60 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the prediction that in the future it will be made use of in orchards and 

 market and kitchen gardens. Not only can the streams themselves be 

 thus used, but the water from springs and the storm water from the hill- 

 sides will be caught in reservoirs and stored for use in time of need. In 

 many places, too, when one lives near large towns and cities with an abun- 

 dant supply, arrangements can often be made with the local waterworks 

 for what is needed. If these resources fail, there are few sections where 

 sufficient water can not be readily obtained from a good driven or bored 

 well to water at least five acres. A good pump worked by a twelve-foot 

 wind-mill, or by hot air or steam, will bring the water to the surface and 

 elevate it to the storage reservoir. Especially if the wind is depended 

 upon as the power, this should be of ample size, as this fickle force may 

 fail at the very time it is most needed, and at best it can hardly be depended 

 upon for more than eight hours per day. 



A large storage reservoir can often be cheaply constructed by damming 

 up a ravine or by excavating for it at some point where it will have an 

 impervious hardpan, but when a well is drawn upon for the supply, a large 

 wooden tank will be found to answer the purpose. For irrigating five 

 acres it should have a capacity of not less than 800 barrels. This will 

 hold water enough to give one acre a covering to the depth of one inch. 

 With a well and pump able to fill the tank in twenty-four hours, an acre 

 can be irrigated each day, and as the land will seldom need water oftener 

 than once in a week or ten days, the five acres can be handled without 

 trouble, and in most seasons there will be a considerable surplus. 



Although the common ditch may be used to advantage where the water 

 is plentiful, some impervious pipe will generally be found preferable to 

 convey the water to the land. When not larger than two inches, a wrought 

 iron pipe will generally be cheapest in the end, but for larger sizes a gal- 

 vanized iron pipe lined with cement will answer every purpose, and if 

 properly made and laid will stand any ordinary pressure. In California 

 laminated iron pipes are largely used. They are made of two thicknesses 

 of sheet iron with a space between them of an eighth of an inch filled 

 with asphalt, while the inner and outer surfaces are coated with the same 

 material. When there is but little pressure, vitrified sewer or cement pipes 

 can be used and will answer every purpose. In the west a machine is 

 used which makes a cement pipe in the bottom of the trench, but it is not 

 regarded very favorably. 



DISTRIBUTING THE WATER. 



The method that will be best adapted for applying the water to the soil 

 is yet to be determined, and is, perhaps, the most important question of 

 all. 



SPRINKLING. 



In the past there have been various attempts made to irrigate land by 

 sprinkling the water upon it from perforated tin pipes supported some 

 five or six feet above the ground, while others have called the street sprink- 

 ler into use. But little or no success has been obtained from either method. 

 A third method is by means of revolving lawn sprinklers, while others 

 have used lines of hose with a nozzle at the end arranged to throw a fan- 

 shape spray. For watering in either of these ways hydrants are located 

 at the center of tracts rather smaller than an acre to which iron pipes of 



