64 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



many claim that better results can be obtained with one fourth the water 

 required by any other method, and even on almost clear sand the amount 

 is less rather than more. 



Sometimes one does not have water at hand that can be applied in any 

 of the above ways, and yet he has some valuable crop that will be greatly 

 reduced in value in seasons like the past if water is not supplied in some 

 way. Water can often be hauled in tanks a distance of a mile or so and 

 applied in furrows between the rows of drilled crops or in basins around 

 fruit trees, from which it will soak into the ground and perhaps return 

 twice the expense of the outlay. With fruit crops the gain is especially 

 noticeable, as not only is the crop of the present year benefited, but it 

 enables the trees to form fruit buds for the next year's crop. In the older 

 parts of the country the apple has its odd year from the fact that the soil 

 has become exhausted and the trees are not able both to perfect the crop 

 and form fruit buds for another year, but when irrigated they give boun- 

 teous crops each year, and the trees being at no time pinched for lack of 

 food make a much better growth and come earlier into bearing. 



DOES lEEIGATION PAY? 



Well, it depends. In what we have said above we have endeavored to 

 point out some of the best methods and the reasons for and against each, 

 but the conditions are so variable that it is difficult to give any general 

 rule. Taking one year with another, for garden crops we can say that as 

 much can be raised upon one acre of irrigated soil as upon two without 

 irrigation, and where the price of land is high and the crop is such that 

 the expense of cultivation is large, one can go to a considerable expense for 

 irrigation, with profit. From fruits, on many soils, an even greater gain 

 can be obtained. For such crops, if running water is available, there can 

 be no question as to the profit of irrigation. 



An engine, piimp, and piping sufficient for irrigating ten acres should 

 not cost more than eight hundred to one thousand dollars, while a wind- 

 mill and tank with piping for five acres will cost about half as much, so 

 that there is little difference in the first outlay, but the latter is of course 

 cheaper to run, although less reliable. If much irrigating is to be done, 

 it will be well to have both powers, so that steam or hot air can be used if 

 the wind fails. The expense of preparing the land for surface irrigation 

 will often be little, if anything, while if sub-irrigation is used it will run 

 from twenty-five to fifty dollars or more per acre. The cost of applying 

 the water will be one dollar per acre if obtained by means of a windmill, 

 or two and one-half to three dollars if a steam pump is used, for each 

 irrigation, and will seldom be more than four or five dollars in the one 

 case to ten in the other, per acre, for the entire season. Supposing that 

 the pump and other machinery were only used for this purpose, which is 

 hardly probable, and allowing for interest and depreciation, fifteen to 

 twenty dollars per acre per year will be a high estimate. It should also 

 be noted that if the water supply is sufficient and an engine is used it can 

 be made to do more than twice as much as is called for above, if irrigation 

 is carried on at night, and the cost of maintenance will be reduced one 

 half per acre. 



We have then at the very outside to consider as to the profit when irri- 

 gation costs twenty-five dollars per acre (if the pump and power are used 

 for other purposes this can be reduced one half), and while few farm 



