\ ! VOLXXViL VA!)K C., THURSDAY, DECEMRER !, i9:D §ECLMM ARM ! AREAS CF WEST r ! flatten Proposed to Spend $250,000,000 to Open up Unproductive Land. )MTKM !S 19 EE REPMS j^Vouid Pisce at Disposat of Settiers What May Become Most Fcrtiie i, Soi) in the Country—320.000 3 Thrive On irrigated Lands. ' Washington.—New legislation is he Dg prepared by committeegtof c: ngrrss opening up to mankind li e arid Lands of the West. f Nearly 200,000,000 acres remain utt mproved in the reclamation group of ttatos—more than ail the productive ands of Germany and the United Mrgdom combined. This improve nent would accommodate many mil MMss more people and add in iions to The aggregate weaith if recimuation {Were attended by a success eommon pnrate with that which 1ms foilowcd {the work hitherto done. 20 Years' irrigation Work. The resujts of twenty years of irri gation mayhesummarixeti tittts; Gross cos!. not cost, ^127.('ht).PO(t:estiinate *\Y. 1*. L. Doflsno. r 'ir.i 'U'oft'tc ' l.otio.ooo aet-es of irri^it'. 1 h.rds r& clnimedntol'ilyiPldYatuiinrSl.i'l. 000.000 tvasoiiiaiicl lut! :;.id$fO. CoO.OPO i!) 1019. "TliC value of the a"' r"4" yield," he said, "was (12.00 per acre from' ! crops alon<' for all the h-];:..)io.iie!i!i in 1911, ns compared with .<_;n an acre fur tite avertitt-* of ail the cultivai<*d land of the ttaToninth:^ year 1910." Purpose of Legislation. The purpose of the proposed legis lation is to authorize and direct the secretary of the treasury to trans ifertotherecla.mationfutiduponthe j reguc^t of the secret ::ry of the interior a total Stttn of :<(2:Vi.0t)0.0f)O in the fol lowing manner: During the fiscal year ending in 1922 net exceeding $2^.000.000; 1923. $ e.WO.OtiO; R)24. $43,000.000,-gnd for each succeeding year for a period of three years net to exceed $30,000,000. The money is te be used by the In terior dei'nrtincnt in reclaiming arid and semi-arid lands iu western states. Reclaiming these lands includes the examination and survey of the lands, determining the characteriof the soil, the feasihiiity of placing water there on by means of dams, reservoirs? tun nels, canals, dikes and such^other means as scientific engineeri!^& may determine as feasible and pradSbabie. At the end of 6ve years, ubder the bHl a physical valuation of the prop erty of the district shall be made and if the taxable part is found by compe tent appraisers to be double the cost of construction the district shall issue its bonds and from the sale thereof the reciamation fund of the United States treasury shall be reimbursed to the amount of money expended on the projects, principal and interest.' The whole real and personal property h< to the tpl^onds. Titeyrunnot feeding twenty-five years. under tim existing iaw. persons firing to open an irrigation project pnust he organised into a district in conformity with the laws of the state or states in which Mm project in whole or in part is situated. The totat of advanced to the n'ciamationfmei is tot) ^ re paid to tite United States treasurv^ front this fund hexinnin^ with the fis cal year RU2. ; Pumpkin Vine Growing ; ^ !nside the Parent Sheii ^ ^ When Airs. D. S. Thompson of ^ ^ Waynesboro, Pa., cut open a ^ ^ pufnttkin she was surprised to ! ^ see that the seeds on the inside 2 i had started to grow and that a * ^ young pumpkin vine had start- ! ? ed to RU the entire inside * % of the shel!. The pulp was % * in perfect condition and the * , shell had been unbroken until it I ^ was cut. Roots sevcrai inches * , in length, and full-shaped leaves I ^ had neen developed. * I BL9 Reinhardt Thiessert, Research Chena ist, Says Scientists of, the Fast Oniy Had a Vague idea of the Composition of Ccai. Washington.—Conceptions of the or igin, couipositina d genera! nature of coal held hy scientists in the past are so different ami contradictory that it is a ditHcuit matter to