18- Irrigation in the United States.

1. STABLER, HARRY SNOWDEN: The Safe Side of Irrigation Investments.

2. The Future of Irrigation. — The Country Gentleman. Vol. LXXVII, No. 38, pp 3. and 18, No. 40, pp. 4, 5 and 20, No. 47, p. 1. Philadelphia; September 21, October 26, November 23, 1912.

Seventy millions of dollars (about £14 400 000) have been invested by the United States Government in irrigation. Thirty-two reclamation projects, located in eighteen States, have been completed or are in process of development. At the end of the last fiscal year the operations completed included Government reservoirs with a capacity sufficient to irrigate 5 000 000 acres to a depth of one foot, 300 miles of canals, 1000 miles of ditches, 5 000 miles of watercourses, 20 miles of tunnels, etc. Further, the Reclamation Service will expend twenty million dollars (about £4 100 000) on irrigation works before the end of 1914. Water is now being served to 14 000 farm families. For 1911 the crop production on the irrigated territory was estimated at $12 000 000 (about £2 460 000). The Government still possesses about a quarter of a million acres of land for which water is available under completed or partly completed works.

Extent of Irrigation in the United States.

PERMANENT

IMPROVEMENTS.

DRAINAGE AND
IRRIGATION.

The valuation of the returns of the capital invested in irrigation schemes seems to Mr. Stabler to have been often exaggerated or referred only to the most favourable conditions possible: consequently it is not generally applicable, nor suitable to average conditions and to farmers of medium capacity. Further, in all districts in which irrigation is begun the prices of produce are much higher during the first years, and an investment of capital based on

the yield and profits of such a period would stand much probability of being a mistake.

Whilst a Government report states that well conducted farms under the rotation lucerne, cereals, sugarbeets and potatoes, yield per acre 40 to 60 bushels of wheat; 75 to 110 of oats, 50 to 90 of barley, 300 to 500 of potatoes, 15 to 20 tons of sugar-beets and 4 to 6 tons of lucerne, the average yields of the above crops in 9 States of the arid region for which data are available, namely Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Washington, Oregon and Idaho, according to the last census were only: wheat 24.5 bushels; oats 37.1; barley 24.5; potatoes 144.6; sugarbeets 11.36 tons; lucerne 2.97 tous per acre; and in nine States in the humid region (Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Maryland, Mississippi) they were: wheat 16 bushels; oats 28; barley 21.6; potatoes 101.2. The figures for sugarbeets are lacking in the statistics. The author sets them down at over 9 tons per acre.

The development of an irrigated farm is always a slower and more costly undertaking than that of one which avails itself only of rainfall, as the former requires perfect levelling of the surface and the erection and upkeep of the irrigation works in addition to the strict farm operations.

The crops obtained by means of irrigation are burthened with the cost of the irrigation works and of the water rights, from which non-irrigated crops are free. This extra cost is partly offset by larger returns per acre, but the profits in turn are often reduced by the distance from market. Therefore this factor in relation to the kind of crops grown must be carefully considered.

The writer estimates as follows some items of the cost of production:

The cost of drainage varies so much that it is difficult to estimate an average. It may be said, however, that from experiments made by the Government in reclaiming lands that had been alkalied or waterlogged and bringing them back to their former productiveness the average cost was close to $15 (£3 Is. 8d.) per acre.

In another Government publication is an estimate of expenses for the first two years' operations on a small irrigated farm in Arizona:

The following data refer to another farm in a State farther north and are also taken from a Government bulletin: "The average cost of the first house built on a new farm does not exceed $450 (£92 9s. 4d.). The barn will cost $200 (£41 2s.) and a shed for tools $100 (£20 IIS.). The necessary tools, such as ploughs, harrows, drills, mowers and binders, together with wagons, horses, harness, one cow, shovels, forks, and so on, will cost from $800 to $1500 (£164 8s. to £308 4s.), the everage being probably $1100 (£226). To fence 160 acres of land with a four-wire barbed-wire fence, posts of cedar 40 feet apart, and brackets each ro ft. apart, will cost $400 (about £82). A capital of $2500 (about £513) would be sufficient for a settler, provided he had enough money in addition to pay the first and second instalments on his land and water right. On 160 acres this payment would average $550 (£113) per annum." This is at $30 (£6 3s. 3d.) an acre for land and water.

There is no mention above of costs incidental to irrigation, so they are given here on an acreage of 80 acres.

This estimate holds good for Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, or the Dakotas. For a smaller acreage in Colorado, Washington or Oregon the outlay would be the same on account of the higher price of land and water rentals, both of which would be at least double; and in California they would be greater still.

In the Western States the fifty-five thousand different irrigation enterprises are capable of supplying water to nineteen million acres; of these about six million have not yet been sold.

19 Availability of Nitrogen in Organic Ammoniates.

(1) COULSON, T. H. Availability of nitrogen in organic ammoniates. The American Fertilizer, No. 10, Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 44-45. Philadelphia, Nov. 16, 1912.

(2) STREET, J. P. Note on the neutral permanganate method for the availability of organic nitrogen. The Journal of Industrial and Enginering Chemistry, Vol. 4, No. 6, pp. 437-438. Easton, Pa., June 1912.

(3) JONES, C. H. Activity of organic nitrogen as ganate method.

Ib., pp. 438-441.

measured by the alkaline perman

on the

(4) HARTWELL, B. L. & PEMBER, F. R. The effect of the wet process > availability of low grade nitrogenous materials.

Ib., pp. 441-443.

The addition of phosphatic manures to organic materials is shown to interfere with the neutral permanganate method for estimating the availability of organic nitrogen; the use of small quantities of sodium carbonate in the process gave very satisfactory results, which agree well with those obtained by the alkaline permanganate method. The latter method gives useful information as to the quality of insoluble organic nitrogen in manures, this information being confirmed by vegetative trials.

The following analytical results are given:

I. Nitrogen as nitrates.

2. Nitrogen as ammonium salts.

3. Water-soluble organic nitrogen.

4. « Active » insoluble organic nitrogen (liberated by the alkaline permanganate process).

5. « Inactive » insoluble organic nitrogen.

6. Total nitrogen.

It was found that when the manure is derived from materials of high nitrogen content the figures given under the 4th heading are high in comparison with those given under the 5th, whereas when low grade materials have been used in the manufacture, the proportions are reversed. « Active » nitrogen is usually about 70% of the total insoluble organic nitrogen, while with low grade materials it is 40% or lower.

The nitrogen in certain low grade materials, such as peat, garbage, tankage, roasted leather, is of a very low availability, but manufacturers claim that treatment by the so-called « wet process » completely changes its chemical and physical nature and materially increases its availability. Samples of such materials were taken before and after the process and yielded on analysis: