The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-29
RECLALMZNG THE DESERT
By Frederic J. Haskin.


man who can regulate his crops with an eye to getting the best results out of the water he is paying for. and as his investments are relatively larger. he must manage to make his pronts larger. He must be able to select his crops and his land with a knowledge never known to his farming ancestors in the East who played game Of chance with nature. His Is a sure and simple business proposition. He must know how to proportion his labor. equipment, seed and water to the iand how to practice rotation in crops to save the land and distribute the water through the year so as to get the best use of his share. The shiftless farmer soon disappears under this new reg ime. There Is no place for him. All old traditions must be left behind. and new theories and ideas developed to meet the new conditions.
 There are one million square miles or more of land lying west of the tooth meridian of longitude that do not re- ceive enough rainfall to produce crops by ordinary methods. Conservation enthusiasts are hopeful over the re- demption of much of this land They know that land under irrigation is capable of supporting a large popula- tion. Each square mile in the valley of the Pc gives a good living to 300 people. and each in the valley of the Nile to 543 people. Of this one million some day to make homes for all of It's people.
 Entries under reclamation projects are made by settlers in practically the same manner as the usual home estead entry, except that the amount allowed each homesteader is smaller than the usual quarter section. the entry being reduced by the Secretary of the In- terior to such an amount of land as he deems best suited to the needs of family. Whatever the cost of ir- rigatfon has been to the governAent, that cost Is fixed. per acre, to the land, and the homesteader pays 1t back to the government in ten annual install- ments without interest. If the work has cost SIS an acre or sS0 an acre, that is the price of the land to the settler.
 The entire right to the land is not vested in the purchaser until he has reclaimed at least one-half of the land that he has entered for agricultural purposes. and has made payment in full of all charges under the Reclama- ton Act. Actual and continuous res- idence Is required of the purchaser. He cannot buy 1t, live on 1t a few months and then skip away to other ohaiFs. 1c cdHHoL put a tenant on II,
 and If he is anxious to get this land and files on 1t before the water of the irrigation project is ready for dis tribution he must live on it just the same. This Is a wise measure on the part of the government to prevent speculators from securing the best claims.
 Where homesteaders have already established themselves in the confines of government irrigation projects, they will be allowed to come in for use of the water by paying for 1t, but at the discretion of the Secretary. the aver. age will be reduced, so that no ranch CT may have more than 160 acres This particular move on the part of the government has led to the forma- ton of the Settlers Irrigation Pro- tective Association, the members being people who have already settled and improved large areas of land under earlier homestead laws and who ob- Ject to the governments mandate that they sell of part of their land. They want less paternalism on the part of the government. and will ask a hear ing at this session of the National IT, rigation Congress. Copyright. 1908. by Frederick J. Has
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