306 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



matter from what cause, brings prosperity in a pro- 

 portionate degree to the irrigated arid regions. Picture, 

 if you will, the profits that would accrue to California 

 were her agriculture to be developed, as it might be 

 under a judicious development of her available water 

 supply in the event of a widespread drouth in the east, 

 in Europe or in Australia ! That one year of big prices 

 for farm products in Colorado created a marked effect 

 upon the prosperity of the state, and the effect was 

 not transitory, but lasting. Farm mortgages were 

 lifted by the score and the hundred, farm improvements 

 were observable on all sides, and local trade was stim- 

 ulated to a remarkable degree. 



What California needs today is more attention to 

 the production of the farm staples. Fruits in great va- 

 riety are plentiful and cheap, while the substantial 

 and indispensable foodstuffs range high in price. What 

 California wants to do is to raise more wheat, barley, 

 oats, corn, potatoes, alfalfa, meat, etc. With the proper 

 development of her water supply available for irrigation 

 these staples might be raised as cheaply and sold at as 

 good a profit as anywhere in the world. 



California should make an effort to restore her lost 

 prestige as a wheat producing state. There has been 

 no increase in her wheat product for fifteen years; on 

 the contrary, there has been an enormous falling off. 

 In 1890 California produced in wheat 1,007,876 tons; 

 in 1903 only 465,028 tons, a falling off of more than 

 50 per cent: and 1904 and 1905 showed a continued 

 falling off. To make the matter worse, even the dimin- 

 ished product of wheat is of such an inferior quality 

 that the millers of the state are compelled to import 

 eastern wheat to mix with it in order to brinsr their 

 flour up to the standard of ordinary excellence. Califor- 

 nia also at one time enjoyed the reputation of being an 

 important exporter of wheat and flour. In the year 

 1882 San Francisco, exported 1,128,031 tons of wheat 

 of 919.898 barrels of flour: in the year ending June 

 30, 1904, she exported only 54,381 tons of wheat and 

 882.486 barrels of flour. 



Irrigation, and irrigation alone, can restore this 

 lost ground ; irrigation in all the valleys of the north, 

 the center and the south. The great wheat farms must 

 bo cut up. not into fruit tracts, but into small general 

 farms, and the land must be irrigated. Again I must 

 go to Colorado to point a moral. In the early days 

 Colorado raised wheat and little else but wheat. New 

 land would produce from 40 to 60 bushels to the acre. 

 Wheat sold at two cents per pound. For a few years 

 the farmers prospered. Then wheat fell to three-fourths 

 of a cent per pound, and the yield, in consequence of 

 an unbroken cropping of the land, fell to 18 and 20 

 bushels to the acre. 



Something had to be done. The farmers began ro- 

 tating crops. They put their wheat lands into alfalfa, 

 thev turned their alfalfa into beef and mutton and 

 milk, butter and cheese. As soon as another change 

 was needed they plowed up their alfalfa fields and 

 planted potatoes and raised a quantity of "spuds" that 

 have made themselves famous. After potatoes came 

 wheat, and the land was found to have been restored to 

 its original state of fertility, for now it produces again 

 from 40 to 60 bushels to the acre. 



These three crops are just as well adapted to Cali- 

 fornia conditions as to Colorado, and their cultivation 

 under irrigation and rotation will bring equal if not 

 better results. 



THE FIFTEENTH CONGRESS. 



Big Gathering Which Convenes Next Month Promises to 

 Be Largest Yet Held. 



As the time approaches for the convening of the 

 Fifteenth National Irrigation Congress interest in it is 

 becoming more wide-spread and there is little doubt but 

 that it will prove the best attended and most inter- 

 esting of any gathering of the organization. The pub- 

 licity work of the board of control and the executive 

 chairman has never been equalled for any convention 

 and its effect is being seen in the interest manifested 

 throughout the whole country. On his return from the 

 meeting of the Executive Committee in Chicago Chair- 

 man W. A. Beard made stops at Springfield, St. Louis, 

 Kansas City, Topeka, Denver and Cheyenne and every- 

 where the greatest possible ?nthusiasm was shown. We 

 quote from an interview with Mr. Beard on his re- 

 turn to Sacramento: 



"After leaving Chicago on my way back I stopped 

 at Springfield. I there met the governor of Illinois 

 and members of the state geological commission. They 

 discussed with me the coming congress and I was as- 

 sured that they felt a cordial interest in it. The gov- 

 ernor assured me he would appoint delegates to the 

 congress and some of the members of the state geological 

 commission spoke very favorably of the chances of their 

 coming to the congress. At Kansas City I met the 

 mayor and a number of bankers and found them all 

 favorably disposed toward the congress. 



"Everywhere I went I found that the knowledge of 

 the congress had preceded me. Governors, mayors and 

 members of congress had all received the official call and 

 all had made arrangements for appointing delegates. 

 At Topeka, Kan., I missed Governor Hoch, with whom 

 I have had considerable correspondence, as he was ab- 

 sent, but his secretary told me he had made arrange- 

 ments for appointing delegates and that all or nearly 

 all of them would come to the congress. 



"Everybody in every city I visited seemed to know 

 about the Congress and I learned that large and -enthusi- 

 astic delegations are coming from all quarters. The fact 

 that the Congress is to be held in Sacramento, Cali- 

 fornia, has brought this city to the front more than any 

 other means that could have been suggested. 



"Our office has furnished articles on the Congress 

 to every newspaper in the United States and I found 

 wherever I went that these articles have been published 

 widespread and have been effective in setting the people 

 to talking of Sacramento and California in general. 



"The exhibition features of the Congress will be 

 attractive in themselves and in the Western States great 

 efforts are being put forth to win one or more of the 

 attractive trophies that are to be presented for exhibits. 

 I was closely questioned about exhibits in many places 

 and I have received a request from the Denver Chamber 

 of Commerce for literature on the subject, as Colorado 

 intends to make a State display. 



"The program of the Congress will include a 

 discussion on national lines and will be on a broader 

 nature than ever before known. For instance, the sub- 

 ject of the use of public lands for grazing purposes and 

 the proposed establishment of forest reserves in the 

 Appalachian and White Mountains, running up and 

 down the backbone of the country on the eastern coast, 

 will be matters of absorbing interest. 



