Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1894-02-08
Irrigation Will Pay.


is being agitaied and discussed by our
farming community, and will IN the
near future be brought into active
practice whenever the contour Of ground
and condition Of water supply are
favorable, 1t is eminently proper and Is
good form to present few facts and
statistics, illustrating the advantages
ard largely increased profits resulting
from n judicious system of irrigation.
The question that first suggests 1t |
self to n Kansan Is, "Will it payp" In
this semi humid region is the increased
profits and resultant profits common
surate with the additional output Of
money and labor requiredp We will
let statistics aud the expense answer.
From reports Of the commissioner
OF the general land Off -. from the
writings Of Mai Powell, director of
geological surveys; Is. A. McAllister,
land commissioner for the Union
Pacific; Hon. Martin Mohler, ex-
secretary OF the Kansas State board
Of agriculture, and other authorities,
we are enabled to collect and mas
block Of facts that gives much light on
this subject.
Near Valencia in Spain, where the
annual rainfals exceed those centta'
Kansas, irrigated land sells from $500
to 5000 per acre; farther out from $500
to $500, while unirrigated land com
mtnds only $50 per acre.
Near Madrid, irrigation has enha need
the value Of land four-fold to ten-fUld,
and in the valley OF the Targus the
advancement is twelye-fold.
The meadows near Milan, In Italy,
are cut seven times in single season,
yielding 80 tons and in exceptional cases
HI high a, rs tons Of hay per acre.
IL is proper to remark here that this
marvellous yield is not due wholly to
irrigation as the fields are also fertil-
lied from the sewerage OF Milan.
The irrigated plains of Lombardy are
made to yield nine crops Of grass in a
single season.
Near Paris, Amiens and other large
cities IN france and Holland each 100
acres Is made to yield food not for 40
human beings as on our best farming
districts, but for 200 and 800 persons;
not for 80 mich cows as on the Island
of Jersey, but for 200 COWS and more
IL necessary.
They aim at cropping not only five
or six tons of hay as on our best mea-
dnws, hut from 50 to 100 tons Of vege
tables from the same space; not So. 90
worth II hay, hut 800 worth Of vegeta.
bles of The plainest description-uniOns
ami cabbages.
But to bring our illustrations nearer
home. At the Inauguration of irriga-
tion in the great wheat belt of Califor-
mia in the San Juan valley, the price Of
land Immediately advanced from 50. 10
to S25 to $50 per acre.
At Garden City, Kansas, our near
neighbor, irrigation by means Of wind
pumps and wells Is practiced with
satisfactory results.
In an article by b. A. McAllister in
"lrrigation Age" for January he clearly
demonstrates that any farmer able to
own an ordinary wind pump for water.
ing stock can easily irrig ate from one to
three acres of ground and by conveying
the water in reservoirs can irrigate i've
or more acres, sufficient to raise all the
vegetable and root crop any ordinary
family can use.
1t is a humiliating fact that with a
soil second to none, the State of Kansas
consumes in oif years several thousand
car loads of potatoes and cabbages
grown is Colorado, Iowa aud other
States. This should not be. With a
little irrigation this condition can and
should be reversed. Suppose every
farmer owning wind pump should
! irrigate two acres Of vegetables
, would not then find 1t necessary to
cultivate his potatoes on the pavement
in front of grocery store at an
expense of one dollar per bushel. He
can raise them cheaper at home anu
have "A surplus to sell,
Then, IN the n me of thrift, in the
Interests Of domestic comfort, ana
relief from dread of crop failure, in the
| language of our Kentucky friends,