8 



THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



With this issue THE IRRIGATION AGE enters 

 Q ur upon its twenty-seventh year of activity, 



Twenty- as the representative journal of irrigation 



Seventh a "d its allied branches. The steady growth 



Anniversary. in tlle business of our paper during this 

 period proves that the subject of irrigation 

 is growing and developing rapidly and that THE IRRIGATION 

 AGE is still leading the advance in the true progress of this 

 important art. 



It is marvelous to observe the great strides made for- 

 ward in the reclaiming of the arid lands during the last 

 quarter of a century, and the tremendous value added to the 

 cultivated lands in the United States by these means. Yet 

 it is hard to forecast in how much greater measure this 

 advance will take place in the immediate future as all our 

 past experience points out a way in which to avoid mistakes 

 and pitfalls and how to obtain best results along explored 

 lines. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE grasps the present opportunity to 

 again announce its policy to its readers and patrons that it 

 will stand in the future as in the past for the best interest 

 of the irrigation and reclamation interests and that it will 

 continue in collecting in its columns such information as is 

 of interest and value in this direction. 



It will not only disseminate knowledge along the prac- 

 tical lines on irrigation, drainage, dry farming and other 

 proper lines of activity to our readers, but will also watch 

 that justice will be done and fair play shown to the interests 

 trying to develop lands which are now either too wet or too 

 dry, and it will further expose any attempts made to inter- 

 fere with the proper growth of irrigation, no matter from 

 what source this interference originates. It is the intention 

 of the publisher to continue to improve THE IRRIGATION AGE 

 along conservative lines, to give its readers the best and most 

 important news of the day, and to give every reader an 

 opportunity to profit by the experience of others and to have 

 others profit by his experience ; for this purpose THE IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE has opened up a correspondence department during 

 the past year of which any reader may make use, either to 

 impart or to request information along lines pertaining to 

 reclamation and its applied branches. 



Thus as we enter upon our twenty-seventh year of 

 activity we earnestly ask our readers and friends to co-operate 

 with us in making our paper more newsy, more instructive 

 and thus more valuable; we would especially ask our friends 

 who are, so to speak, at the front, who are building the 

 reservoirs and head gates and ditches, and those who are 

 applying the water to their orchards and fields, to write THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE their experience. Irrigation is a compara- 

 tively new art, and so every man practicing it should be 

 observant of the results under the different conditions 

 under which the work is being done; such observations made 

 in the field are of the highest value to the practical men 

 and should be made public so as to make the information 

 available for others who are working along similar lines 

 and THE IRRIGATION AGE is the logical channel through which 

 such knowledge should flow to the practical irrigator among 

 whom our circulation is greater than all other irrigation 

 papers combined. 



One word about our advertisers : The manufacturers of 

 farming and irrigation machinery are so closely connected 

 with the prosperity of farming and irrigation that it is abso- 

 lutely necessary that there be a medium where the irrigator 

 can meet the manufacturer and get acquainted with the 

 tools and appliances designed to make his work easier, more 

 satisfactory and enable him to do it quicker. This medium 



is the advertising columns of THE IRRIGATION AGE, which 

 travel to all the countries of the globe, where they are read 

 by those who are in need of such tools and appliances and 

 thus prove a boon to the irrigator and manufacturer alike, 

 telling the one where to obtain what he needs and the other 

 where there is a market for his appliances. 



The time for the convention of the Na- 

 The tional Irrigation Congress is drawing 



Forthcoming near, the nineteenth session of which 

 Irrigation will be held in Chicago from December 



Congress 5tn to December 9th of this year. It is 



therefore quite fitting that we should draw 

 the attention of our readers to this event, which is a sub- 

 ject of great importance and vital interest to all concerned 

 in the reclamation of waste land, whether the reclaiming is 

 done by irrigation, drainage or dry farming. 



Many of our readers will be delegates to the Con- 

 gress and will come to Chicago to participate in the 

 activities of the convention and carry home with them 

 many new ideas which they will imbibe by listening to 

 the experience of other delegates and to the addresses 

 and lectures by experts in irrigation, drainage, dry farm- 

 ing and forestry. 



It is expected that many foreign delegates will at- 

 tend the Congress and reports from them will be of 

 especial interest, since the progress in irrigation has been 

 quite marvelous all over the world, so much so that many 

 splendid improvements introduced have as yet not been 

 published, but will be brought to the attention of the 

 Congress by special papers and lectures. 



Everything seems to point to a very large and suc- 

 cessful meeting; the officers at the head of the Congress 

 are men of the highest type with a great deal of experi- 

 ence in organization ; and Chicago is by all means the 

 best and most available locality for such a gathering, as 

 it is a central point and a terminus for all railway lines 

 north, east, south and west, and particularly well adapted 

 as a place where the irrigator can meet the manufacturer, 

 since the great Coliseum will be filled with products of 

 the shop as well as the farm and orchard. 



There is still another point which should be considered 

 seriously, and that is the "back-to-the-land" movement. 

 There are thousands of families in the larger cities who 

 are looking for an opportunity to cut loose from the 

 shop and factory if they had proper information as to 

 how to get about it. It must not be inferred that such 

 city people are without resources, for most of them have 

 saved money and are now looking for a safe place where 

 they may invest in order to prepare for themselves a home 

 and means of making a quiet and pleasant living during 

 the declining years of their lives. Here is where the Irri- 

 gation Congress can do a great deal of missionary work 

 during its coming convention, conferring benefits alike to 

 the overcrowded cities and to the communities in the 

 irrigated belts. It will tend to restore the equilibrium in 

 population, since the last decade has increased the num- 

 ber of city people at a much greater ratio than the rural 

 population, as has been shown by the last census. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE will be especially active during the 

 time the Congress is in session to gather in all the infor- 

 mation and news possible and publish same in future is- 

 sues, so that those of our readers who are unable to attend 

 in person will in a measure obtain the benefit of the pro- 

 ceedings of the convention by reading them in the col- 

 umns of the IRRIGATION AGE. 



