all the land under the system has taken water rights the canal will be entirely owned by the irrigators, who are the persons most vitally interested in its efficient and economical administration. This end being reached by degrees will obviate one source of trouble which has been felt under the California law, where men in the dis tricts have been called suddenly to handle immense sums of money and large enterprises without previous experience or training.

At the same time the irrigator will obtain his water from the start at actual cost of maintenance. Under this system Under this system the annual assessment is estimated at not to exceed twenty cents per acre. Water stock sells at $10.00 per acre.

The above is given as an outline of a conscientious attempt to give a community the benefits of a district system in so far as it lay in the power of private individuals to do so.

IRRIGATION IN ALBERTA, CANADA.

THE

HE following is a letter from Chas. O. Card, of Cardstone, Alberta, in reply to inquiries regarding irrigation.

You ask me in regard to my ideas of duty of water. I believe in most instances that fifty cents per acre will give a handsome return on capital invested.

All this will naturally be governed by the area that can be irrigated under the canal and cost of the same. In Alberta it seems to me that such a vast area can be irrigated with each canal and the water supply is so abundant in these large streams. I have tested to some extent by observation and levels and the water can be put on the land more cheaply than in the mountain valleys, because in the latter locations the land is usually in small strips that skirt the mountains here. Several townships in many instances can be irrigated from the same canal. mention the Calgary Irrigation Company's canal covering about two townships. The canal must pass over very rough ground to cost $4.00 per acre; but I presume you left a margin. I believe the average cost of irrigation in Alberta will not exceed $3.00 per acre. The reservoir system in connection with these canals will be of vast benefit not only to

You

the investors, but to the consumers. My knowledge of the reservoir system is that crops thrive much better and give a greater yield under water that has been warmed in reservoirs, than so direct from the coldwater that is chilled by the melting snow.

I am confident that from the beginning in this only partially 'arid country, we will not require more than fifty per cent of the water that they do in the mountainous districts. We have an excellent strata of clay under our soil, besides, we have more rainfall and more dew. I am confident that, in most instances, one thorough irrigation will mature our grain crops. Our vegetables will usually require more. Probably two or three times. My ex

perience this past season in irrigating our gardens is that not to exceed one-half is required to what I used on the same crop in some of the Western States.

GREAT STRIDES BEING MADE.

THE admission of Utah to Statehood is

a great stride in the progress of Western America; and Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma are knocking. The general situation is well and briefly described by the Industrial Reporter, under the caption, "See Us Grow:" "The West has never had a brighter outlook than it has today. The great activity in mining has set the wheels of the commercial and financial West in motion and each month encouraging reports come from every section of the Mountain West in confirmation of this fact. There is probably more prospecting going on to-day than ever before in the history of the country, and this means consumption of supplies and employment for thousands of men. The rich discoveries being made almost daily in the mining camps of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana and Nevada are at tracing capital from the East and abroad, and there is now ample means at hand for developing such mining claims as present a favorable showing. Land values, too, are constantly increas ing, despite the fact that thousands of acres are being reclaimed every year and millions of dollars expended in the construction of irrigating ditches, pumping plants, etc. The iron and coal industries are also rapidly developing under the

pressure of a sharp demand, and, indeed, every feature of our Western industrial development is moving onward and becoming a more powerful factor in swelling the grand total of our products and commercial importance. Building, too, is again reviving and the beneficial effect of the mining activity is to be seen in all the trades."

AN EMIGRATION BUREAU IN

CHICAGO.

THE 'HE Canadian government is actively at work placing the resources and advantages which it has to offer in the Northwest before homeseekers, manufacturers and investors. An office has been opened in Chicago, where there is now on display an exhibit of the products of the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Assinoboia. The exhibit is at present comprised mainly of grains and grasses, with a few choice photographs of farming scenes and views along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It is the intention to interest investors and manufacturers for the purpose of having them open the mines. and establish factories, but the principal object of the work is to secure settlers and therefore the Dominion government is offering to the heads of families and other responsible persons a quarter section of

land free.

Mr. Peter F. Daly, who has charge of the Chicago office, is an old railroad man and thoroughly understands the details of work of this character. His efforts are already having good results.

