1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
4.59 
tion, a ditch is to be dug, fifteen feet wide, three 
feet deep, and thirty miles long, beginning at a 
point on the Big Laramie River, thirty miles south¬ 
west of the city, near Sheep Mountain, and extend¬ 
ing to the same river at a point a short distance 
north of Laramie. 
From the main ditch, secondary ditches are to be 
dug, by means of which fully fifty thousand 
acres of land west of the city, lying between the 
river and the main ditch, will be irrigated and 
brought under cultivation. At present, this tract is 
an open plain, dotted here and there with ranches 
and droves of cattle and sheep. The cost of this 
system of ditches is computed at from ten to fifteen 
thousand dollars. The engineer, Mr. F. C. Avery, 
who has superintended similar irrigation enterprises 
in Colorado, is sanguine that it will be attended 
with fully as successful results, notwithstanding 
the plains here are considerably higher than in Col¬ 
orado. The citizens who are to bear the expense of 
this ditching system, are now locating whole sec¬ 
tions of land within the proposed area, under what 
is known as the “ Desert Act or Law.” Anyone 
has a right, under this Desert law, to appropriate 
six hundred and forty acres of desert land at $1.25 
an acre, by paying 25 cents per acre cash, and an 
addititional $1.00 per acre within three years’ time, 
upon furnishing proof of his having reclaimed the 
land by irrigation. Furthermore, a revenue will 
accrue to those who supply the funds, from the sale 
of the water rights. The right to draw water 
enough to irrigate oue hundred and sixty acres, is 
worth considerably move than the original cost of 
the land. At Fort Collins, in Colorado, this right 
is valued at from $800 to $1,000. 
This particular valley, extending from the Medi¬ 
cine Bow River to the head of the Laramie Plains, 
and being about one hundred miles in length and 
fifty miles in width, is specially adapted for irriga- 
tiou on account of the numerous water courses. 
The Big Laramie winds about through the valley 
for over one hundred miles, and the North Platte 
River, the Medicine Bow, Rock Creek, Dutton 
Creek, Little Laramie and other streams, flow 
through it. Should this first attempt at irrigation 
by the citizens of Laramie, meet with the predicted 
and anticipated success, it will undoubtedly be re¬ 
peated on a large scale all over the plains. 
During the past summer, potatoes, peas, and 
other vegetables have been successfully raised 
here, in the gardens of Laramie by means of the 
irrigation afforded through a copious spring just 
east of, and 200 feet higher than, the city. 
Fish Culture in the Fax West. 
There is no industry which promises more liberal 
returns upon the investment than the propagation 
of fish in the far Western States and Territories, 
where there is a great scarcity of this kind of food. 
An enterprising fish breeder, who would construct 
ponds and raise superior kinds of fish for the mar¬ 
ket in either Colorado, Nebraska, or Wyoming, 
would be certain to realize very handsomely on his 
outlay. The prairie regions being subject to sur¬ 
face flowage every year, ponds should be con¬ 
structed as remote as possible from points liable to 
overflow. In building them, care should be exer¬ 
cised to secure the cool healthful waters from the 
mountain streams. The nearer such ponds are 
to the foothills or mountain slopes, the better. 
With the exception of mountain trout and some 
other fish, the supply in the far West is brought 
from the lakes and other remote points. Such fish 
are naturally expensive and not always so fresh 
and wholesome as might be desired. From in¬ 
quiries made on the ground, we are satisfied that 
there is a demand here for fresh fish, in the supply¬ 
ing of which lies a fortune for enterprising fish cul- 
turists. Owing to the abundance of beef, the 
demand for fish as a change of diet is very general. 
Kansas—Recent Immigration. 
Kansas is smiling with prosperity, and her peo¬ 
ple are cheerful and happy over the improved con¬ 
dition of affairs. In travelling through the entire 
State, visiting the agricultural centres, the cities, 
villages, and other points of interest, I have heard 
but one expression of opinion, viz. : that hard times 
are over and prosperous times have come again. 
