Arizona citizen., 1876-12-16
The question of equally dividing the

The question of equally dividing the water was problem that presented it. self to the Greeley settlers during the first year, and so pressing was the re- Quired solution that the success of the settlement as a whole depended upon it, for when the farmers along the up per line of the canal, which is thirty. five miles long, were permitted to draw water as they pleased, those along the lower line got none, and those interme- diately had an interrupted supply. The difficulty lay not so much in a short supply as in want of proper distribu- tion, and particularly in waste. The sense of justice Tn ordinary men who are unrestrained by law, is not on the average h'r--. Tn addition to the ne cesssity for dividing water equitably at the fumes of lhe great canals, it was also necessary that it should be divided equally among farmers along the lines of main laterals, some of which are three and four miles long, while there are sub-laterals going to remote farms. One will at once see the difficulties pre- sented, and also readily understand why disturbances arise Tn Oriental countries. Now one of the leading farmers, who, by the way, is literary man also, de vised method which has forever set tied this vexed problem, and so great is the satisfaction given that it is be- ing readily adopted elsewhere.
 The device consists of Hume twelve feet long, ten to thirty inches broad, and five feet high, set at the bottom of the embankment, and so receiving wa ter from the bottom of the canal. At the upper end is a gate which during the season, is partly open, and at the lower end or land side is another gate which opens horizontally. The water comes into the Hume, and there stands at a dead level. Now the number of acres requiring water for the season is definitely ascertaiued in the spring and the carrying capacity of the canal being known, a dividend is struck giving an equal definite amount for each acre. Upon fixed bar, close to the lower gate, slots, checks, or lig- ures are made, indicating twenty, for ty, or eighty acres, and when the hori- zontal gate is opened it is set so as to to the figures on the bar, and the water flows for the required acres; and as it comes from dead or still wa:c il all inc fumes with an equal pressure, the amount delivered from each Hume, say for eighty acres, is equal, each to each, as has been dem- onstrated, both by measuring and weighing. It appears to be the case that as mankind moves westward many old and false ideas disappear and new ones are adopted, unirammeled by tra- dition and long established customs.
 Irrigation is always a necessity where the general elevation is several thOus- and feet above the sea level, or where mountain ranges run across the sky so as to prevent the fall of moisture, and in each case the water used for irrlga- ton first falls upon the mountains. Except in Africa, irrigation is almost always practiced in sight of noun tains perpetually covered with snow. The general elevation of the plans of New Mexico is coco feet of Colorado 5000; of Montana and Idaho 3,5O0; of Utah 5000; of Nevada 4,500; of the plateaus around Jerusalem Tn Palestine 5000 The average amount of rainfall in the countries of the higher elevation is about twelve inches per annum Tn those of the lower, sixteen to eighteen inches, and in those last places wheat and other small grain can be grown without irrigation, providing there are winter, or "latter rains" as in Califor- nia and Palestine, but garden or vege- table crops must be irrigated also vines and fruit trees in the earlier stages of thelr growth. The annual rainfall of the Atlantic States is about fifty inches, of England fifty-five inches. An acre of wheat requires for its matU- rity depth of ten or twelve inches of water, in tho aggregate, all over the surface. This is equal to the supply of the great interior plains, but there it comes at such irregular intervals that no dependence is placed upon it,eXcept for germinating the seed of small grain, which almost always is sown early in the spring so as to receive the benefits of the last snows. Should snow or rain fail, the grain must be started by irrigation, which is always dreaded because a bare surface bakes and be comes hard, though something depends on the nature of the soil, whether sandy Or adobe. Grain once above ground, breaks the crust by rapid growth.
 Buying Silver Abroad.
 LONDON. December 4-The Econo