The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1906-06-01


Problems" is used in orchard and
vineyard work, to the exclusion of all
others-and they have all been tried
here. We were surprised to not find
this harrow in the orchards of east
ern Washington, not even in the Bla'
lock orchard, for we are sure that this
harrow will stay in every orchard
when it is tried. Why this harrow
has not been tried here is, to say
the least, queer. Probably it is be-
cause it's merits are not known. If So
the writer will promise an article on
it. if it should be desired by The
Ranch.
Some canals have short and some
have long water seasons, so that the
number of irrigations per season va
ries from two to four. Three irriga,
tons are considered about right and
when two will have to do, extra Guilt
walton is the substitute. Taken as a
whole it is more work and less water
to the acre in the hotter and sander
San Joaquin Valley than to the acre
in eastern Washington. Winter 1rr1'
cation is sometimes practised. The
object of this is to retard growth when
there is danger of frost in early spring,
The idea that watersOaked soil re-
tards growth is probably correct-and
water should not be left to run over
the same ground in orchard for any
length of time during the growing
season.
Brother j. F. Cass, of Skagit county,
may in this fact find the reason for the
fine coloring of the apples in the tract
of orchard that becomes flooded by
the July freshet. The growth is
checked and the ripening process sets
in Just as it does in the fruit of the
tree in the dry sod bound soil and
the dying tree.
The next convention of the Irriga-
ton Congress will be held at Boise,
Idaho, this summer. Boise is In the
midst of a great irrigation section
and will furnish to many eastern peo-
pie an object lesson as to what is be-
ing done in the way of watering the
land in the west
w. J. Furnish, tired of waiting for
the federal government to carry out It's
promises to put in an irrigation sys-
tenn in the Umatilla valley in Oregon,
has gone ahead and completed an IT.
rigation ditch of his own near Pen
dleton. This ditch is capable OF water
ing 10000 acres of land.
During the last quarter of a GEN.
fury crop producing area of 10000
900 acres has been wrested from the
desert in the western half of our
country. Irrigation canals long enough
to span the earth twice and represent
ing an outlay of $90,000,000 have been
built. Every year this area returns a
harvest valued at more than $3.50, OOO,-
900, and two millions of people dwell
in prosperity and contentment where
but a short time ago the wilderness
reigned.
Under the Carey land act some men
in Wyoming are bringing to the front
irrigation enterprises that bid fair to
grow into some Importance. One OF
these is fostered by w. H. Knepper, of
Buffalo, Wyo., who proposes to put in
a ditch that will water 10000 acres of
land in Johnson county near Kaycee.
1t will be known as the Sahara ditch
and is 100 miles from railway. Under
the Carey act people who will develop
land and bitches are granted water
rights, and the state sells the land to
settlers at so cents per acre and regu
lates the price to be charged for the
water rights.
| Much interest centers around Ken
newick at the present time, owing to
i, 1uOrk