Deming graphic. (Deming, N.M.) 1903-1948, 1911-12-22

y" VIZ so'ut vi Wdttf. Etittf
prises which charge $40 an acre fol
a water right dozen years ago hav,
been followed by others which
, charge double and treble this a
mount. There is, however, this diff
ference between the two. The val,
ne Of water Is not fictitious. Ii
upward trend in price has been due
to the fact that the supply available
for future use Is becoming every
year less and less. We shall prob
ably never see the day when water
will sell for less than II has in 1911
In the states where irrigation Is
practiccd. there are in improved
farms l73. 1000. 900 acres but of these
less than l4,OOO.0O0 acres are irriga-
ted. The time will perhaps never
come when more than so million
acres are irrigated and the balance
which Is doomed to he farmed dry
will keep the price Of water at pre-
MUM. Now, as regards the high
price and scarcity Of water for irri-
CATION purposes, two courses are
open. One of these Is to continue
TO reach out for fresh supplies as we
have done in the past and at
tempt to utilize these at great cost
TO the irrigator. The other course
Is to use with greater economy the
water already appropriated. II Is
incumbent upon western people to
utilize all the water resources of the
arid region before 1920 or even 1880.
The irrigation structures we are
now building and the methods we
are pursuing may be thought inferior
to our boys when they reach maturity
Then why not leave a little water in
western streams for our boys TO
utilize? 1t should be our chief con-
Germ to make better use of the
water we have taken from its nat
ural channel.
Present conditions in many of the
irrigation states call for, we believe,
a reimbursement Of land values.
while this REIMBURSEMENT is being
made, every effort should be put
forth to increase the yield and value
Of irrigated products. Occasionally
enormous yields and corresponding
profits are obtained from irrigated
land. These are freely used as
warrsnt for holding irrigated lands
ut high figure. Nevertheless, it
is fact that the average return
per acre even in the irrigated dis
tricts are only medium. Not many
parts Of the west are more favor
able to the growth of alfalfa than |
Southern Idaho. At our demon
stration farms a seasonal yields Of |
8 to 10 tons per acre of either red |
clover or alfalfa is readily obtained. |
1t is therefore somewhat disconcert-
ing to learn that the average season.
al yield Of irrigated alfalfa for
Southern Idaho in 1910 as obtained
by the ceacus was only 1926 tons per
acre. What is true Of Idaho is also |
true with few exceptions of the en-
tire West. The farmers are not
getting anything like the greatest
possible returns from their irrigated |
farms.
The census figures show that up
to n year ago the extent of land ir-
rigated under the u. s. Reclamation
projects was less than 3 per cent of
the total. In other words, more
than " per cent is controlled by in
dividuals, associations, communities (
and corporations acting under the
irrigation laws of western states.
These laws and the customs on
which they are founded, are still for
the most part, in formative stage. |
At every session of the state legisla-
lures, some new ideas are crystal
lied into law and statutory enac-
ments which were thought almost |
perfect fifteen or twenty years ago
are modified to meet the require
ments of changing conditions.
In many states of the West pro-
gress in irrigation is being retarded
and costly investments rendered in
secure by the lack of proper lesisla-
ton on the part Of state legislatures. |
Some of these urgently needed
laws are clearer definitions in re-
gard to the flow of water in streams
and its use in irrigation.