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Show I 'rall x How It Was In Ancient Days ' ' 'wHsi groat Irrigation Congress will begin its ses- 'JIIhKI' sions in Boise City, Idaho, on the 3rd of next JSHwi1 month. Some wonderfully bright and strong men "fjPHfflr will be there, but we doubt very much whether 'BHli they able to adcl t0 tne l)eauty of what was ' jHBbII Iong ag0 sald on tne tlieme o irrigation. For 'iBWw! irrigation was an established science three thou- ''BBMilj1 sand years and more since, and while the facM? frallafir. ties for opening canals and building viaducts have fSMjli: been improved, while rocky points can be blasted ? WmMt ofi- easer tnan m tlle m days when it comes to 'llflB a conrGSS to teJ1 about the wonders that come I iilmBtt1 oE Irrigation and tlie miracles that can be wrought 'nwW- In tllQ desert bv tlle application of water, it will 'Jjlflli ''orry John Henry Smith or even Secretary Wil- '1aMKHi son of the Department of Agriculture to more viv- 'IwfflBI Idly describe the transformation wrought by the ' ''nflSfll waters than was done by some old chaps in the l 1851 i ol(1 flays, before there were free schools or any flHB! disputes about the feasibility or undesirabillty of ! " WaSB&l uniting universities with agricultural schools. I ''HHni When we become proud over our modern ad- pfwgsl vantages, and secretly hug to our souls the belief '"iWmk tnat wo avo a rlSllt; to pIty the isnora1100 of an ' "'HHi early world, it ought to do us good to turn and 'iSKffl roa ow somo wno nevor beard of a printing I 11 ' sHlffi press or ever read a bound volume could handle i 'j ; W&m the Queen's Greek or Arian in the old days. I 1 flHi "The wilderness and the solitary place shall i iflH! 1)0 Slad for them; and tlle desert shall rejoice, and '''JISSh' "It slla11 blossom abundantly, and rejoice even ; Ib3I witu ly and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall ' IPhK 1)6 Siven unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and " iPEB "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, ; '''iii3B and tue tonsne of the dumb sing; for in tho wil- , 'llfjBB derness shall waters break out, and streams in ' 'liillfii "And the parched ground shall become a pool, ' and the thirsty land springs of water, in the hab- I 'fiSHi itation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass I ' imSf! Those old chaps could not analyze soils; they I ' wBH nevor heard of a mowing machine; they never I IwalwPt understood that if they would alternate their crops Hi 'ilBHB planting clover in the off years, that the clover I! Iwi would steal nitrogen out of the air and renew II ''flllSf t1Gir soi1' tIiey were not Up to a tnousand triclcs III iIBBI of tn0 moilQrn plough-boy, but when it came to a ut MwRwSk husking bee and each one described his success 'if "'ilffiiSi- m farmInS they coultl outtalk Heber J. Gruut or II 'rcfllHl Apostle Penrose. And they had a deft way of I? , ; IHHH concealing their own egotism by giving all tho PI t glory to the Lord. In a mechanical and scientific III ' liiiSl' way wo havo a 1Ittle tlie tQSt of tnen1, 1)ut when 'l lgMHi it came to describing the "treasures of tho snow," division of "a water course for the overflowing of waters," the modern man is not in it. There were giants in those days. |