The immigration into the State for the year I 
compute at one hundred and five thousand, basing 
my figures upon conversations I have held with the 
leading authorities, including the Governor, the 
State Board of Agriculture, and the various Rail¬ 
way Land Commissioners. While portions have 
been distributed through the eastern counties, 
the great bulk of this immigration has pushed on 
to the central and western counties, following the 
railway routes across the State. The sales of the 
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad for the 
ten months ending with October, were 208,626 acres, 
as compared with 57,439 acres for the correspond¬ 
ing period last year. The sales of the Kansas and 
Pacific for the ten months were 182,000 acres, and 
the estimated sales for November were 20,000. In 
addition, there are the very large amounts of Gov¬ 
ernment lands sold, preempted, etc., of which no 
official aggregate data have yet been made up. 
Prior to 1871 there were no settlements one hun¬ 
dred miles west of Topeka. During the years that 
have intervened since then, one hundred thousand 
people have moved into the region beyond upon the 
lands tributary to the Kansas Valley, as far as Fort 
Dodge. This population is scattered over an area 
of two hundred miles in length,and an average width 
of seventy-five miles. It lies about 37 miles each 
side of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Road. 
The immigration is likewise following westward 
with similar rapidity on the line of the Kansas and 
Pacific Road. Saline County, for example, which 
ten years ago was roamed over by the buffalo, this 
year produces a million and a half bushels of wheat. 
Ellsworth, one hundred miles west of Salina, which, 
in 1868, was the happy hunting-ground of the In¬ 
dian, has this year raised from twenty to twenty- 
five bushels of wheat per acre. 
Changes in the Climate.—The Crops. 
The rapid climatic changes are converting barren 
into good arable land, and it is now thought that in 
five years’ time, good crops can be produced at Fort 
Wallace, 235 miles west of Salina, where the coun¬ 
try is now seemingly a desert waste. The long, 
blue-joint, or prairie grass, is moving westward at 
the rate of five miles annually in advance of the 
population. It grows from two to three feet high, 
and serves to protect the soil from the direct rays of 
the sun, and after a rain storm, answers as a mulch, 
in preventing the ground from becoming hard and 
dry. On one section of land in Elk County, where 
eight plows were “ disabled ” in endeavors to 
break up the ground a few years ago, good crops 
are now being raised. Although the rainfall has 
not increased so much as has been generally sup¬ 
posed, it has increased very materially. Rain, fall¬ 
ing upon broken ground, remains much longer than 
when falling on hard, dry soil, so that the extreme 
dryness experienced ten years ago, is not now felt 
in Kansas. Should Western Kansas and Eastern 
Colorado, included in what has hitherto been 
known as the Great American Desert, be ultimately 
brought under cultivation, it would certainly be a 
matter of general interest, as indicating what cli¬ 
matic changes man can accomplish in a sterile land. 
The inhabitants of the eastern counties express 
considerable dissatisfaction because the people 
coming into the State, push on beyond them. They 
claim that the impression among them that their 
counties are burdened down with bonded and 
other debts, is not borne out by the facts ; further¬ 
more, that just as good lands can be purchased in 
the eastern counties at as cheap, or almost as 
cheap rates, as can be had in the middle and wes¬ 
tern counties hundreds of miles further west. 
Governor Anthony and other prominent men in the 
State, interested in its welfare, have stated to me 
that the people of Kansas do not sympathize with 
any “ philanthropic ” or other movements in the 
Eastern and Middle States for transferring a depen¬ 
dent population to Kansas, where there is room 
only for those who can take care of themselves. 
The crops of Kansas have generally shown a 
fine average yield. The wheat crop has been the 
largest ever raised in the State. The oats have been 
good, and potatoes very good. Corn was affected 
by the dry weather. A large crop of broom corn 
has been raised this season. The following tables 
indicate the quantity of Kansas cereals as compared 
with last year. The figures for 1877 are official, 
as likewise are those for this year (1878), furnish¬ 
ed me by the Hon. Alfred Gray, Secretary of the 
8‘ate Board of Agriculture, whose well known thor¬ 
oughness is a sufficient guarantee for their accuracy. 
Kansas Crops. 
1877. 
1878. 
Wheat. 
14,316,705 Bush. 
103,497,831 “ 
12,768,488 “ 
2,525,054 «• 
1,875,323 “ 
32,315.358 Bush. 
89,324.971 “ 
17.411.473 “ 
2,722,008 “ 
1.562,793 “ 
Corn. 