The Dominion government has taken up this work along the lines advocated by THE IRRIGATION AGE during the past few years and it now remains to be seen whether the various Western States will be as enterprising and energetic as our neighbor on the North. The only way to get settlers is to get them, and the Canadians in the Northwest and the people of the Southern States are working very hard in favor of their particular localities.

What will the West do?

of

Some of the addresses were as follows: Forestry in the Rocky Mountain Region, Hon. R. Park, of Salt Lake City; The Hawaiian Question, Hon. Hugh Craig, of San Francisco; The Nicaragua Canal, Capt. W. L. Merry, of San Francisco; Statehood for the Territories, Hon. Sidney Clarke, of Oklahoma, and Ex-Governor Prince New Mexico; Trans-Mississippi Freight Tariffs, Hon. James V. Mahone, of Sioux City, Iowa, and Capt. Lon Bryson, of Davenport, Iowa; Cultivation and Uses of Ramie, Prof. Sylvester Waterhouse, of Washington University, St. Louis; Deep Water ways, Hon. A. P. McGuirk, of Davenport, Iowa; Irrigation, Ex-Governor Prince and others.

The Congress declared for the free coinage of silver. Resolutions were also adopted in favor of government control of the Nicaraguan Canal, indorsement of ramie, appointment of United States irrigation commissioners, admission of New Mexico to Statehood, improvement of Mississippi and Missouri rivers, enactment of a National bankruptcy law, annexation of Hawaii and Cuba, construction of a railway from southern California to Salt Lake, speedy completion of the Hennepin Canal and favoring the deepening of Duluth harbor.

It was also resolved that the United States Congress be asked to take such steps as may be necessary to hold a TransMississippi Exposition in Omaha during the months of August, September and October in 1898, and that the representatives of such States and Territories in this

Congress be requested to favor such an appropriation as is usual in such cases to assist in carrying out this enterprise.

A resolution urging the various State governments to take legislative action relative to irrigation was submitted and passed.

Also a resolution urging the speedy construction of the proposed railroad from

Decision of the case under the W Law in California is soon due from the United States Supreme Court. The hear

ing was set for the first Monday in January, the 6th. There is general interest in this decision in the West, as it will have a bearing on the acts in all the States. Of the recent decision in Nebraska, the Omaha Bee says: "The importance of the decision handed down last week by the Supreme Court of Nebraska, affirming the validity of the irrigation act passed by the last Legislature is probably not fully appreciated by the people of the State. The court declared the act to be constitutional, and inasmuch as the Nebraska law is essentially the same as that of California, whose law was judicially declared by State courts to be unconstitutional, the decision of our highest court is of great interest. Of course the question may be taken to the federal courts, but the probabilities are in favor of the decision being

sustained."

ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

THE

HE recent meeting of the Illinois State Horticultural Society at Kankakee was a full one. The address of President T. E. Goodrich, of Cobden, was a resume of horticultural progress during the year. The reports of the treasurer and secretary showed the expenses of the society for the year to have been $4,280.60.

The committees were as follows: Herrick's essays, L. R. Bryant, H. Augustine, R. T. Fry; final resolutions, J. L. Hartwell, E. G. Mendenhall, G. J. Foster; treasurer's report, J. W. Staunton, George A. Bell, L. F. Small; fruit committees, central, E. A. Riehl, J. N. Fitch, J. I. McSpadden; northern, C. G. Winn, Archie Augustine, G. W. McCluer;

southern, J. V. Cotta, L. R. Bryant, O. W. Barnard; general collections, A. L. Small, S. W. Gilbert (of Missouri), C. H. Webster; vegetables, D. S. McKinstry, A. Hamilton (of Michigan).

Interesting and instructive papers were read by C. G. Winn and L. R. Bryant, and discussed by the members.

During the session one hundred members of the society, with their wives, accepted the invitation of Dr. Clarke Gapen, the superintendent, and visited the irrigated farm of the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane, and also the hospital. J. N. Fitch, of Cobden, read a paper on cherry, peach and plum culture. W. S. Perrine, of Centralia, presented a revised fruit list for Southern Illinois. Prof. S. A. Forbes, of Champaign, State Entomologist, spoke upon recent progress in agricultural entomology. William Gould, of Villa Ridge, read a paper on the varieties and cultivation of grapes.

