THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



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e Federal 

 Water Users 



A Department Devoted to the 

 Interests of the Farmers on the 

 Government Irrigation Projects 



EDITED BY GEORGE J. SCHARSCHUG 



LET CONGRESS SEE COST REVIEW REPORTS 



SECRETARY of the Interior Lane's revalua- 

 tion reports on the Federal irrigation projects 

 are gradually percolating into headquarters. 



Minority reports by Reclamation Service mem- 

 bers of the various Boards of Review have proved 

 very effective brakes in attempts to bring quick 

 action and possible relief to the settlers through the 

 revaluations. 



According to present indications it may be years 

 before the final board hands down its decisions. 



Except that the settlers have new bills to pay, 

 there is now no outlook that the reports will prove 

 of much value. 



There is one possibility of relief. The settlers 

 have had opportunity to make records of their con- 

 tracts with the government and to offer evidence of 

 waste, extravagance and incompetence in the con- 

 struction work on the projects. 



If the reports can be brought before congress, 

 this evidence may result in the righting of many 

 wrongs and the lifting of unjust burdens under 

 which the settlers are laboring. 



There is little hope of such relief from the De- 

 partment of the Interior. 



With the evidence before it, congress can hardly 

 refuse to stop the attempt to make the settlers pay 

 for reservoirs, dams and other main works to which, 

 under the Reclamation Act, they cannot get title. 



Also, congress will insist, we believe, upon the 

 government keeping its original contracts with the 

 settlers and halt the present Shylock methods of 

 increasing the cost of water rights. 



Some Western congressman should demand 

 that these reports be laid before congress at the 

 earliest moment during the December session. 



It is time the settlers knew just what size bill 

 they must pay to the government. Then they can 

 begin financing their farming operations. 



The revaluation report in the Uncompahgre, 

 Colo., project was compiled last month. After ques- 

 tioning George W. Bruce, of Delta, Colo., president 

 of the association and settlers' member of the board, 

 the Montrose Enterprise says: 



"Mr Bruce declared that we had made a strong 

 case on the basis of the original understanding of a 

 cost of $25 an acre that the evidence shows that it 

 was quite apparent that the people and the govern- 

 ment officials began the work on the project on the 

 proposition that it would not cost to exceed $25 an 

 acre. Just what effect this contention will have 

 Mr. Bruce did not know, but all other items he con- 

 sidered as small matters compared to this one con- 

 tention as to the cost of the project in the under- 



standing of the land owners when they signed up 

 their land to the project." 



At a recent meeting of the Lower Yellowstone 

 Water Users' Association, Burton S. Adams re- 

 ported to the settlers as follows: 



"J. B. Bond, representing the Reclamation 

 Service, declined to sign the majority report and 

 announced that he would make a minority report, 

 and worked on one all the time the majority report 

 was being compiled, with the assistance of Attorney 

 Roddis and the Reclamation Service, and announced 

 that we would be served with a copy immediately, 

 and allowed to supplement our report on any new 

 matter introduced ; and it is now over a month since 

 our report was made, and we are still awaiting the 

 minority report of the Reclamation Service. 



"We have been instructed by the Secretary of 

 the Interior not to make public any of the report 

 of the Board of Review until after action by the 

 Central Board of Review and the Secretary of the 

 Interior." 



SPROUT WEEDS BEFORE PLANTING 



In land which has been under cultivation for 

 some time there is apt to be a great quantity of weed 

 seeds. A clean stand of wheat or other winter crops 

 may be secured on such land, says John P. Orme, 

 president of .the Salt River Valley Water Users' 

 Association and a successful farmer for thirty years, 

 by giving a light irrigation early in the season. This 

 will sprout the weed seeds, and when they have 

 made a growth of about six inches, the land should 

 be plowed eight to twelve inches deep. The soil 

 will then be ready to irrigate heavily and prepare 

 for winter crops. Sour clover seed does not germi- 

 nate until the weather commences to get cool; so, 

 if it is desired to kill this weed, it should be first 

 allowed to germinate. 



IT PAYS TO IRRIGATE 



The question, "Does irrigation really pay?" was 

 very forcibly answered in the experience of W. B. 

 Davis, who lives on a rented irrigated farm near 

 Hereford, Tex. 



Mr. Davis had 140 acres in wheat, and, after 

 irrigating some 36 acres one time, decided that it 

 really did not pay to irrigate and let the rest go. 

 Imagine his surprise when he cut and threshed his 

 crop; the irrigated wheat made 34 l / 2 bushels per 

 acre, while the rest only made \9> l / 2 bushels, just 16 

 bushels less. 



For the irrigated wheat he received 7c per 

 bushel more because the grain was so much better. 



