The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-23
ARID LAND IRRIGATION
AND PRESERVATION OF FORESTS
DISCUSSED BY ABLE MEN.
Matter That Concerns All the People,
Says Governor ROOseveIt-PrOf.
Wiley ON Sugar Reefs.

CHICAGO, Nov. 22-Many papers were
read at to-day's sessions of the National
Irrigation Congress, which were held in
Central Music Hall. President Elwood
Mead presided. Capt. Hiram NJ. Chitten-
den, of the United States engineer corps.
the first speaker, spoke on Relations of
the General Government to Reservoir Con-
struction." Among other papers was one
on 1.-THE Sugar Beet as a Profitable Arid
Land Crop by Harvey w. Wiley, chemist
of the United States Department of Agri-
culture. He said in part:
THE sugar beet is a plant especially well
adapted for growth on irrigated lands. In
order TO secure profitable results with the
sugar beet, intensive culture is absolutely
necessary. The careful preparation of the
land, the proper fertilization thereof and
the careful culture of the growing plant
are three essential points to success. The
water supply is the most important me-
neurological condition connected with beet
growth, aside from the other natural con-
ditions which attend the summer weather
of temperate climates. If the growing
beets can be supplied with the proper
quantity of water at the proper time, its
progress towards maturity is never ar
rested and there is no tendency for the
plant to ripen prematurely and afterwards
undergo second growth. Experiments in
Egypt have shown that the sugar beet can
be grown in semi-tropical climates with a
high per cent of sugar, provided the water
supply be carefully controlled. There is no
other agricultural crop which will produce
so large a return as the sugar beet. mas
much as irrigated land is usually worth
from $500 to $500 per acre, 1t is absolutely
necessary TO grow crop thereon which
will not only pay the cost of growth, but
also pay the fixed charges which are at
tached to land of the value mentioned
above, and still have enough money over
to pay profit to the grower. Twelve tons
of beets per acre are worth in round num-
bers $50, and this sum would meet all the
requirements above On the other hand, if
the land were planted in wheat or Indian
corn, although the yield might be very
satisfactory, the moneyed value of the
crops would be too little to pay the charges
mentioned. Beet culture on irrigated lands
can be practiced over q wide area, and it is
quite certain that there Is no other crop
which presents as hopeful an aspect for
our irrigated lands as the sugar beet.
These lands, it must also be remembered,
contain quantities of soluble salts. The
sugar beet Is pre-eminently mineral eat
ing plant, and growth of beets upon
lands impregnated with soluble salts will
tend to remove them from the soil and
thus improve the quality of the land there
by. The sugar beet, therefore is conf
IDENTIFY recommended 90 all owners of irri-
gated lands as crop which promises the
most favorable returns"
The night session of the congress was
held at the Auditorium Theater. a letter of
regret from Governor Roosevelt of New
York, at his inability TO attend the meeting
was read by the secretary. The letter
elected considerable applause and shouts
of ''Teddys all right" In part. it fol-
lows:
ANY man who has ever dwelt upon the
great plains knows what serious matter
not only the water supply, but the wood
supply is to the farmer and, of course,
every miner knows the same thing. Not
only does the farmer need the water which
the preservation of the forest itself also
preserves, but he needs the wood, too. So
20 M 20 n n plr
and so does the railroad man. The reser-
voirs cannot last if they fill full of silt, and
the only way to prevent this filling with
silt is to preserve the forests themselves.
The forest is great sponge for absorbing
and distilling water. 1t is the great pre-
venter of erosion and erosion is always the
danger point in any irrigation system.
without pretending to outline definitely
a working scheme i venture to point out
that without the attainment of the fol-
lowing objects your plans must measure
ably fail: First, government study of the
streams upon which your plans depend; sec
ond, government construction and control
os great irrigation plants; third, the pre-
servation of forests by the extension of
the forest reserve system and hence of gov
eminent control of the forests: fourth.
national protection and use of the forests
under expert supervision.
81 urge upon you to see that private own
ers of the forests in the West and in the
East alike understand that timber can be
cut without forest destruction tthe De-
partment of Agriculture will tell them
how and that the ownership of water
rights in the arid country and of forest
lands anywhere entails public as well as
private duties and responsibilities
1.-The East is interested in the commercial
developments of the arid lands of the
West just as the West is interested in the
proper development of our harbor system
and of our commerce on the high seas. No
part of this country can be permanently
benefited without reflex benefit to the
other parts. AS Americans are all in
terested in the progress in any part of
ment is of immediate benefit to the West
its ultimate benefit will be shared by the
East as we'll / earnestly hope that all
far-sighted citizens, whether they dwell
on the Atlantic or on the Pacific seaboard
or in the great Mississippi valley, will ap-
preciate this and that Congress will give
to your efforts the substantial backing they
deserve"
Clifford Pinchet. the government forester.
gave an illustrated lecture entitled For
estry in Business" With the aid of q
stereopticon Mr.. Pinchet showed the need
of preserving the American forests.
A letter was read by President Meade
from General Miles, of the United States
army. in which the general said that al
though he was unable to attend the con-
gress he wished the movement the utmost
success.
Hon Addison G. Foster. United States
senator from the State of Washington, then
addressed the congress His theme was
Lumber Supplies for Irrigators.'
The session closed with address
1.-THE Mountain Rainfall" by Prof. Willis
l. Moore, chief of the Weather Bureau.