About $400 was distributed among the successful exhibitors of apples, pears and grapes. E. A. Riehl, of Alton, made a report on work in the experiment stations, which was most favorable to them. G. J. Foster, of Bloomington, presented a revised fruit list for Central Illinois.

In a general discussion as to whether the spraying of fruit trees was beneficial, a majority thought it was. H. L. Doane, of Johnsonville, read a paper on the varieties and cultivation of small fruits. Prof.

Eugene Davenport, of the University of Illinois, made an address on the use of home-made fertilizers, with especial reference to green manure. G. W. McCluer, of Champaign, assistant superintendent of the State Experiment Station, read a paper the benefits to be derived from thorough and clean cultivation.

on

One evening during the session, Dr. Gapen, on invitation, made an able and instructive address on irrigation in Illinois, which was listened to with rapt attention. The doctor gave facts on the simplicity and cheapness of this safe plan of farming which created general surprise and deeply interested his audience in the subject.

Officers elected were: President, T. E. Goodrich, of Cobden; vice-president, L. Small, of Kankakee; secretary, H. M. Dunlap, of Savoy; treasurer, Arthur Bryant, of Princeton.

Springfield was chosen as the next place of meeting.

THE IRRIGATION CAUSE IN

NEBRASKA.

HE Nebraska State Irrigation Conven

THE

tion, at Sidney, was largely attended and a pronounced success. There was the greatest enthusiasm in the irrigation cause, and this meeting will give irrigation in Nebraska a great impetus. The papers and discussions were of unusual interest. The first resolution was by Mr. W. W. Mason, of Douglas, and favored the holding of the Trans-Mississippi Industrial Exposition in 1898 in Omaha. It was adopted. The report of the Committee on Resolutions on various subjects was adopted, as follows: Establishment of irrigation reservoirs by the Government; the offering of premiums by the State for the wind-mill and other machinery for raising water from wells for irrigation purposes; early adjudication by the Government of matters relative to the waters of inter-state rivers; amending the laws regarding the building of irrigation ditches across Government lands; requesting Senators Thurston and Allen to enter their names in the United States Supreme Court as attorneys in the Wright Irrigation Law case, in behalf of the State of Nebraska; inquiring concerning the expenditures of moneys heretofore appropriated by the Government to advance the cause of irrigation, and calling upon the next Legislature to appropriate money necessary to sink three test artesian wells.

Officers elected were as follows: President, A. G. Wolfenbarger, of Lincoln; secretary, James L. McIntosh, of Sidney; vice-president-at-large, H. E. Babcock, of Ord; treasurer, R. S. Oberfelder, of Sidney; state lecturer, I. A. Fort, of North Platte.

The next annual meeting will be held at Lexington, in October.

A soil to which is given all the water it can use, will produce four times an average product.

With ordinary water irrigation land previously yielding ten bushels of wheat per acre, under irrigation yields sixty bushels per acre; and lands which were worth from $2 to $10 per acre increase in value to $300

per acre.

It makes but little difference what kind It does of water is used, just so it is wet. not need to be clean water.

Irrigation in the humid regions will undoubtedly be individual rather than cooperative in character. What then are the means by which an individual, or at most two or three individuals, acting together, may secure to themselves an irrigant plant? In a very few cases this may be done by building a dam across a stream and diverting the waters into a channel, which will be carried around on the higher ground and utilized by those owning the land farther down the stream, as is done in Colorado. But, in the main, I take it, irrigation in the humid regions will be used by horticulturists and garden or truck farmers, and in this case only tracts of from ten to forty acres will be irrigated. In these

cases the water will have to be raised, probably by some form of pumping machinery.

By means of improved and comparatively inexpensive pumping machinery it is now found possible to deliver water at a very small cost.

