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Show ECONOMICAL :t USEOF WATER I Logan, Utah, Jan, 28. "The day a .Tvill come when the economical use E of water and not the beneficial use I I of water will be the rule In Utah," ; predicted resident .Jonn a. wmtsoe of the Utah Agricultural college in an address on "Irrigation Science and the Future of Utah," before the Fanners' Roundup today. Dr. Widt- j. soe declared that the matter of first I importance in the upbuilding of the . - west was to use the water available I. over as large an acreage of land as V f possible in producing the largest pos- : I sible crop. t I Dr. Widtsoe said the first great 1 r day in American irrigation was July is 24, 1847, when the pioneers entered jt J Salt Lake valley. He said that he i, ! l believed that Irrigation history would b. show the second great day was No-II No-II vember 15, 1913, when the experts I of the United States reclamation serif: ser-if: vice met in Salt Lake and adopted I the policy that the economical use I of water was more important than I the prodigal use. He said this doc-f doc-f I trine was growing stronger and in J I the end would prevail. I The other importanct speech of the f "Irrigation Day" program was made ! by VY. W. McLaughlin, an irrigation engineer in the United States depart- jnent of agriculture. Mr. McLaugh- ' lin talked on "Irrigation Practice in ; Utah." So much discussion was ; aroused by the two speeches that a ' part of the Irrigation program will ! t I have to. be given tomorrow. Late in the afternoon the farmers adjourned to Inspect the model irrigation sys- tern built by L. M. Winsor of the experiment station staff and the pumping exhibition of the Utah Power Pow-er & Light company. The" model ir-i ir-i rigation system and farm built by ,y J , Ir Winsor Is the most complete and ( interesting of the kind ever seen in j , Utah and accurately demonstrates all ; . f the prevailing modes of irrigation Mr. Winsor lectured about his model i to more than 200 farmers. In his discussion of "Irrigation Science Sci-ence and the Future of Utah," Dr. i i ; -Widtsoe mentioned the following points prominently: "We have a splendid body of f farmers In Utah, but we need not close our eyes to the fact that we know little or nothing about the re-j re-j finements of irrigation. There are : other states which have gone ahead of us In this respect. We say this because we dare to open our eyes to our own weaknesses. "The second great day in irrigation history came a few months ago in Salt Lake City, when the officials of the reclamation service met there and passed a resolution declaring that the prodigal use of water is no longer the most important question, but that it was now a matter of the economical use of water. To accomplish accom-plish this economical use of water we will have to apply the refinements i of irrigation which we have not used. "Are you using your land nnd water wa-ter together so that the community as a whole is getting the greatest returns? re-turns? We have a great empire here in the west, but it is water and land. We talk about having conquered this great empire. We have done nothing of the kind. We have cultivated and possess about 2 per cent of the lands of Utah. We must make dur water go farther. You have heard these things before and agree with them. But are we going to accomplish accom-plish these things? "The beginning of the good irrigation irriga-tion farmer Is to know the value of the natural rainfall. We must begin by opening our soils and storing the rainfall. We should begin by being good dry farmers. Irrigation and dry farming are twins. The largest part of a crop must be credited to rainfall. The more rain and snow we store In the soil the less irrigation irriga-tion water we will use. "The second principle Is how much water are we to apply? Many farmers farm-ers believe that the size of the crop Increases in proportion to the amount of water applied. It is not so. There is a terrific waste from this belief. In the future we are going to say we have so many acre feet of water, not co many acres of land. The water makes the value of the land in the arid west. "The law is now established that the more water we use the less crop we get In proportion. It has been a folly not to find out the value of water." |