Oats. 
Rye. 
Barley. 
These returns of the crops for this year, are 
based upon the monthly reports which the county 
officials are required by law to make to the agri¬ 
cultural authorities of the State. A portion of this 
correspondence, describing the great Texas Cattle 
Drive, is given on page 450 of this number. 
Science Applied to Farming.—XLVII. 
Fish as Food for Animals. 
“ The cattle at Provincetown feed upon fish with ap¬ 
parently as good relish as upon the best kinds of fodder. 
... .We have seen the cows at that place toldly enter the 
surf, in pursuit of the offal thrown from the fish-boats 
on the shore, and .... masticate and swallow every part 
but the hardest bones. A Provincetown cow will dis¬ 
sect (he head of a cod with wonderful celerity. She 
places one foot upon a part of it, and with her teeth tears 
off the skin and gristly parts, and in a few moments 
nothing is left but the bones... .It is said that somecows 
there.will, when grain and fish are placed before 
them,.... eat the whole of the fish before they will touch 
the grain.” Barnstable (Mass.) Journal , Feb. 7, 1833. 
We have accounts of the feeding of fish to 6tock 
in the East, centuries ago. It is a regular practice 
in northern Norway, where dried codfish are used 
to piece out the stock of hay that does not suffice 
for the long winter. In 1856 Prof. Stoeckhardt, of 
Saxony, received a sample of Norwegian fisli- 
guano, which he fed to a half-year-old pig “ which 
did exceptionally well on this northern food.” 
Experience of Farmers in Maine. 
The same practice prevails on our Atlantic coast, 
particularly in Maine. The Maine Agricultural re¬ 
ports refer frequently to this use of fish-pomace, 
or fish-scrap, the material which, when dried and 
ground, makes fish-guano. Mr. W. D. Dana says : 
“ Fish pomace, or the residuum of herring after the oil 
is pressed out, is greedily eaten by sheep, swine, and 
fowl; and probably pogy [Menhaden] chum would be 
eaten as well. Smoked alewives and frost fish also fur¬ 
nish a food palatable to cattle. Sheep thrive well, get fat 
and yield heavier fleeces when fed on this pomace than 
when fed on anything else produced in this section of 
the State. Careful and observing farmers who have fed 
it, assert that it is of equal value with good hay. ton per 
ton, and that its value for manure is in no degree dimin- 
'ished by passing it through the living mill, and thus re¬ 
ducing it to a much more convenient state for applying. 
If it could be sufficiently dried, without other sub¬ 
stances, to prevent putrefaction, it would form a valua¬ 
ble article of cattle feed in regions from which it is now 
excluded by the expense of transportation and its own 
odoriferous nature.” 
Mr. M. L. Wilder says of his experience in the use of 
scrap as a food for sheep: “ I believe fish offal to be not 
only cheaper, but much superior to any other kind of 
provender X have ever used for this purpose. I keep 
about one hundred sheep, and have fed fish offal to them 
for the past ten years. The offal is made from herring 
caught in weirs, salted the same as for smoking, cooked, 
and the otl pressed out, leaving a pomace for which the 
sheep are more eager than for grain. For the last three 
winters I have kept my sheep on threshed straw,with one- 
half pound of dried fish-pomace per day to each sheep, 
or one pound of green (as it shrinks one-half in dry¬ 
ing), and they came out in the spring in much better con¬ 
dition than when fed on good English hay with corn. I 
consider the dry pomace worth as much as corn, pound 
for pound. When I have had enough to give them one- 
half pound per day, I have found that the weight of the 
fleece was increased one-quarter, and not only that, but 
also the carcass in a like proportion; the weight of the 
fleeces per head averaging from five to seven pounds.” 
Why Fish are Nutritious. 
Fish and fish refuse consist essentially of flesh, 
oil or fat, and bone. The fleshy portions, which 
contain nitrogen, are similar in composition to lean 
meat and to the albuminoids—gluten, fibrine, etc.— 
of plants. The fish oils or fats, too, are essentially 
the same as those of hay, corn, oil-cake and other 
vegetable foods. The bone contains albuminoid 
matter; “gristle” is quite digestible and nutri- 
