1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
287 
occasionally. The “Early Nansemond” is 
the most popular variety at the North, 
though some others are claimed to be earlier. 
Irrigation in the Far West. 
BY W. E. PABOR. 
Grand River has a name significant of its 
ability to bring about grand results in hus¬ 
bandry in a country where the application of 
water is a necessity for success in soil cul¬ 
ture. Two years ago the fertile valley of 
the Grand, with its half million acres, was in 
the possession of a few hundred Indians, 
whose tepees dotted the willow lands along 
the river bank. One year ago white men en¬ 
tered the pleasant valley, and on every quar¬ 
ter-section of government land for a distance 
of thirty miles in length and a width varying 
from three to five miles back of the river, a 
cabin and a few rods of rude fencing gave 
promise of a home for hundreds of families. 
But, without an irrigating canal, these lands 
were valueless, not worth even the $1.25 per 
acre asked by the General Government. To 
construct a canal required capital, and capi¬ 
tal is eminently conservative in a new coun¬ 
try. Four months ago it was not certain 
that one would be built equal to the needs of 
the valley. Now a canal twenty-six miles 
long, thirty-five feet wide, costing $200,000, 
and watering 36,000 acres of land, is in suc¬ 
cessful operation. It is the second largest ir¬ 
rigating system in the country; conceived, 
contracted for, and completed within a 
period of ninety days from the time the com¬ 
pany was chartered. This is indicative of 
Western enterprise, of which mention may 
suitably be made in these columns. The peo¬ 
ple of the Far West see opening up for them 
vast possibilities in agricultural development. 
The time may be long before the four and a 
half million acres of irrigable land will be 
closely utilized; but rapid strides have been 
taken within the last two decades, and the 
next one seems likely to advance as rapidly 
in the same direction. The economies of ir¬ 
rigation, on account of the scanty volume of 
water in some of the streams, especially on 
the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountain 
range, are being closely studied, and the 
time may come when the farmers of Colo¬ 
rado will emulate the Chinese in the utiliza¬ 
tion of the precious fluid, upon whose proper 
distribution over the soil depends the pros¬ 
perity of every family settled upon its valley 
lands. 
Much has been written about the labor at¬ 
tendant upon irrigation, and to Eastern far¬ 
mers the system is one environed with sup¬ 
posed difficulties and expense. But nothing 
can he simpler or easier than to control the 
moisture necessaiy for the growth of crops, 
and apply it when most needed. 
The accompanying diagram illustrates the 
method as generally practised. It is seen 
that a connection with the main canal once 
made, a few plow furrows will convey the 
water to every portion of the field. The 
diagonal laterals are about one rod apart, and 
the forked or irregular ones, made by cutting 
the diagonal laterals, are a few feet apart. 
These latter openings are made by using a 
shovel to displace a little of the soil; in fact, 
making a gap through which the water runs, 
permeating the soil on each side, and soaking 
to any depth desired. 
Irrigation with the rental of water adds 
about $3.50 per acre to the cost of raising a 
crop of grain; equal, say, to four bushels of 
wheat. But it insures a crop, and by many 
it is claimed gives a larger yield, more than 
enough to overbalance the cost; while the 
uncertainty hinging upon a proper condition 
of the weather is wanting. If summer rains 
fall, well and good; if not, the remedy is at 
hand. Seldom are two irrigations needed; 
often one is sufficient. At rare intervals a 
crop is grown without any. 
In the work lately published on Colorado,* 
two chapters are devoted to Irrigation and 
the Measurement of Water, to which the 
reader’s attention is directed, if desirous of 
further information upon this topic. In 
western Kansas irrigating canals are becom¬ 
ing a prominent feature in certain counties 
lying beyond the region of sufficient rainfall. 
Nebraska, Wyoming, Arizona, are introduc¬ 
ing them, while Utah, New Mexico, and Cal¬ 
ifornia have long been noted for their use. 
Even in the Far East, in New England, the 
system is finding earnest advocates, especi¬ 
ally for hay meadows, and where the culti¬ 
vation of small fruits near large cities is car¬ 
ried on. 
Colorado owes its rapid agricultural pro¬ 
gress to irrigation. All its valleys on the 
eastern slope are meshed with canals. South¬ 
ern and western Colorado are rapidly becom¬ 
ing intersected with these arteries of soil life, 
and it will not be many years before the 
wheat yield of the State will become an im¬ 
portant factor in its industrial wealth. 
- - - •——— ® «— - ---• 
Wool shipped to a distant market should 
be baled. For both economy of space and 
freight charges, and the better condition of 
♦“Colorado as an Agricultural State.” 12mo.; pp. 
213. With illustrations. Price, $1.50. Orange Judd 
Co., New York, Publishers. 
the wool, the fleeces should be closely packed. 
A convenient method is to suspend the sack 
below a trap-door. The packer gets into the 
sack, takes the fleeces handed him, and 
presses them down close together with his 
bare feet. It is well to tie a small quantity 
of loose wool in each corner of the sack for 
handles. When well filled each sack should 
be marked with its exact net and tare weight. 
Practical Treatment of Diseases. 
Whenever the treatment of disease is un¬ 
dertaken by the farmer or stock-raiser, how¬ 
ever simple may be the case, it is well to re¬ 
member certain practical points, not only in 
the interest of the animal, but in that of the 
owner as well. Thus the action of medicines 
differs, not only in the different species of an¬ 
imals, but also in animals of the same spe¬ 
cies, dependent upon their age and condition, 
and the stage of the disease. Salts form one of 
the best purgatives for cattle and sheep, while 
for the horse, Aloes is best adapted. The action 
of Rhubarb, Colocyntli, and Jalap upon the 
horse is almost nothing. Large quantities of 
poisonous substances may be taken by hox-ses 
and cattle with comparative impunity, while 
certain drugs may be administered to man 
without injury, which in the same quantity 
would prove fatal to a dog. The fact that 
liquid substances, if given slowly, pass 
directly into the digesting stomach of the 
ruminating animals, explains why it is best 
to administer drugs in a fluid form to cattle 
and sheep if we need their speedy and cer¬ 
tain action. In the administration of liquids 
especially, the tongue should not be held, 
for the entrance to the windpipe is left un¬ 
guarded, and suffocation may be produced 
by the passage of foreign substances directly 
into the lungs. Fortunately much more re¬ 
liance is now placed upon the restorative 
