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Something New in Conservation
By C. W. McConaughy, Holdrege, Nebraska
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The subject of conservation has commanded
much of public, attention in repent, years, and
justly so because the loss or waste of any of the
resources, the welfare of tho nation depends
upon is a most seridus matted Every effort to
protect pur f,uel supply or our lumber supply
has therefore met with instant and hearty ap
proval. - Our national water- supply, however,
does not seem to have received the consideration
its importance ' deserves. Laws liave been on-
acted to guard its use for the production of
power, but its, importance and use in the pro
duction of our, annual qrops seems to liave been
overlooked. , No doubt largely because our crops
have been so ample for our own use in, the, past,
we have taken it for granted the'y would always
be. The 'great farm' from which 75 to 80, per
cent of our .present food supply comes lies be
tween the Alleghany mountains on the east and
the Rocky mountains on the west, This- vast
body of very fertile land is watered by rainfall
and drained by the Mississippi river. Our food
supply for the future depends Absolutely .upon
the intelligent and careful use of the, soil, and
water supply,, nature has here provided. , Is it
not clear therefore that our most important con
servation' problem is protection against waste of
this soil fertility and water supply? How im
'i portant in fact, how imperative, it is, can be ap
preciated more, easily by comparing our crop
' necessities with our population increase. Note
it our wheat.crop; MDur present population requires
. 650rOO0,0QQ bushels for bread an.d seed. Be
i,. cause of , increasing population , the wheat crop
' , mustrincrease 10,0.00,000 to .12,000, 000 bushels
: ,each,year. In fifteen years jth.erofore, our wheat
v crap must exqped OQ,QOO",O0O bushels. This' is
many. millions, more., than we- have. , ever , raided,
and it must be remembered other crops must
show the same increase as wheat. We cannot
( "depend .upon" 'd'evet6ping new" land to increase
'otir crops, because we haven't it to develop. Irri
gation and recianiation will help some", but
theyyare'so expensive farmers cannot raise' wheat
' aft the pride' the public demands, so niore profit
able crofts must' be raised on such land. This
'"b'erig true the land already under cultivation
J"iriust 'produce more. Our 'great '"national"' farm
" Wentioned1 above is so large 'that crop conditions
are not 'uniform bver all" parts of it. The alti
tude varies from almost sea level to a mile high;
temperature' varies from quite warm t,o quite
:.'Codl rainfall is- excessive east, and deficient
1 '.west' Cotton gKQws best south, corn best in the
, .central andi wheafc.best in the north and western
, parts. , From the mouth of the Mississippi river
t north .andifeast to, the Alleghany mountains, the
rainfall ,.is excessive, ranging from. 35 to 60
inches. . To produce maximum crops in this
.territory the land" must be surface drained.
This has been done so largely that the crop pro
duction has almost reached its maximum. Any
material increase in crops cannot reasonably be
expected from this territory. Surface drainage
' 'lias' developed another serious national problem,
,thati is', flood control in the Mississippi river.
'"Surface drainage has so greatly increased the
''volujne of flood' water in the Mississippi river
'the national government is using its resources to
; prevent floods' frbin destroying crops and even
'life. Many- millions of dollars have been spent
building dykes, and many millions more must
be spent to insure ample protection against floods
so that development may be encouraged and
made secure. These facts lead inevitably to the
western part of our great national farm for the
increase in food supply our nation must depend
. upon. Here the annual rainfall averages from
10 to 25 inches, decreasing toward the west and
north. This vast body of fertile soil because
of deficient rainfall is prevented from producing
. maximum crops. It is .settled by as industrious,
honest and worthy farmers as are to be found in
the wcld. Unlike the lumber and mining in
dustries, this land is in the hands of individuals.
Profits in farming are not great enough ap-
parently to attract our great corporations into
this field of industry, therefore, the individual
tanner must be reckoned with in every effort
made to increase crop production. Experience
proves beyond a doubt that if the rainfall re
ceived in this territory could be supplemented
by more moisture, crops would not only be larger
but could be depended upon every year. The de
ficiency in this territory ranges from 5 to 15
inches, but tho great value of tho rainfall bore
depends upon supplemental moisture to equal
this deficiency. Can this extra water be found?
