PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 99 



quietly along in ditches so slight that no self-respecting water would stay 

 in them. This water, in the former two states, is within twenty feet of 

 the surface, and so is very easily pumped up. I ask Dr. Kedzie what 

 virtue there is in the sediment of these waters of Kansas and Nebraska ? 



Dr. Kedzie : They are strongly charged with alkaline and other mineral 

 matter, very different from Michigan waters. The latter will be much 

 harder to handle. There the sediment tends to fill the interstices of the ' 

 soil and make the latter quickly impervious. 



Mr. Williams: We were much surprised to find, upon our own farm 

 in Saugatuck, how easily the water could be carried. It would go sixty 

 rods in a furrow in light soil. We did not calculate how much we used 

 per acre. 



Mr. Morrill: An inch of rainfall equals 1,000 barrels per acre. One 

 may calculate from this how much water to use in cases of irrigation. 



Mr. Tracy : Out there they think an inch in depth far too little, and 

 provide for use of two or three inches each time. 



Mr. Kellogg: What measures do they use to prevent evaporation? 



Mr, Williams: None. 



Prof. Taft: In California they used to do nothing to prevent evapor- 

 ation, but they now use much less water at a time, and give thorough 

 cultivation, getting a surface mulch of fine soil, and so retarding evapor- 

 ation. In irrigation of gardens, the best way to apply the water is by 

 means of tiles, laid one foot below the surface, if they are to be permanent, 

 but in a simple furrow if otherwise. Two-inch tile will irrigate spaces 

 from ten to fifteen feet wide in ordinary garden soil. In Texas they lay 

 title direct in the trenches, by means of a machine which makes of them 

 continuous pipes, making holes at certain distances through which the 

 water escapes. This proves very successful among vegetables, but in case 

 it were used among trees the roots would be very likely to penetrate the 

 tile. Experiments of this kind, at the college, last summer, were highly 

 successful. 



Mr. J. C. Inglis: Whenever we violate a law of nature, we suffer. 

 Why not, instead of all this, advocate replacing the forests? 



