THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



127 



and the concentrated product may be shipped any time 

 without danger from freezing. 



The machines which are in use in Germany for this 

 purpose are of the drum type and the cost of treating 

 one ton of potatoes (about 33 bushels) is $1.30, including 

 all expenses, which seems a very small amount when the 

 advantages of the operation are considered. 



Similar treatments might be applicable to other crops 

 and their by-products, such as the drying of the sugar 

 beet pulp, beet leaves and such like. The sugar beet 

 factories in Germany preserve their pulp in this manner 

 and by mixing with it a small quantity of molasses use 

 it for an excellent stock food, some of which is exported 

 to the United States. 



There is no good reason why we cannot do these 

 things here in the United States as well and with better 

 financial results as they do in Germany and it is to be 

 hoped that experiments will be conducted along these 

 lines. 



The 



New Ohio 



Spraying 



Law. 



It will be of interest to our readers to 

 learn that the legislature of the state of 

 Ohio last year passed a compulsory 

 spraying law, to take effect after the 31st 

 of May next. The law states that every 

 owner of an orchard consisting of ten or more fruit trees 

 shall spray or cause to be sprayed such trees one or more 

 times during the period from November 1 to April 13, with 

 some suitable preparation for the destruction of the San 

 Jose oyster shell or scurvy scale. A fine of from $25 to 

 $100 for each year is provided for violation of this law. 

 This action of the Ohio legislature is a move in the 

 right direction and we strongly recommend that legis- 

 latures elsewhere look into the needs of the fruit industry 

 and pass similar acts as the needs of the respective states 

 may require. 



While we endorse the action taken in Ohio we can- 

 not see why orchards of less than ten trees should be 

 exempt from the law, and it might be more effective if 

 the statute had been made to provide for the spraying of 

 every tree in the state. An exempting provision like this 

 may greatly interfere with the realization of the purpose 

 for which the law was designed since the breeding of the 

 San Jose scale may be carried on in a large num- 

 ber of small orchards which do not come under the pro- 

 vision of the law. If it is a good thing to spray trees in 

 large orchards it is equally a desirable thing to spray 

 small orchards and no exclusions should be made. 



No law should be passed anywhere which is not bind- 

 ing upon all citizens alike unless some very good reasons 

 are given for such exemption. 



The annual statement of the Board of 

 Prison Control of the State Penitentiary of 



Manufacturing Michigan demonstrated the fact that the 

 Proves Binder Twine plant, operated by the 



Unsatisfactory, prisoners in that institution, has been 



losing money during the past year, if 

 proper charges were to be made for depreciation of plant 

 and machinery, interest on the investment and for cost of 

 light and power. This has been the experience of other 

 state prisons to an extent where goods are manufac- 

 tured in competition with free labor and proves that 

 the principle is wrong and unsatisfactory. 



There is no doubt about the necessity of keeping 

 prisoners employed while they are serving sentences and 



while they are a burden for the taxpayers of a state 

 their services should be so directed in order to give such 

 taxpayers the greatest possible benefit. This, however, 

 is not accomplished by engaging in the manufacture of 

 binder twine, or shoes, or any other commodity which 

 interferes with the work and earning- capacity of free 

 labor in factories;, the benefit of the prison-made goods 

 does not affect the well being of the general public, but 

 enriches usually some politician, and free labor is thrown 

 out of employment. 



The logical and best disposition of such labor is to 

 use it for construction, maintenance and repairs of public 

 highways and water courses. There is no state in this 

 Union which has not work of this kind ahead for the next 

 fifty years for all its state prisoners. This kind of em- 

 ployment is far more healthful and conducive to character 

 improvement than shop or factory work. The outdoor 

 work and exercise will bring about favorable reaction 

 and keep the inmates in good bodily strength and good 

 spirits. 



It has been said, and truthfully so, that our public 

 highways are a disgrace to the nation and yet how little 

 is being done toward bettering the conditions affecting 

 this means of vehicle transportation between the farms 

 and towns, from village to village? There should be a 

 good public road along every section line of the county, 

 so the farmer can make a reasonably fast trip any time to his 

 nearest town or market to dispose of his produce and to pur- 

 chase goods for his own wants. The various states and 

 counties are constantly pleading poverty and high cost of road 

 building for the unsatisfactory conditions of their highways, 

 yet the valuable labor of their penitentiaries might be put to 

 work on them and produce wonderful changes for the better 

 in a short time. In this way the taxpayers would get the 

 best returns for the expenses of maintaining the state prison, 

 and the farmer especially would be benefited a hundred- 

 fold more than the small reduction in taxes ever would 

 amount to in consequence of a possible net profit on prison- 

 made goods. 



After the public roads have reached a desirable condition 

 of perfection then any available prison labor should be put 

 to the improvement of water courses in the various states. 

 There is a large amount of this work badly needed in each 

 state and judicious work in this direction would save millions 

 of dollars annually. This work should be done along the 

 banks of all creeks or rivers where the adjacent land suffers 

 periodically from floods ; dikes should be built to keep the 

 water within its course ; channels should be deepened where 

 necessary to increase the capacity, and, in short, all improve- 

 ments tending to increase the productiveness of the land 

 along such channels should be looked after by the state 

 authorities and should be undertaken at the earliest possible 

 moment. 



The prison shop or factory should be abolished and 

 prison labor should be used for the building and improving 

 of public highways and water courses. 



In a recent opinion of the state's attorney 

 of the state of Washington it is held 

 that power and irrigation companies in 

 that state must file a tariff with the 

 public service commission stating their 

 charges for services rendered to the 

 public. The issue was raised by the Hanford Irrigation 

 Company of Hanford, Wash., which company does not 

 offer for sale either power or irrigation service to the 



Irrigation 

 Companies 

 Must File 

 Tariffs. 