Let us see. Tho Rocky mountains to tho west
gather snow every winter in immense quantities,
the spring sunshine turns it into water, and
gravity leads it by the way of innumerable
.streams down through this land where It Is so
badly needed, but Instead of Us being utilized
as It should bo, it is actually permitted to pass
this Ian, I and go on down to jo'n In the Missis
sippi river other flopd waters from the east and
add to the difficulty and expense of flood control
there.
It is ample in quantity and can be deponded
qpon every spring. Apparently nature ha.s In
tended it for supplementing the rainfall In .this
territory. The soil and tho sub-soil Jn this terri
tary varies from 50 to 150 feet deep In mostly a
light clay, capable of holding 10 to 17 per cent
of its weight of water. What, a wonderful
reservoir nature has 'thus provided, so cheap'and
so. convenient, just, as th,q mountains and snow
are pr ,-ided. All man must do is to lead it from
the streams put uppn, the, great divides and let
. it soak into the sub-soil where it js ready for
.plant ise, The character of this soil is such it
will, take thjs water any time during the year
and hold it, as fllm. water until plant rpots. con
sume It. Laboratory experiments, field experi
ments as well as the experience of farmers, all
conclusively prove this to bo, .true, the very
driest years farmers find spots in th.elr fields
where snow has accumulated in drifts during
the winter in the spring melting sinks in,tp the
sub-soil, and wheat or corn that, happens to 'bo
planted on these spots grow luxuriantly and ma
ture perfect grain when all the rest of the field
would wither and die. Such instances are not
rare, bu they prove that moisture stored in' the
sub-soil wi,ll insure generous crop production.
These facts have lead the farmers in Kearney,
Phelps and Gosper counties, Neb., lying Immedi
ately south of the Platte river, whp have been
compelled to see this water pass their farms every
spring unused and join irt the Mississippi river
other flood water to become a public menaqe.
They believe sincerely the national government
should become as interested in the wise use of
. this water where needed as it is in preventing it
from destroying crops and life where it Is ex-
cessive. Hence the united effort of the farmers
In these counties to induce the national govern
ment tr make a survey, and to determine.. the
feasibility of digging canals to lead it out on tho
prairies where it can be stored in the sub-soil.
Such a survey w about to be made by the na
tional government in conjunction with state offi
cials. These farmers are thoroughly cpnvinced
it is entirely feasible as .well as practical, be
cause the great prairies through which these
streams flow are only 40 to 100 feet above the
bed of the stream, and they slope toward the
Mississippi river the same as the streams do.
The soil contains no rocks nor trees to make
digging difficult, and unlike dykes the canal once
dug Is not liable to be washed away, but will
become a permanent avenue to lead. the water
out into nature's reservoir.
Such a canal will serve many times as many
acres as an irrigation canal, because it would not
be called upon to furnish water during the crop
growing period, and thus be limited to just the
acres its capacity could serve at such a time.
This canal would take flood water whenever and
all the time it is going to waste, would carry it
out to soak into the sub-soil, and thus would be
storing water night and day for weeks and often
months at a time. As the sub-soil would become
amply supplied, its territory could be enlarged,
because the more sub-soil it could fill with this
waste water, the more valuable this canal would
become, it being so unlike the irrigation canal
the capacity and service of the irrigation canal
would not apply in trying to estimate either the
capacity or ability to serve of the canal for sup
plementary water purposes. To obtain correct
and necessary data regard'ng such a canal, one
must be constructed and tried.
Such a canal can be quickly constructed and
at reasonable cost; it would show how much land
could b served, the cost of -serving, and th
value of this flood water that flows down theg
streams after all irrigation reservoirs are full
and can hold, no' more. ' '
After tho first canal is dug, comprehonslvo a'nd
doflnlto plans can bo mado to systematically use
all of tho flood and snow water that the6
streams 'whpro rainfall Is deficient jcould furnteh.
