186 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



in the actual money cost and profit columns. They 

 furnish what every one wants to know, and is very 

 valuable on that account. 



The reason why this, and all other bulletins 

 issued from time to time on irrigation have had no 

 effect in deciding the duty-of-water for irrigation 

 is that the commentator has always taken as a b'asis 

 for determination of values the acre of land ; and 

 the land having no value the basis is a fictitious one. 

 Given a million acres of land having no value, and 

 a thousand acre-feet of water, and it is the returns 

 secured from the use of the water that counts, and 

 not the number of acres of land the water is used 

 upon to secure those returns, and every bulletin 

 ever issued shows that the returns from one acre 

 of land upon which a large quantity of water is 

 placed is never as great as the returns from sev- 

 eral acres of land over which the same quantity 

 of water has been placed. 



It has also been vaguely considered that it 

 cost more money to irrigate land with a large 

 quantity of water than with a small quantity, but 

 this has never been so well illustrated as in the table 

 quoted here. That cost was found to be, cutting, 

 raking, shocking and hauling, $2.25 per ton ; water 



at $1.70 per acre-foot; irrigation, $0.50 per acre per 

 irrigation. 



There is a class of water users whose cost for 

 irrigating is less in using a large quantity of water 

 upon their lands than a smaller quantity. The 

 method is to turn the water upon the land, and let 

 it flow over it with little or no attention and for an 

 indefinite period sometimes turning it upon the 

 land in the spring, and never turning it off until 

 ready to harvest it. The result is a small quantity 

 per acre, degenerated as shown in case of the 60-inch 

 irrigation in the table, only far more so, and of very 

 inferior food quality. Hay thus produced will 

 barely keep an animal alive for a few winter months 

 feeding time. 



The same result is seen with other crops. In 

 the older irrigated sections of the United States, 

 wheat has degenerated until it cannot be used for 

 flour ; oats are nothing but husks ; potatoes are so 

 diseased and contain so little food substances they 

 are hardly fit to eat. The yield per acre of land is 

 greater than elsewhere, but the food value per acre 

 is far less. It is structural growth and not stored 

 food substances secured by such methods. 



IRRIGATION AND OUR NATIONAL FOOD SUPPLY 



By Percy A. Cupper, Assistant State Engineer, Salem, Oregon 



War is the present business of the United 

 States, and all the Nation's resources in men, money 

 and supplies should be marshalled in a supreme 

 effort to bring the struggle to a successful conclu- 

 sion. Men are selected by draft ; money 'is raised as 

 needed ; but for our food stuffs we must wait upon 

 the slowly recurring seasons, with their attendant 

 uncertainties. 



The unusually dry season in Oregon and else- 

 where, resulting in the partial or total failure of dry 

 farm crops, brings forcefully to mind that irrigation 

 on a sufficiently extensive scale will insure the 

 Nation's food supply. 



The world's need of American grown food- 

 stuffs will not cease in 1918, 1919, nor perhaps in 

 1920, and during this period of excessive demand 

 and unusually high prices the irrigation farmer has 

 an opportunity never before offered to make the 

 irrigated farm a success. In other words, irrigation 

 is more nearly a national necessity, and conditions 

 more nearly guarantee success to the individual 

 irrigator, than ever before. 



The federal government has wisely provided 

 for the construction of roads in co-operation with 

 the various states, and conditions are now such that 

 equal wisdom would be shown in providing for the 

 irrigation of additional land and the production of 

 crops thereon. 



While the sum which could be expended to ad- 

 vantage on irrigation at this time is a matter of 

 conjecture, it is believed that $75,000,000 allotted by 

 the government for this purpose would be conserva- 

 tive. One-third of this amount could well be allotted 

 for the completion of U. S. Reclamation Service pro- 

 jects, one-third in co-operation with the various 

 states, and one-third in the irrigation and cultivation 



of irrigated land which would not otherwise be in 

 crop. Projects which might be classified as U. S. 

 Reclamation Service projects would probably in- 

 clude some irrigation districts and Carey Act pro- 

 jects upon which certain co-operation could be 

 secured, so that no hard and fast line could be drawn. 



It is obvious that the states would not be in a 

 position to promptly put up dollar for dollar with 

 the federal government, on account of inadequate 

 constitutional and statutory provisions. Therefore 

 the co-operation in order to be effective, must in- 

 clude the acceptance by the federal government of 

 irrigation district bonds and Carey Act liens. For 

 example, the bonds of a feasible irrigation district 

 project could be deposited with the federal govern- 

 ment as security for the funds advanced for con- 

 struction, the bonds drawing the same rate of in- 

 terest the government is required to pay. The same 

 is true of Carey Act contracts and liens. It would 

 of course be necessary to reduce all projects to the 

 basis of the irrigation district. That is to say. the 

 co-operation could be only between land owners or 

 prospective irrigators and the government. No 

 Carey Act contracting company or private irrigation 

 company could intervene. 



In order to insure the hearty co-operation of 

 the state and its continued interest in the success of 

 the undertaking, it should be required to directly 

 contribute, at least to the extent of the administra- 

 tive expense of carrying the plans into effect within 

 the state. No money should be available for ex- 

 penditure in any state except for the completion of 

 projects undertaken after the state has had an op- 

 portunity to furnish funds, excepting on a dollar for 

 dollar basis in cash or the deposit of state bonds 

 with the government. In all cases the land, water, 



