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Show IRRIGATION. H As the years go by and enlightenment in- M creases it will be but natural to expect fewer and M fewer wars, as medical science extends it will be but natural if the average length of human life M increases, there will bo more old people, there M will be fewer deaths of children; as wealth in- creases it will be reasonable to suppose that more M and more of the rich man's money will be distrib- H uted among the poor, lessening their hardships; with increased comforts and less sickness there M will bo more births and with increased popula- H tion the question of feeding the people will bo H more and more a problem. M ,v In the Orient there seems to be no effort to n H solve this problem. The overflow of a great river H destroying a crop or a draught that doe3 the H same is sufficient to cause thousands, sometimes H millions of deathB from starvation in a single H year. Tho question of food for the people even in H our great country is already a serious one in our H larger cities. Indeed, tho people of these cities H in great part live from hand to mouth. A stop- H page of supplies through a storm that blocks the H railways for only three days causes acute dis- H tress among the very poor of New York City. H The natural Increase of population is very H great and then this year there will be a host land H upon our shores from the Old World equal in H numbers to the total populat'on of five of our H Inter-mountain states. All these facts and many H more might be cited to cause thoughtful men H much solicitude for tho future of our country, for a famine in America would not be accepted H as such a calamity is accepted in China or India. H The people there look upon it as fate and silently H die. It would not bo so in our country. There H would be riots, and if too fiercely pressed there I would be wholesale spoliation, for what Ameri- H can would count penalties for obtaining food If H his little child was dying of hunger? ' H Considering the question under such lights , the matter of obtaining three blades of grass , H Avhere none grew before, tho mutter of obtain- H ing the utmost food supply from every acre cul- i H tivated Is of serious Importance. Nature under H her sunshine gave to tho soils tho needed ole- monts for bringing forth food, except ono. That H one needed element Is moisture. Hence every i H gathering of men for tho purpose of considering H tho best ways of adding the moisture by artificial means when tho natural supply is withheld is im- I portant. The influence of these meetings will I not long be confined to the arid belt. In the east- H ern states, every year, in many places crops are , I damaged or destroyed through floods and draughts. The wisdom that can restrain or turn aside the floods and utilize the waste water when I the draught comes is of the highest kind. And ' H these are subjects to be considered in an irrlga- I tion Congress. The facts that as a rule better l I crops are harvested from irrigated fields than I from the best lands that are only supplied by ' irregular rains Is one that Is arresting tho at- j I I f tentlon of many an eastern agriculturist, and It !W If I wil1 have a PractIcnl effect by and by. The ag- I 1 1 ' ricultural department of the Government Is do- 11 ' m Ing ts bes to flnii ou' y experiment the best I m IH crops to plant where the water supply is scant, I Si and the results of such experiments are proper I 9 J themes for consideration in an Irrigation Con- IS ventlon. How far the General Government should 1 1 gw extend aid to increase the area of lands to be I m cultivated and the best methods of both hus- jX J banding the water supply and of applying it to ! Ji I tho thirsty soul, are subjects of great interest . 1 i i to consider. The public lands are nearly all ab- Hi I I Ij sorbed and the host that every year seelcs new H ' I l homes is growing in numbers. Tho people must H I I have homes and food; they must have places H If' wherein they can, with their labor obtain life's H ' , j I , I v necessities or they will take them from those who H , I j J have them. The question of irrigation -goes to the B' I ' 1 primal demand of poor mortality for food, and K' 111' all that can be done to further the creation of H II I food must be done. m if j . This question has been an absorbing one from m- HI j'j the first. Thousands of years ago, how many H 1 1 1 cannot now be estimated, out of this necessity H! if I the valleVs around Babylon, through irrigation j I j and careful culture, were made to supply the H It a foo(i consumed by he millions centered there. H' I 'i It is a pity that the ghost of one of those old j f time farmers cannot be called up to address the HI '$ coming Irrigation Congress. In those days there H ' 1 1 i were no steam or electric engines, no great der- H 'J; 1 1 ricks, no fulminating powder, but the rivers were m j I k turned and their waters impounded that when H i i the sun grew hot they might minister to the H III iH thirsty soil. It is time that modern men began i I J to pick up the aits which were lost, but which .; $ IIS in their time, were sufficient from small areas to H ) II : feed the world's hungry millions. |