The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-21

companies got together. They had no
land, / had no land and was not look
ing for any, but we put our hands IN
our pockets and subscribed $25,O00 a
year among the five companies to pay
for a campaign of education on the
subject of irrigation and started in all
over the country.
"It went slowly at first, and con-
gressmen would not listen to 1T. But
as time went and they found that
their people at home were interested,
when they found that they were pass
ing resolutions on the subject, then
the gentlemen began to say: oh. /
am interested in that; I think what
you said has merit After awhile the
question reached out and got into con-
gress and into the White house and
everybody felt that it was something
to take notice of. And last year for
the first time we were able to get 1t
successfully on the floor of congress.
Now there are lots of men who are the
original Jacob, men who did it them
selves, lots of them. But l know how
it was done. I know that the $125,000
of good money was scattered through
the country In lectures, in meetings. in
publications for the purpose of bring
ing the question before the people.
And they were brought to UNDER
stand how absolutely necessary 1t is to
save what is left of the public domain,
to save to the people of our country the
farming lands so that their children
shall not be driven to eXpatriate them
selves and go to foreign lands to find a
farm. Now will give you the figures
Of what some of the states have got in
land that can be irrigated.
The number of acres suitable for ag-
ricultural purposes under any condi-
ton without irrigation or artificial aid
is estimated as follows: North Dakota,
$4,000, 600 acres; South Dakota, 10000
600; Montana, 5000, 900; Idaho, 3,000,-
900; Washington, 2O,OO0,OOO. In North
Dakota you have substantially one
third Of the area of the state than can
be cultivated without artificial mois
ture. In North Dakota the water sup
ply through wells and other reservoirs
can be made TO irrigate about 100000
acres; in Montana, 10,000,000; in Idaho,
100000: in Washington, 100000.
The land not susceptible to agricultural
pursuits, but which would be valuable
if irrigated, is estimated as follows:
North Dakota, 0,000-acres; South
Dakota, 100000 acres; Montana, 3d.
100000; Idaho, 10,O00,000; Washington,
Is, 100000. You can add 100000 farmers
to the population of this state with in
telligent irrigation and provide them
each with farm of 200 acres.
Worth More Than Double.
Nov 200 acres, with a steady supply
of water, the farmer having the rain
fall under his own control, is worth at
least 500 acres of the ordinary land. Now
on railroad subjects can talk without
notes, because when l get started it is
hard to stop; but irrigation is a sub
ject as to which I have to put some Of
my ideas on paper so that l may not
lead 0nVSp1f QCtraU AOriaI1I-
ture is and will always continue to be
the greatest source of wealth in the
state of North Dakota. The problem
before your people is how they may
increase to the largest and fullest ex-
tent the agricultural possibilities of
their state and the wealth that will fol-
low from it. Agricultural production
must have as basis a soil which will
yield its products in bountiful measure
as the reward for the toll of man.
North Dakota has been generously
endowed with such a soil, but it's fu-
ture profitable cultivation demands
that it's fertility should be maintained
and increased by correct methods of
agriculture and fertilization. You can
not continue to draw each year upon
the sources of production which are
latent in the soil without replenishing
them or returning to it that which has
been taken from it, any more than you
can draw forever from an elevator filled
with grain without diminishing the
quantity stored therein. There are
many ways of fertilizing the soil in or
der to increase and maintain its fer
tility and one of the greatest fertilizers
known is water. 1t is this aspect of
irrigation which should have the clos
est consideration by the people of
North Dakota. Throughout a large
portion Of the state crops can be grown
without irrigation and we are unwilling
to adopt the idea that North Dakota is
an arid state.
at Is not necessary that the state
should be arid in order that irrigation
be of importance to her farmers.
Treating water as fertilizer and ir-
rigation as a method of increasing the
product by fertilization, Just as you
would increase it by the application
of guano or ordinary farm manure, we
open up an almost unlimitable field for
the increased production of the rich
and prolific soil of North Dakota. In
those sections of the state in it's west
ern portions where the rainfall is in
sufficient to produce crops without an
nual irrigation, Of course the problem
is one that forces itself more closely
upon the minds of the people. but it is
none the less important in sections
where crops can be grown without the
application of artificial moisture. The
annual product of any good tract of
farming land is in proportion to the
care with which it is cultivated, the
skill with which the crops are planted,
titled and harvested and the elements
Of fertility maintained in the soil.
Small Farms Advisable.
1.-THE close and carefl cultivation
which will yield the highest profit per
acre to the farm can be given to the
land only when 1t is cultivated In COM
paratively small farms. and for this
reason in the future development of
this state, we should never lose sight
Of the fact that in proportion as the
farms are subdivided into comparative
ly small areas among a multitude Of
farmers will the highest prosperity
come, not only to the farmers of the
state, but to her whole people. The
greater the number of prosperous
farms the greater will be the pros
perity Of every business man in the
state. Ten farmers, each cultivating
$50 acres of land by the most approved
methods, supplemented by irrigation,
can each earn profit from their farms
equal in amount to that which would
THE HORRORS