Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-04-18


swer was given, "They are
irrigated potatoes from Ussh." Upon
the same day THE GAZETTE WAS in con-
versstIon with gentleman from Colo
rsdo who had come down the night
previous on the Fort Worth and Denver,
and the Colorado man said to us: "Your
people ought to come to Colorado and
study irrigation, for" said he, "when
well irrigated and good tract of land
only yields thirty-two bushels of wheat
to the acre, you can hear the farmer say,
with sadness, This is the worst season l
ever had; my wheat crop has always been
just thirty five bushes to the acre."
A sure thing beats all things else, and
good land, well irrigated, is sure thing.
Only few days ago communication
appeared in THE GAZETTE in which the
writer INDUCED in the following thoughts:
"If with my present knowledge of irri-
cation, could 60 back with my boy
hood upon the old Pennsylvania farm
upon which have planted many crop,
to be burnt up By the summer drouths,
the creek that runs through that farm, of
never failing water, would be made to do
the greater part Of the work; bitches
would be taken out OF that creek pretty
quick, and we would count the crop, that
would be raised on the old farm Just
as well the year before as the
year after" For msny years past the
gardens around all the large cities, New
York, Philsdelphis, Boston, Chicago and
St. Louis, keep their tanks well filled
with water to meet and overcome the
monster drouth.
The time is coming when that country
embraced In the valleys OF the Rio
Grsnde, Pecos and North Concho, now
sterile and valueless, will be as rich as
the entire state of California. Oas
trouble now s,the lands are much owned
by the state and by the railroads.
The state lands belong to the
school fund, and are only subject to pre-
emption, and pre- emption claimants have
not the capital to get the water canals.
pre-emptor without capital, sticking
close to his claim, would soon hunger for
food for himself and little ones; pre-
emptor is man, not stone, and his wife
and children are human creatures that
require food and raiment. These latter
words are intended to apply as we'll
to pre-emptors in the Panhandle as else
where, and we intend, for ell reasonable
demands, to give them whatever
aid lies in US.
The state Of Texas would be wise to
give TO irriga ion its calm and wise con-
sideration.
Can an inducement be given to the
building of canals by land subsidies from
the state? If 50, the lands still retained
by the state would be worth many fold
more than the original unimproved guam
tity. II this CANNOT be done, would it
not be well for the state to sell q part ofits
land ct low price 20 canal companies, |
that the whole, now comparatively worth
less, be made valuable. It would be like
q farmer hiring a man to break up lis sod
and fence the land, then paying the
laborer in land instead of money. II
land, comparatively worthless, can be
made valuable by irrigating canals, then
the state can afford 10 pay 4or it. Judg-
ing the future by the past, dare TO pre-
dict that the new power, irrigation, now
in its infancy, Will:be harnessed to the
wheels Of progress and civilization as
were steam and electricity, and produce
no less results. Let Texas be up and
doing.