been removed. We "kill two birds of 

 good with one stone of evil" with this sort of work. 

 With the tiling system in vogue we will not annihilate 

 the present good preparation of the surface of the field. 

 We will let it remain as it is and usually there is a foot 

 of splendid soil on top. The tiling machine will pass 

 through the soil at regular distances and plant the tiling, 

 allowing the soil to fall back where it was originally. 

 Rolling fields can more readily be brought under culti- 

 vation, for the tiling will carry water up and down as 

 the surface changes. Twelve hundred gallons of water 

 will fill the tiling for an acre of land and this quantity 

 of water thus inserted will equal three waterings on 

 the surface, to say nothing of the expedition it will 

 create over the present plan of "ruining" the present 

 capillary work of the soil. With the tiling at work we 

 can keep the four-inch top soil as a mulch and thus 

 once more make a saving over the present crude system 

 of reserving moisture. 



When we are depending on surface wetting or 

 gravity ditches it is very natural for us to reclaim the 

 lower lands first. It is a well known fact that Idaho 

 river bottom lands are not as good as the higher levels. 

 With "flooding" or surface watering we will some day 

 destroy everv quality of the lower land, as has now 

 already been shown by the few years' experience. With 

 the tiling system this will never occur. With tile and 

 the corresponding decrease in quantity of water neces- 

 sary for growing crops, it will bring it within the re- 

 gion of the economical to lift water by power for irri- 

 gation. It is evident everywhere here in the semi-arid 

 region that immense tracts of the very richest soil lay 

 high above any possible gravity canal. Tile system, as 

 outlined above, would make it business to lift water 

 three hundred feet for all kinds of crops that the climate 

 will produce. Twenty-five foot elevation from present 

 rivers and waterways, including the present canals, will 

 bring into cultivation five times the land of today that 

 is producing. Two hundred and fifty feet of an elevation 

 will create an inland empire where now worthless land 

 remains unused excepting for rough grazing during 

 short seasons of the year. A man "just above" the 

 present ditch could use one old horse for pumping pur- 

 poses, raise the water forty or fifty feet and have eighty 

 acres of as fine crops as his neighbor below the ditch. 

 One horse working ten hours a day would keep eighty 

 acres of land well watered and his feed will cost 25 cents 

 per day when raised on a farm of that kind. Of course, 

 it is going to take labor to install the tile system, but 

 labor will some day be about all the stock in trade that 

 a large portion of the human race possesses. Any sys- 

 tem that produces or creates legitimate labor at fair 

 wages is good and should be encouraged. With some 



new way of making tiling it could be manufactured in 

 the region of its utilization and the farm could be cred- 

 ited with furnishing abundance of labor of this sort. 

 Any labor, that soil is made to produce goes to the 

 credit of that soil and thus the tiling of the arid West 

 will create a generation of legitimate labor. An acre 

 of Idaho well-leveled and well-watered soil is worth a 

 hundred dollars at the present prices and demands. We 

 have many millions of acres that are now worth only 

 $1.25 per acre. With a hundred dollars in labor ex- 

 pended on this land it will be worth twice the present 

 price of siirface irrigated land. Thus the actual tiling 

 becomes a legitimate proposition that will pay from the 

 beginning. 



The labor of wetting a farm under tiles will not 

 be one-tenth of that of the surface ditch business of to- 

 day. With the tiling well instituted one of the little 

 girls before breakfast could turn half a dozen gates 

 and the job would be complete. 



The natural surface of the soil with its thou- 

 sands of years of preparation for producing will not be 

 buried beneath a lot of soil of material that nature has 

 not intended shall produce. Little knolls will not be dug 

 off and thrown in low places so water will run across. 

 The surface will remain as it is. 



When the wetting of the surface has been dis- 

 continued the insects that blight crops and kill fruit 

 and breed diseases will find it uncomfortable living in 

 that region and they will quietly fold their tents and 

 hike out for other regions. The weeds and other useless 

 growths that are spread and nurtured by the present 

 system will find that they no longer have an abiding 

 place. The cultivating of orchards and vineyards will 

 be reduced largely, sugar beets and other similar crops 

 will produce better and labor will produce more days' 

 food than at the present. Some will say : "God wets 

 the surface and that's our way, too." I want to call 

 attention to the fact that God wets the surface very lit- 

 tle in arid regions during that season of the year when 

 crops will grow best. Another thing in connection with 

 the tile system. Along the river bottoms of the middle 

 West where irrigation is not practiced on account of 

 the soil not "standing" the surface wetting, the tiling 

 will bring it within reach of actual use and make failure 

 a thing of the past. To wet the soil from the bottom 

 annihilates many of the bad features. 



The tile system will intensify farming. The world 

 is going to need more to eat from year to year hereafter. 

 The farm lad who wants to go to town and carry drinks 

 up stairs in the hotels because he can smell perfume 

 that evening should be shown that the producer of 

 something to eat and wear and of something that does 

 the human race good, is the only legitimate sphere for 

 man. The young woman who is looking beyond the 

 young man with brown face and hardened hands to the 

 white-handed worthless fellow who only consumes that 

 he may take a bath in the "swim" or keep creases in 

 his trouser legs, will have to be told clearly that the 

 human race must retain its backbone and that labor of 

 the legitimate kind never shriveled the human heart nor 

 parented a child with desire to get something for noth- 

 ing. We do want a little more gingerbread on our farm 

 houses and clothing, however. A telephone and an ice- 

 cream freezer and a place to hang a good suit of wear- 

 ing apparel are mighty legitimate attractions for the 

 farm. A colored glass in two of the windows of the 

 farm house will not cost much more than the plain sort 



