THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



115 



gave them the first application of irrigation water. 

 I irrigated them on July 5 and again on July 20. 

 The crop was matured with but these three applica- 

 tions of water. After the second irrigation the 

 vines were so large that I could not work in them 

 without destroying them. The operations practi- 

 cally ceased from this time on until the tubers were 

 ripe and ready for digging. 



I sent a selected 50 Ibs. to the State Fair, which 

 was held at Salt Lake City, October 3-10, for which 

 I received honorable mention by the judges. On 

 October 13, 14 and 15 I harvested the crop and the 

 potatoes were weighed and sold right from the 

 field. I found on careful checking of the weights 

 that my half acre had produced 360 bushels of mar- 

 ketable potatoes, the equivalent of 720 bushels per 

 acre. 



WATER USERS' ASSOCIATION vs THE DISTRICT 



A COMMITTEE of homesteaders on the Pay- 

 ette-Boise project has completed its investiga- 

 tions of the advantages of the Irrigation District, 

 now urged by certain Reclamation Service officials 

 as a substitute for the Water Users' Association. 

 The committee's report is a most interesting docu- 

 ment. It follows, in part : 



"According to the laws of Idaho, 'All lands 

 within the boundaries of an Irrigation District, in- 

 cluding unimproved lands held for speculative pur- 

 poses,' may be taxed equally for the construction 

 and maintenance charges. 



"Under the present Water Users' Association 

 each acre of land in the project is bound separately 

 to pay the construction and maintenance charges 

 by the owners of said lands subscribing for stock 

 in the corporation. 



"At the present time the owners of approxi- 

 mately 60,000 acres of land within the boundaries 

 of the Boise Project have not signed the stock sub- 

 scription contract and therefore said land is not 

 bound to pay any part of the construction or main- 

 tenance charges. 



"The owners of approximately 100,000 acres of 

 land within the boundaries of the Boise Project 

 have signed the stock subscription contract. These 

 lands are bound to pay the total cost of construc- 

 tion and operation. 



"Therefore under an irrigation district 160,000 

 acres of land will be taxed for the construction and 

 maintenance charges, instead of 100,000 acres under 

 the present Water Users' Association. This will 

 reduce the cost of construction approximately $20 

 per acre, and the cost of maintenance will be re- 

 duced in like proportion. 



"The existing stock subscription contracts are 

 considered and held to be a first mortgage on the 

 land. Land and investment companies that are re- 

 quired by law to invest their funds in bonds and 

 first mortgages upon farm lands cannot use their 

 funds on such lands. 



"Under an irrigation district the cost of con- 

 struction^ of the irrigation works is considered the 

 same as a municipal bond and collected the same as 

 state or county taxes. The title of the individual 

 land owner is clear. The construction charge is not 

 considered as a first mortgage, consequently the 

 land companies are not prohibited from making 

 loans upon such lands. 



"In the formation of an irrigation district there 

 is also aome disadvantage that the land owners do 

 not have to contend with under the present Water 

 Users' Association. The laws of Idaho provide for 



only three directors on the board of an irrigation 

 district. 



"The opinion of this committee is, that this 

 will place too much authority in the hands of three 

 men and that it is not a sufficient number of di- 

 rectors to give the district the proper representa- 

 tion. 



"As an irrigation district is a public corpora- 

 tion, all qualified electors residing within the boun- 

 daries of said district can vote at any election, in- 

 cluding an election held for the purpose of voting 

 bonds. This permits an elector residing in the dis- 

 trict, but not owning land, to have an equal share 

 with the land owners in the management of the 

 district. 



IRRIGATE FROM ILLINOIS RIVER 



Twenty acres near Marseilles, 111., will be oper- 

 ated with an irrigation system this coming season 

 by two Mendota men E. B. Gephard and I. N. 

 Clark. No, La Salle county, Illinois, is not becom- 

 ing an arid or even semi-arid region, nor is this 

 particular twenty acres of that character, but the 

 men undertaking the project do so realizing the 

 fertilizing properties of the Illinois River, from 

 which they will get the water for irrigation. The 

 twenty acres lies adjoining the river, west of Mar- 

 seilles and a pumping station will be erected with 

 a ten horsepower pump. About 1,500 feet of 4^ 

 inch iron pipe will be laid to the higher points of 

 the tract and irrigation made therefrom as in dry 

 countries. 



The land has been leased by Dwight E. Cooke 

 for five years with an option on another twenty 

 acres. Potatoes, cabbage, and truck gardening will 

 be raised. 



TELLS OF NEW JERSEY IRRIGATION 



Milo B. Williams, of the Department of Agri- 

 culture at Washington, who has been supervising 

 the establishment of irrigation plants in South 

 Jersey, told of "Irrigation Progress in New Jersey" 

 recently. 



The overhead plant at Sea Brook Farm, near 

 Bridgeton, has resulted in crops worth $100,000 

 yearly, one acre yielding $1,500, three crops being 

 gathered from it. The plant at the Granville Leeds 

 farm, at Rancocas, and the one at the training 

 school at Vineland are also successful. 



The present session of the New Jersey legisla- 

 ture is expected to take up several irrigation bills. 



