THE IRKIGATION AGE. 



207 



possible, and delegates should be sent from every state 

 of the Union. Salt Lake City is already making extensive 

 preparations for the entertainment of its visitors and indi- 

 cations are that there will be a large attendance and that a 

 great amount of work will be accomplished for the good 

 of irrigation, and agriculture and allied subjects. 



After boys or girls leave the grammar 

 Schools schools in Germany at 14 years they are 



Needed not permitted to go to work as a rule, 



for either in the factory or on the farm, but 



Farming they are required to attend continuation 



schools for at least two years more, so 

 that the youngest recruits to the industrial army there are 

 at least 16 years of age. In these continuation schools 

 the children are taught practical subjects mostly, making 

 them similar to our trade schools here; but the great dif- 

 ference lies in the fact that while we have a few of 

 such trade schools in the United States, there are a 

 great many of them in Germany enough to take care 

 of the population there. 



This principle is worthy of imitation on a large 

 scale, and not only should we provide practical schools 

 for the graduates of the city grammar schools, to pre- 

 pare them for industrial pursuits, but we should go a 

 long step further and provide such continuation schools 

 for the rural population, where the children of the farm- 

 ers would be taught the principal scientific ideas under- 

 lying agriculture. It is true some efforts have been 

 made and are being made in some localities, as, for in- 

 stance, by the University of Idaho, which maintains 

 "movable" schools of agriculture; but such efforts are 

 only like drops into a bucket. Even our agricultural 

 schools, although doing an immense amount of good, are 

 not sufficient to give the necessary educational facilities 

 to our progressive farming communities. 



What should be done is to bring the college to the 

 farmers, instead of expecting them to leave their homes 

 and travel many miles to the nearest college. The way 

 this can be done is to have a practical professor, who 

 might be a good practical farmer with the necessary 

 qualifications, travel from town to town and from school-, 

 house to schoolhouse, and deliver the lectures according 

 to a properly worked-out schedule, thus giving the farm- 

 ers of such districts an opportunity to attend such classes, 

 ask questions and obtain such other information, litera- 

 ture and books as will be proper for such a course. Then, 

 after the lapse of a certain time, the professor should go 

 over the course again and check the work done, learn of 

 the experience in the field and tabulate and analyze 

 such data. 



We believe much good can be done by an arrange- 

 ment as outlined above, and the expenses entailed thereby 

 will be small compared to the great benefits to be de- 

 rived by the farming population. 



What 

 Crops 

 To 

 Raise. 



The Department of Agriculture is doing 

 many things to advance the interests of the 

 farmers and dependent industries; one thing 

 might be added, and that is to plan the 

 number of acres which should be devoted for 

 the raising of the different crops. This 

 grand total could then be apportioned to the vanous states, 

 and by the states among the different counties, and so down 

 to the individual farmers ; for instance, the Department of 

 Agriculture has sufficient statistics and data at hand to know 



what the home consumption of the various products of the 

 soil will be for one year. Taking this in conjunction with 

 the average yield per acre of any particular crop, it will not 

 be difficult to compute the number of acres that should be 

 sown to wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, etc. Next a chart 

 showing the rate of production through the various states 

 would make it possible to apportion to them their quota, 

 always bearing in mind the crops to which the state is par- 

 ticularly adapted. Then the states, through their govern- 

 ment machinery, could reach the individual farmers and 

 suggest to them what crops to raise and how many acres, in 

 order to keep up the average of the State. 



An arrangement of this kind would tend to do away with 

 overproduction of one kind of crop and scarcity of another, 

 although it would perhaps be impossible to entirely prevent 

 these two evils, as very abundant crops and crop failures 

 undoubtedly would modify the results. 



At any rate we think the suggestion should be discussed 

 by competent authorities, and if indorsed it should be given 

 a trial. 



We must try new things if we would progress, but we 

 should not try new things blindly. 



A development section will be one of the 

 A New features of IRRIGATION AGE in the future. 



Feature This will be edited by Mr. J. B. Adatte, for 



To Be many years connected with irrigation and 



Added. mining publications in the West. For our 



May issue Mr. Adatte is preparing a special 

 article on the San Juan Basin, and, as he is at present per- 

 sonally in the field, the article will be a truthful and vivid 

 story of opportunities for homeseekers and investors, and 

 the development of irrigation property in and around 

 Durango, Dolores, Ignacio, Bayfield, Tiffany, Allison and 

 La Boca, Colorado, as well as Aztec and Farmington, New 

 Mexico. 



This information should have an especial value, as the 

 writer is obtaining it on the ground and has had consider- 

 able experience along these lines. 



Have you written that letter to your Con- 

 Thoughts gressman and Senators, asking for an ad- 

 That equate parcels post system for the United 



Come and States? 



.-, * * * 



Go. 



If not, do it right now. You cannot put 

 a half hour or hour of time to better use. 

 And another thing you should do, is to pledge prospective 

 legislators and Congressmen to support a satisfactory par- 

 cels post law. 



* * * 



Read THE IRRIGATION AGE from cover to cover ; it con- 

 tains nothing but what is of value, of interest to its readers. 



* * * 



You cannot spend a dollar to better advantage than to 

 subscribe for THE IRRIGATION AGE for "one year ; after that 



you wont do without it. 



* * * 



It is one matter of great satisfaction that the excitement 

 in politics just now does not interfere with the supply of 

 water. There is a good store laid up in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains fastnesses, which our old friend Sol will liberate in 



due season. 



* * * 



Good crop prospects are by all means the best signs of 

 reviving business; when the products of the soil are plentiful, 

 then prosperity reigns. 



