AGRICULTURE. A very large part of the State is arid and irreclaimable land. In the north the rainfall is greater, and supplies sufficient moisture for grain crops. Three-fourths of the total area is yet public land. This, however, is being rapidly taken up. The great development of the mining industry has created a home market for farm produce. and justifies incurring the heavy ex pense of irrigation. The channels of the main streams—the Snake and Clearwater—are gener ally deep. making irrigation impossible or highly expensive. Put numerous smaller streams offer excellent irrigation facilities. This is especially true of the head-water region of the Snake River and of the large district, in the western part of the State. lying north of the Snake River and watered by the Boise River and other streams. The Bear Lake region in the southeast corner is also said to be adaptable to irrigation pur poses. In 1900. 602.563 acres, or 426 per cent. of the improved land, were irrigated. Five and nine-tenths per cent. of the total area, or 3,204,903 acres, were reported for the same year ns contained in farms, the average size of which was It.:3.4 acres. As is common with irrigated lands., intensive farming is the ride, and the soil being Ivry fertile %Own sufficiently the yield of III crops is very abundant. liav and forage is the most extensive and valuable crop, the annual acreage for which increased over two and a half times in the last decade Of the nineteenth century, ftver a third is alfalfa. In the same period the acreage devoted to increased mer threefold. \\ heat eonstituted 72 per cent. of the cereal for 1899. Oats, bar ley, and flaxseed are of less importan•. and corn searcely raised at all. The western part of Idaho, particularly the Boise Basin. is becom ing noted for its fruits and vegetables. Apples and prunes are the chief varieties of orchard fruits.
SrocK-11Als11“. Thus far, however, it has leen the grazing rather than the farming facili ties which have been most extensively There are 25.000.000 acres of pasture land in the State. In the northern and the mountainous parts of Idaho considerable expense is in curred in stock-raising, owing to the shortness of the summers and the depth of the winter snow. Ilerders and packers who use mules and
horses in the northern mountains thron;.fli the summer season withdraw to the valley of the Snake River to winter their stock. Along the Snake River, on both sides, there are numerous valleys where winters are not severe enough to prevent cattle and horses from picking up a liv ing for themselves. In the decade ending with 1900 large gains were made in every variety of domestic animals. Sheep are the most impor tant. having produeed wool to the value of $2, 210.790 in 1899. The following tables show the relative importance and inerease of the different varieties of crops and domestic animals: needs of the district. The total railway mileage of the State was 1271 Miles in 1899.
r I 900, then- were 15 na tional banks, In of were iu Capital ,tO•k, $575,0011; ontstanding circulation, Deposit.s. September 3, HMO, $3,937, 123; reserce held, $1,043.497, On June 30, 1900, there were S State banks. with a capital aggre gating $183,500: deposits, $337,902; resources, $781,105. There were also 11 private banks with resources aggregating $329,:320; capital, $81, 005; and deposits. $210.093.
EltNIIENT. Idaho hilt:Me a State under its present Constitution. by a convention held August 6, 1889. An amendment may be proposed in either branch of the Legislature, and if agreed to by two-thirds of all the members of each House is submitted to the people. and bee(IIII('S a part of the Constitution if approved by a majority of the electors. If demanded by two thirds of the members of each House. the ques tion of calling a constitutional convention is sub mitted to the people, where it is decided by a majority of the electors voting. Suffrage is granted to both male and female citizens who have resided in the State six months, in the county thirty days, and arc registered. There are various offenses which cause disqualification for the right of suffrage. among which arc plu ral marriage, or in any manner teaching . . . or encouraging any person to enter into plural marriage. or membership in any organization which encourages it.