12 



THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



high or so strong. It is certain, too, that in low 

 water periods in the lower Mississippi it would be 

 less difficult to keep the channel open. I wish that I 

 might give you in an illustrative way a solution of 

 this whole problem, but I frankly confess we do not 

 know anything about it, and if any man tells you 

 that he does, you have a perfect right to doubt his 

 word, because it is such a question that no man can 

 render a solution of until he has in hand the ele- 

 ments that must inevitably direct that solution. 



I wish this American Federation it is a very 

 comprehensive thing an American Reclamation Fed- 

 eration, because reclamation is not confined to swamp 

 land drainage nor to the irrigation of arid lands ; it is 

 confined to everything that needs reclaiming. I would 

 like to see this association start out on a campaign of 

 reclamation all through. Among all the organizations 

 in the United States I do not find one that is specific- 

 ally devoted to that purpose and in going about I find 

 a great need of it the truth with reference to river 

 regulation and the truth in reference to swamp land 

 drainage ; how much we need, an organization which 

 will establish that truth, also in regard to irrigation. 

 Going about in the cities I read this and that circular 

 written and published under the auspices of the Cham- 

 ber of Commerce, and they come to my desk at home 

 setting forth peculiar advantages of this or that proj- 

 ect. Naturally I find them, wherever I happen to 

 know of the conditions, permeated with untruth. I 

 am sorry to say that some of the railroads do not al- 

 ways stick to the fact i-n their circulars. None of 

 those railroads are represented here, however. I will 

 be very brief. The reason why we are at fours and 

 sixes upon this whole matter of river regulation is 

 that we do not know the truth, and there seems to be 

 no particular agency in the United States, official or 

 private, which is given over to the ascertainment of 

 the facts ; and so I would say in starting out on a 

 flood regulation and a river regulation propaganda the 

 first thing to do is to ascertain the facts ; and I am 

 very sorry to say that we have not done that yet. I 

 thank you very much. 



(Continued in December.) 



CRUELTIES IN THE POULTRY 

 YARDS 



M. K. Boyer. 



IMPORTANT WORK OF RECLAMATION 

 SERVICE. . 



Advices received November 12 from Arrow- 

 rock, Idaho, report the laying of concrete for the 

 foundation of the great Arrowrock dam, which will 

 store water for the reclamation of about 250,000 

 acres of land near the city of Boise. 



Its construction was authorized January 6, 1911. 

 For two years work has been pushed vigorously on 

 preliminary operations 1 the establishment of a 

 camp ; the building of a railroad 21 miles long for 

 the transportation of men and materials ; the build- 

 ing of a power house and transmission line for fur- 

 nishing power ; the building of a tunnel through 

 which the river would flow while the natural chan- 

 nel was being prepared to receive the big structure 

 as well as during construction ; and finally the ex- 

 cavation to expose bedrock for the foundation to 

 rest Upon. Bedrock was reached on October 17, and 

 on November 12 the first bucketful of cement was 

 put in place. 



It is surprising how many people, otherwise 

 model citizens, are guilty of cruelty to both fowls 

 and animals. It may not altogether be intentional 

 on their part, but nevertheless they do things that 

 call for censure. 



One of the most common acts is to carry chick- 

 ens by their legs, heads down. This cruelty has been 

 practiced for years, and no one ever thought any- 

 thing about it. They did not notice the rush of 

 blood to the head of the fowls when carried that 

 way. A neighbor just the other day was carrying a 

 fat hen by the legs, and in a few minutes the bird 

 was gasping and came pretty near to choking to 

 death. An equally cruel method is to carry fowls by 

 the wings especially so when the fowls are heavy 

 bodied. The proper way is to allow the fowl to rest 

 on the arm, and the legs held firmly by the hand ; 

 or it can be held between the arm and body. 



A dealer was one day noticed to yank killing 

 stock out of a crate by catching by a leg or a wing, 

 and otherwise roughly handling them. AYhen re- 

 monstrated, he replied that it did not matter, as the 

 birds would soon be killed. 



With some people it is common to throw fowls 

 over the fence into a yard. There is no telling in 

 what manner they will reach the ground, and when 

 this cruelty is performed while the attendant is in a 

 fit of anger there is considerable force put into the 

 throw. 



A very pious old gentleman was vexed to the 

 cussing point because his chickens happened to get 

 out of the yard through a broken fence into his 

 garden. In his anger he threw a stone and lamed 

 one of the fowls. "There, it serves you right; I 

 don't pity you a bit," was the only comment on the 

 accident. How much better it would have been to 

 have carefully driven those fowls back into the yard 

 and at once repaired the fence. 



Verily, the contrariness of the hen is "not in it" 

 with the contrariness and stupidity of some of the 

 attendants. 



A common cruelty is to overcrowd the flocks, 

 especially in close, badly ventilated houses. Allow- 

 ing the supply of drinking water to run out, and 

 placing the drinking vessels out in the sun, are cru- 

 elties practiced by shiftless, iazy people. 



Many acts of cruelty can be named in the meth- 

 ods employed in breaking up broodiness in hens. 

 For instance, dousing them in water, tying them 

 by one leg to a stake, or throwing them into a yard 

 of young cockerels to be knocked about right and 

 left, are all practices that should be stopped. Brood- 

 iness is a provision of nature for rest, and certainly 

 the industrious hen deserves it. But if it is wanted 

 to have her change her ideas or condition, the only 

 humane way is to place all such in a separate house 

 where there are no nests nor male birds, and allow 

 them to gradually have the fever pass off. 



For some vears back it was the custom to sell 



