In the organization of irrigation enterprises there is great diversity. Commencing with the simplest form, we have a ditch constructed by the individual irrigator for his own use; we have then successively ditches constructed by associated irrigators without a definite organization, for the service of their own land only; ditches constructed by regularly organized associations of farmers, with elected officers; works constructed by farmers who have incorporated under the general laws of the State and issued stock certificates of ownership in the properties, for the service of the stockholders only; works where incorporations have been formed for the purpose of attaching water stock to lands that are to be sold, bringing in the element of speculation; then works where the organization has been effected with a view of selling water-rights; and finally, organizations that are incorporated for the purpose of selling water. There is a great difference between the principles of these methods of organization, and the practical outcome is a great difference in the service of water and in the duty of water furnished by them. In selling water, measurement of volume is made by modules--the actual amount of water delivered is measured--or it is sold by the acre served, or in proportional parts of the total available flow of the season. The general character of the irrigation works of the State varies very much with the varying conditions under which it is practiced. In the San Joaquin valley, King's river, for instance, comes out of the mountains nearly on a level with the surface of the plain, cutting down not more than a few feet below its banks; and hence but little labor is required to divert its waters out upon the lands to be irrigated; but farther north, the Tuolumne, as another example, comes out of the mountains in a deep cañon, and the foot-hills extend far down the plain on each side. It is easily seen, then, that it will require a million or more dollars to divert from the latter stream the amount of water diverted from King's river by the expenditure of a few months' work, by a small force of the farmers themselves. On King's river, individual and simple coöperative effort is sufficient to bring water enough upon the plains to irrigate thousands of acres, while in the case of the Tuolumne river it is absolutely necessary to have associated capital in large amount--an entirely different principle of organization from that which was originally applied on King's river and the Kern and other rivers in the southern part of the great central valley. In discussions on the subject of irrigation some people have advanced the idea that the works should be undertaken by the farmers, and that capital should have nothing to do with them. That may do very well where the physical conditions will admit of such a course, and where nothing but the farmers' own service depends upon it; but the great majority of the