Every drop of this water is valuable nnd should
be used. This becomes doubly desirable when.
It Is scon that by using it over one-third of the
flpod volume of tho Mississippi rlyer would bs
permanently takon care of, making it possible
to rpclalm and make productive millions pf acre
In tho Mississippi river bottom, It must bo ap
parent, however, that this liko flood control is &
national problom, so inany states are Involved
and such conflicting Interests regarding, tho use
of water, There Is certainly nowhere' the na
t'onal government can bring about such neces
sary and wonderful results so qui,ckjy, and that
will bo pf such universal benefit. This Is espe
cially, true because the public is demanding lower
prices for its fopd supply, It Is apparent the pub
lic is more dcQPjy Interested In lower prices than
the farmer Is, apd.it would seoni thq only way
. to permanently reduce prices isk tp njako our
.nnunl. crpps larger. Tor instance an $60,
000,090 busheJ .wheat .cr.op markqtpd. 'by the
farmer at 70 cents per bushel would bring film
$5GQ,00,0,000. On the other hand a OOOOft
bushel wheat cr.op markoted by the farmer aOO
cents a bushel, Would bring him oxac'tiv lUe aaffno
. amount. The difference being the farmer wbuld
haul Fto market 100,000,000 bushels ol wheat,
because, of the large crop, and get p'dtttlpg,biore
for It, ahd tho, consumer would get 4OQ.6OV.a60
bushqls.more wheat at no mqro money coijt All
farm props are influenced by these same condi
tions.. ,Tho larger tho crop, the less the price.
The farmers gain being tho reduction of 'the? risk
- "rt- i"hi)-huii emu mo miring yKyyoyO sell
Y'",w ",f wwwu, -iwio mvitJiuiy ev
mean universal prosperity, a conditio
est ImnortanCO to tho nnf'frn nn'ffnn '
dltion is wftliln our ronnh. t onn ho hrWiMtV nftrlut
. byt the wise apd careful use of. pur soil 'Xortfllty
and, pur national water .supply, . ..
, The standpat republican state committee of
Nebraska met the other day in Lincoln in the
same hotel with, the prpgressiyo, republican
state committee in a futile attempt to got to
gether. Apparently Nebraska republicans lead
ers have never heard pf the lack of succeasjtkafc
followed previous attempts to get watcr.andUoil
to mix. . "i.-.
In .a .recent after dinner spoech Chauncey
Dopew declared that Americans 'are losing their
' sense p: humor: Perhaps Chauncey m.ight'change
his mind It ho would try a few new storteifon
his auditprs. . . . .
:
'J
A. .Japanese cabinet has been dissolved iibe-
cause pf the disepvery of graft. Th(s .wili.glve
renewed assuranoe to those who havedpsteted
'! that the Japs are great imitators of?, republican
juHuim-ioua.
SONGS OF NIGHT
1'.
The moon Blngs low in tho sky above ' ' '"
And the twinkling stars shine bright", '
And a mother sings to her baby love ' '"' :
Those wonderful songs of night; '' ' ' '
Those wonderful songs of sugar plum" trees', '
And fields whero the fairies play, ' ' ' '
Of cockle-shell boats on golden seas ,J ' '
That never are seen by day.
?
Jt is by-low time and she sweetly hums ..
Those wonderful songs of night; , A . -
Of the blare of trumpets and sounds of drum
When the little tin soldiers fight;
She sings 'of a comical candy dog
And the gingerbread man who stands '
By the side of a blinking cooky frog,
Without any arras or hands. ,
And the moonbeams dance on the parlor floo
And a ship sets out at sea,
And a baby sails for the golden shore
In search of the sugar plum tree:
She's off to the cave of the Teddy Bear,
And the haunts of the fairies kind,
No thoughts of tomorrow's worries
Shall trouble her baby mind.
Oh, sweet is the smile on the baby face
As she softly sinks to rest
And If ever a song can reach the skies,
The angels must find delight
In hearing a mother's lullabies
Those wonderful songs of night.
Houston Post.
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