The wind-mill would not have a sufficient capacity to deliver the amount of water needed if the water was wholly used during the time the pumping was going on. A reservoir with a capacity of several million gallons may be constructed at a comparatively small expense, and into this reservoir the wind-mill pumps throughout the year, filling it up and affording a supply which will be drawn off during the irrigation season.

Probably, however, the most economical method of delivering water is by means of the centrifugal pump. This pump will raise water to a height not exceeding 50 feet, at a cost not to exceed 20 to 30 cents per million gallons.

Piping for the pumping of water is not costly.

While, as I have before intimated, it is in horticultural and truck gardening that

the best usefulness of irrigation is to be found in this region, yet any crop may be largely increased by irrigation.

A PLANT IN WISCONSIN.

THAT

HAT Wisconsin is going into irrigation is evident from the following description of a new plant near Madison owned by Mr. George Raynor, of the Madison Democrat. That gentleman writes to THE IRRIGATION AGE:

"I am laying 3,300 feet of six-inch standard cast-iron water pipe to reach the three high points of a 100-acre farm adjoining Madison and on the shore of Lake Mendota. I will place at the lake a 25 horse power gasoline engine and rotary pump. The plant as it is now being put in will cost $2,000 or $20 per acre. About one-fourth of the water will have to be lifted 100 feet, and three-fourths about 60 feet. I expect to raise 30,000 gallons per hour and hope that the rains. will supply the land until July and that after that two irrigations of four-acre inches each will answer. I expect to put the eight-acre inches on the entire 100 acres at a cost of $2 per acre annually for fuel and one man to attend engine and distribute water. To this will be say six per cent on the $20 per acre, making in all nearly $3.25 per acre annually. The crops will be timothy, clover (I will also try four acres of alfalfa this year), apples, of which there are now 250 bearing trees, a few plums, cherries, grapes, potatoes, cabbages and other garden truck. I believe there is not any as extensive irrigation scheme as I am at work on to be found in this state. The advantages I have are: First, abundance of the very best water; second, the very best drainage; third, rather easy distribution of water when once raised to the three high points. The one great disadvantage is the extreme mechanical lift of from 60 to 100 feet."

INDIANA, OHIO, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA AND IOWA CONVINCED.

In Indiana and Ohio several artesian wells are being sunk. At the recent meet- . ing of the Michigan Horticultural Society the operations of the experiment station in that State in irrigating garden truck were described. The yield was six-fold

greater. Members also testified to the great success of irrigation in their orchards the past season. Minnesota has caught the "well fever" from South Dakota, and numerous wells are being sunk. There is

a general movement for dams and artificial lakes or reservoirs. Iowa is sinking wells, but the irrigating canals will also obtain in that State. One extensive enterprise has already been commenced upon, known as the Iowa Irrigating Ditch Company. The incorporators are A. A. Newkirk, Clover Sickler, Wilson Marsh, Charles A. Bryam and Frederick Marsh, who are South Dakota and Iowa men. They propose to operate an irrigating canal and will construct immense reservoirs in which to store surplus water during the winter and early spring. Survey work on the canal has just been completed. Wisconsin cranberry growers are all going into irrigation.

KANSAS PUSHING AHEAD.

Kansas development made great progress during 1895, and her people have seen to it that the fact was put on record. The demonstration at Music Hall in Chicago just as the great display at Battery D was about closing was a telling stroke. The speeches of Governor Morrill and Mr. Burton were fully reported in all the Chicago papers, and a good notice was sent broadcast through the Associated Press dispatches. That the United States and Europe know all about Kansas prospects there can be no sort of doubt. W. C. Edwards, secretary of state, projected the Music Hall meeting and raised the necessary funds. Among those on the stage were J. S. Emery, E. R. Moses, L. F. Frizell, E. G. Hudson, E. Stanley, J. V. Beekman and E. Wilder. Mr. Ingalls was to have been the principal orator but his trains failed to connect.

THE RUSH OF EVENTS.

A large project is on foot in the Platte valley, in Colorado, involving the construction of a storage reservoir covering something like 8,000 acres, holding water sufficient to water over 100,000 acres of land.

Adjudication is in progress respecting the rights of priority on the Laramie River and its tributaries in Colorado.

In the valley of the Cache a la Poudre