THIRTY-THIRD BIENNIAL SESSION 
55 
Mr. Lewis: I can say this: Seven years ago, in some of our valleys not 
five per cent were irrigated; five years from now there will not be five per 
cent of them unirrigated if they get clear; in other words, the young trees 
and orchards that get the later rains are all that will not be irrigated; most 
bearing orchards in our valleys are irrigating. Some even are irrigating 
where they have thirty-five inches of rain fall. 
Question: What proportion of the orchards are being injured by irriga- 
tion? 
Mr. Lewis. Relatively, only a small per cent and those apt to be on the 
lower levels. We are learning very rapidly the cause of this damage and 
taking steps to regulate the amount of water. It is a matter of education, 
and in some cases irrigation companies are beginning to regulate the 
amount of water that may be used, and this will be followed entirely in time. 
In time water will be worth more than the land and it will be difficult for a 
man to obtain more water than he needs. 
Question: What factor would be the most important one as affecting 
overproduction of apples in your section? The injury from irrigation; the 
overplanting; or the lack of care as affecting the insect and fungous troubles? 
Mr. Lewis. Lack of care is nothing; you won’t find one per cent of 
the orchards of the Northwest uncared for. We spray as regularly as we 
eat breakfast; it has got to be a habit of ours — no loss from lack of care. 
I would think getting good soil adapted to what you want to do, and then 
put in practice good horticultural methods. Many of the irrigation problems 
will be handled by cooperative drainage, which has been a trouble in the past. 
Question: Do you consider the overhead system desirable in the East? 
Mr Lewis. No; only in small ways can it be applied. I know one man 
using it for strawberries, and one for asters — a grower of general flowers, 
and several celery growers ; but it is not in use in the apple orchards. 
FRUIT IN THE NORTH. 
D. W. Buchanan, Manitoba. 
The province of Manitoba, Canada, is popularly supposed to be some- 
what beyond the fruit zone, lying, as it does, north of the states of Minne- 
sota and North Dakota, the northern portions at least of which are consid- 
ered not suitable for fruit growing. Nevertheless, many fruits can be 
grown in Manitoba with a considerable measure of success. Many failures 
in the past have resulted from lack of knowledge, rather than from climatic 
difficulties, due to the fact that settlers in a new country usually plant varie- 
ties and attempt methods of cultivation familiar to them in the regions 
whence they came. Most of the settlers in the comparatively new province 
of Manitoba came from a milder and moister climate, and the varieties of 
