THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



varieties of cowpeas to be grown as a summer green- 

 manure crop, a collection of five varieties was grown 

 under comparable conditions for green-manure pro- 

 duction and also tested for seed and hay production. 

 "Of these varieties there are two, the New Era 

 and the Groit, that appear to be distinctly superior 

 to the others in green-manure or hay production. If 



local seed production is to be considered, they are 

 equally valuable for this purpose. Both are early- 

 maturing varieties, the New Era being seven to ten 

 days earlier than the Groit. One other variety, 

 however, the Whippoor-will, not included in this 

 test, is known to succeed well under these condi- 

 tions." 



TURN OVER U. S. PROJECTS IN 1917; PERHAPS 



TO those settlers on the Federal projects who are 

 looking forward to the day when the Water 

 Users' Associations will assume control of the proj- 

 ects, the following letter is of interest: 



"October 12, 1915. 



"Mr. R. F. Randolph, Secretary Minidoka Irriga- 

 tion District, Rupert, Idaho. 

 "Dear Mr. Randolph: 



"Your letter of September 17, 1915, refers, 

 among other things, to the question when a contract 

 under which the irrigation district will undertake 

 the operation of the gravity unit of the Minidoka 

 project will be presented to the water users. As 

 you know, this question has been under considera- 

 tion for some time past, and there was presented 

 to this office a form of contract which provided 

 both for the turning over of the project to the dis- 

 trict and for the district to act as fiscal agent for 

 the United States in the collection of water charges. 

 It has been considered by the Commission, how- 

 ever, that these two features should be made the 



basis of separate contracts, and for this reason the 

 contract submitted was not satisfactory. 



"The district counsel has been given detailed 

 instructions relative to the preparation of the con- 

 tract for turning over the collections to the district 

 and it is hoped that this feature may be disposed of 

 at any early date. 



"In the matter of turning over the operation of 

 the project to the district, it is first necessary that 

 proper rules and regulations shall be adopted in 

 pursuance of the provisions of the Reclamation Ex- 

 tension Act. A tentative draft of such regulations 

 has now been formulated and is receiving considera- 

 tion. When these have been definitely decided upon 

 the matter of the execution of a formal contract 

 between the United States and the district will be 

 taken up and we hope that it may be disposed of 

 sufficiently in advance of the irrigation season of 

 1917 to enable all necessary details to be arranged. 

 "Very truly yours, 



"A. P. DAVIS, 

 "Director and Chief Engineer." 



SHOW VALUE OF PUMP IRRIGATION 



THE Kansas State Irrigation Congress struck 

 some effective blows in favor of pump irriga- 

 tion during its sessions at Garden City, Kans., in 

 October. 



Larned, Kans., will entertain the 1916 conven- 

 tion. E. Frizzell, of Larned, was elected president ; 

 E. J. Guilbert, of Gill, vice-president, and H. B. Wal- 

 ker, of Manhattan, state irrigation engineer, secre- 

 tary. The last two were re-elections. 



Pump irrigation, securing water from the un- 

 derflow and other subterranean sources will increase 

 the yield of corn in western Kansas by 35 to 60 

 bushels an acre, declared H. C. Diesem, irrigation 

 engineer for the United States government. The 

 cost of such irrigation should not exceed $1.10 to 

 $2.40 per acre per season, exclusive of labor, he said. 

 His investigations have shown that western Kansas 

 land which yields 15 bushels of corn to the acre 

 without irrigation will produce 50 to 75 bushels 

 under irrigation. 



A. A. Potter, dean of engineering at the Kansas 

 State Agricultural College, emphasized the need of 

 the use of pumping engines which burn some other 

 sort of fuel oil than gasoline. Autos and flying 

 machines soon will consume most of the output of 

 gasoline, he declared. 



For successful irrigation it is necessary that 

 more attention be paid to pumping equipment, Prof. 

 R. A. Seaton, of the Kansas State Agricultural Col- 

 lege told delegates. Reliability and economy of 

 operation, he said, are the two chief items which 

 must be considered. 



"Reliability is of vital importance, since a fail- 

 ure in the water supply at a critical time during the 

 growing season will cause serious losses," he said. 

 "In small pumping plants, the machinery must run 

 with but little attention, and this from attendants 

 who are not accustomed to the operation of complex 

 machinery. The machines should, therefore, be as 

 simple as possible and should be rugged in construc- 

 tion so they are not likely to get out of order. 



"Economy of operation includes not only the 

 cost of fuel or of power, if electric power is pur- 

 chased, but also interest and depreciation on the 

 interest and depreciation on the investment, and 

 cost of lubricants, repairs and attendance. The 

 items of interest, depreciation and attendance must 

 be taken into consideration whether the owner bor- 

 rows the money for the investment or uses his own 

 money, and whether he looks after his own plant 

 or hires his work done, since he is deprived of the 

 use of his money and time for other purposes when 

 he furnishes them himself." 



