The record-union., 1899-10-31
FOR ARID LANDS.
Work Of the Department
Agriculture.

Work Of the Department OF
Agriculture.
AS the years roll by the country will
see millions of dollars saved to the
farmers of the West and millions more
made. The advocates of irrigation for
the West claim that the carrying out
of their proposition would create
vast empire where is now the Great
American Desert. Seventy million acres
of arid land is the amount estimated
by the geological survey as susceptible
of irrigation with the present surface
water supply of the arid region.
This utilization of all Western wa
ters would increase the arabic area or
the United States less than 1O per
cent said F. V. Coville, the chief OF
the division of botany of the Depart
ment of Agriculture, "and while II
would open up a new channel or vast
possibilities, think that we are work
ing along lines which will add almost
as much to the nations development as
would the storage and utilization or all
her Western waters. What can work
of such magnitude be? Why, the find
ing and introduction of plants adapted
to the hundreds of millions Of acres of
land of the arid belt which must al
ways remain arid even after every
drop of water has been conserved by
means of storage reservoirs and other
wise. Although the opening up to set
tlement through irrigation of between
100000 and 100 0Oo,0 900 acres Of
land would create thousands, if not
millions of homes, yet there will al
ways remain these vast tracts OF arid
and semi-arid grazing lands which,
while useless for most crops, Will pro-
duce certain plants in proiusion. Most
of the Western lands are fertile. All
they need is water; if not water, then
some crop which will thrive on the
light rainfall they receive, not suffi-
cient to keep alive ordinary crops We
are finding such crops, and think we
will eventually cover this arid area
with plants of various sorts which will
yield millions of tons of additional for
age and grain for Western fioclzs and
herds. The Department of Agriculture
has explorers all over the world search
ing out such plants. For every acre
in arid America, north and south, OF
high or low altitude, there is counter
part Ill lIS Olo w O1l III, 3AtN lAAC Clk
World is full of experience. In Rus
sian Turkestan, in Arabia, on the bor-
ders of the Sahara, the varied condi-
tions are exactly similar to those OF
different parts of our Western territory,
and in these ancient lands they have
grown arid land crops for thousands
of years. Every acre of the new West
has it's double in the old East. Our
men are hitting upon valuable things
from time to time, and when some
thing of use is discovered the depart
ment makes it it's business to see to
its distribution. It seems strange that
even with our advanced methods OF
transportation and our mail facilities.
valuable discoveries are often buried in
communities for years.
Broom corn millet (Panicum millia-
ceum) is a plant which I expect in time
to see cover great Western areas. II
will grow heavy grain yields where il
| is both too cold and too dry for Indian
| corn, too cold for Kaffir corn, which
would otherwise compete with it, and
too dry for wheat. It will produce thir-
| ty, forty and even fifty bushels pei
acre of grain excellent for converting
| into hog fat, mutton or beef, and this
upon land where ordinary crops cannot
| live. The man who has ten acres un-
der irrigation and owns adjacent there
| to tract of arid land will want such
crops.
"Kaffir corn itself is an example OF
what the proper crop will do for To-
cality. Ten years ago this plant was
an experiment in the United States. II
was said to thrive on land too dry fol
Indian corn, and it was tested through
Western Kansas, wh-re corn raising
was a precarious industry, owing to the
light rainfall. According to the report
of the Kansas State Board of Agricult-
ure Kansas raised n 1893 i7.0QG acres
of this crop, in 1898 she raised 3J3, "A:
acres valued at S.. 5.6SS, ,3o0-a reclama-
ton, practically of half a million acres
in a single State. Entire Western
counties are now yielding magnificent
annual crops of this valuable plant
which, prior to its Introduction: con
sisted Of supposed worthless land
Bronze grass (Bromus inernlis) is an
other instance of fine arid land plant
which required pushing. Srome grass
will undoubtedly reclaim enormous
areas of arid land. No grass will grow
without moisture, but where ,1ost
grasses would die, bronze grass viii
simply stand still and wait until mois-
ture comes, when it will Immediately
start off, producing splendid forage
This grass has been known in severa
sections for number of years, but il
has never been grown extensively, ever
in those sections, farmers seeming tf
be afraid of 1T, and its fame has never
spread widely, until last year the de-
partment undertook to !ucatc West
ern farmers as to it's virtues, and tt
| distribute seed
It is not the place, nor the condition
but the mind alone that can make any
| one happy or miserable.-L' 'Estrange