1054 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Of course the details must be carefully figured out and 

 planned. The lay of the land and the quality oi the soil as 

 well as the character of the crop to be raised must all be 

 thoroughly considered. The question whether to use a 

 windmill, a gasoline engine or a steam engine for the 

 pumping of course depends on local condition and the 

 quantity of water required as well as the area to be irri- 

 gated. Where winds are blowing frequently and with 

 nearly uniform velocity the windmill offers the most 

 economic solution of the problem since the cost of the 

 power factor is eliminated. But where there are long and 

 frequent periods of calm or very light winds the wind- 

 mill may prove disastrous on account of its unreliability, 

 and the artificial power plant, may it be an electrical, 

 steam, gasoline or coal oil plant, will in most cases be the 

 best paying for the reason, that they can be run when re- 

 quired thus providing the water when the crops need it 

 without waste either by leakage or evaporation. 



In most cases of this kind of irrigation it will be re- 

 quired to build some sort of reservoir at the highest point 

 of the area to be irrigated, to pump into and from which 

 the ditches should lead to the different fields. This will 

 be particularly necessary when windmill power is used so 

 that a certain amount of storage capacity is provided to 

 be filled with water during periods of favorable winds. Also 

 with power plants a storage reservoir is desirable, as that 

 obviates the necessity of buying a large pumping plant. 



Thus the drouths of the past years have really proven 

 benefits in disguise and if the affected farmers go to work 

 and develop the resources for irrigation at hand, they will 

 soon reach the point where they will be in a measure in- 

 dependent of the regularity of the rainfall, since by the 

 judicious use of their available water supply they will be 

 able to give their growing crops enough of the life giving 

 fluid at the proper time for their growth, so that crop 

 failures will become less frequent all the time and finally 

 cease altogether. 



Congressman R. C. Wickliffe of Louisi- 

 A Use ana, has introduced a bill in Congress 



For the which provides that all dredges, tools 



Panama and mechanical equipment used by the 



Canal Tools. government in digging the Panama Canal 

 be transferred as soon as the canal is 

 finished, to the Secretary of War, who is to co-operate 

 with the Secretary of the Interior in distributing such 

 equipment, wherever it is needed for reclamation work 

 throughout the United States. 



Another Louisiana Congressman by the name of Du- 

 pre has already introduced a bill providing that all moneys 

 obtained from the sale of public lands in the Southern 

 States be set aside by the government for the reclamation 

 of swamp lands in these states. 



These two bills taken in conjunction, show that the 

 people of the Southern States are very much in earnest 

 regarding the drainage of their swamps and wet lands and 

 are looking at the matter from the correct business stand- 

 point inasmuch as they are willing that the money real- 

 ized from reclaimed land should be made use of for further 

 reclamations and that the equipment now in use in build- 

 ing the Panama Canal should be put to use on this recla- 

 mation work after the canal is completed. 



It is, however, a doubtful proposition whether much 

 help will be realized from the machinery now in use on the 

 Isthmus for the reason that the type of dredges, steam 



shovels, etc., in use there, may_not be adapted to the uses 

 of reclamation. Also the canal will not be done for four 

 more years and the reclamation should not be delayed 

 pending such completion, though a good deal of the equip- 

 ment will no doubt, be released long before the canal is 

 finished. 



The whole proposition is however, a pointer showing 

 that the Southern swamps will be reclaimed in the near 

 future for happy homes of prosperous farmers; that the 

 government will undoubtedly take a hand in the execution 

 of the problem, and that the machinery which has dug 

 the Panama Canal will be used for some of the heavy work 

 incident thereto. 



The month of September forms the 

 The dividing line between summer and au- 



Changes tumn, as on the 22nd of this month the 



of the sun reaches again the equator, making 



Seasons. day and night equal for every place on 



the earth. After that the days will be 

 getting shorter on the Northern Hemisphere, while our 

 friends south of the equator will have longer days, and 

 while we on the north half of this globe are approaching 

 winter through fall, the people south of the equator are 

 entering spring and approach summer which begins the 

 21st of December. Thus the changes of the season's oc- 

 cur with the utmost regularity like the vibrations of a 

 pendulum, due to the motion of the earth around the sun, 

 and the changed conditions at the various seasons are 

 affected by the energy of the sun so that it may truly be 

 said that this earth is entirely dependent upon the sun for 

 its life and continued existence. It is the heat of the sun 

 which makes the soil capable to sustain growing vegeta- 

 tion; the heat of the sun vaporizes the waters in the ocean 

 and lakes and the winds carry them in the form of clouds 

 over the country, bringing precipitation either in the 

 form of rain, dew or snow, for the sustenance of the ani- 

 mal and vegetable kingdoms. 



How beneficent the Creator has been in arranging the 

 universe is seen at every point where we study a little into 

 the conditions. The passing of the sun across the equator 

 marks a splendid epoch in the design of this world's econo- 

 mics. During the months of June, July and August, the 

 sun has given light and heat to every portion of the north- 

 ern hemisphere, even as far north as Alaska and north of 

 the Arctic circle, melting the heavy snows, thawing out 

 and warming on the soil to make it receptive for the seeds 

 to germinate and grow a crop for the sustenance of 

 people and animals living on the northern hemisphere. 

 The sun has not only given light and heat, but has also 

 given longer days north of the equator, so that the work 

 of the husbandman may be facilitated. The days have 

 been the longer the farther north people are living, so 

 that they may have longer sunlight to reimburse them for 

 the shorter season. But now the crops are ripe and harvested, 

 old Sol says good-bye to the north and travels south to 

 perform the same service to our fellowmen on the south- 

 ern half of the earth and while the crops are being placed 

 in the soil there and gradually ripen, the lands of the north 

 together withj their cultivators, enjoy a well earned rest; 

 until the sun, after having traveled south of the equator, 

 on the 20th of March, crosses the line again and comes 

 north to revivify nature and cause the bringing forth of 

 further abundant crops. 



