The St. Johns herald., 1900-06-30

: Wednesday both houses of Con. gress agreed .o an item in the
 Sandry Civil bill appropriatinl
 $100,000 for irrigation surveys dur
 ing the coming year. It is true
 that the amount is not large. Tn.
 amount of $50,C00 had been allow
 by the House, which sum was in.
 creased to s250.000 in the Senate
 and the amount appropriated was
 compromise between the two figur.
 es This is twice as much as was
 allowed last year, and the en.
 couraging statement is made by
 the Washington correspondent ot i The Times that thruout the con-
 troyersy, "No man appeared and
 objected to the appropriation in
 totO". The correspondent adds:
 There is every indication that a
 much larger appropriation can be
 secured next session if the western
 folks who are vitally interested in
 the matter will make themselves
 felt in the proper way in Washing
 ton. Eastern opposition to west ern irrigation is gradually wearing away thru the influence of the National Irrigation Association,
 which has it's membership largely in the east. The statement in re- gnrds to the membership of the National Irrigation Association is I in line with one made few days ago in these columns. When it was mentioned as q regretable fact that eastern business men are act uallY taking more interest in this than are citizens of the Southwest, who are so vitally interested. This is not as it should be. With strong pull. q long pull and pull all together" national irrigation may with i'll few years become an accomplished fact, when not only will Uncle Sam once more be able 10 give all his boys a good farm, but a great stimulus will also be given to our commerce and manu- facturea. Los Angeles Times.
 Unique Storage Reservoir, But They Will Not Hold Water.
 The agricultural possibilities of Siberia are vast and but indifferent understood. The banishment of Russian political prisoners to serve rigorous station has created the i'm pressi"Y that all Siberia is frigid and incapable of deve!ompent.
 There are in the Czar's Asiatic do. minion, millions of acres of fertile splendidly adapted to the groth of grain, and large areas are even now heinz farmed. Siberia, how ever. is vast country and in many  sections which have shown some agricultural development the winters are long and cold while the sum- mers on the other hand are very warm and dry. Many ofthe small streams which are used fur irriga- ton, dry up during this season, the ground bakes and agriculture suffers much. To remedy this evil l the farmers of certain districts con- struct each year strong reservoirs, and in summer use the contents. reservoirs and all. for the support oI lnelT crops.
 They do it in this manner:
 During the winter they collect great drifts of snow in the bottom of deep, shaded valleys, railing it down the sides in immense snow balls and there pressing and com lacting it so that it will be the more resistant to thawing. At the pud of the winter they cover the enormous pile thus formed, with branch, straw nr trash, in order to protect the snow against the suns heat. All during the spring this mass of snow inplts little during the day but freezes at night until 1t bpcomes q great solid cake of ice
 Then when the temperature to heat and the streams be- gins to dry mp from lack of rain, Ihis snow ice commences to melt away, and means of a ditch lead ing from 1t, the water which runs down supplies the river until the recurrance of rainfall.
 How much land there is in our west, lying adjacent to splendid reservoir sites. yet arid for the want of policy in the land to con struct the necessary dams and store up the water which if
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