128 . THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



from the delivery ditch goes in a border or in a fill, and dirt required 

 for banks comes from high places in the cheek. Then, the balance of 

 the dirt for the borders comes from cuts in the checks — and any remain- 

 ing fills to be made in the checks after borders are made must come from 

 the remaining cuts within the checks. 



Now, this work is frequently done in exactly the opposite order : the 

 land is leveled with some leveling device or even with scrapers, and then 

 the borders are made. Some of the same dirt that has been moved to 

 fill a hole in the check may have to be moved again to get dirt for the 

 border, and some more dirt moved again to fill the hole just made. 

 Then a borrow pit must be made to make ditch banks, and frequently 

 a long haul made to spill the dirt from the drain evenly over the check. 



I do not recall an instance of too great care being used in the leveling 

 of land. I know of many cases where too much money has been spent 

 for the results accomplished, but I mean where a job has been done so 

 well that the land irrigates more easily than is profitable or where it 

 drains too perfectly. 



But everywhere, there are examples of the loss of crops and money 

 through too careless preparation of the land for irrigation: high spots 

 that do not get water ; low spots where the crop drowns out ; ditches 

 that break ; drains that are too shallow or that do not work ; all of these 

 things can be remedied with far greater ease and much less cost before 

 a crop is planted than after, and there is no better or surer way to 

 find out about these things than to try out the job with a head of irriga- 

 tion water before any crop is planted. This will show up the weak 

 places at a time when they can be easily and quickly fixed. Then after 

 they are all remedied try irrigating the land again before planting. 

 There may be several other little things you will be glad that you have 

 fixed before, while there is no crop in the way. 



It is a wise thing for the beginner to lay out a small piece for the 

 first planting, rather than the whole place. There is no way to learn 

 how to prepare a place for irrigation so that it suits your individual 

 tastes so well as to fix up a small acreage first. There will be sure to 

 be some little changes you will want to make in the balance of the place. 



WATER DELIVERY SYSTEM. 



Whatever the water delivery system is — whether open ditch or under- 

 ground concrete pipe — have it of ample capacity. I know of no better 

 way to determine what this will be for the individual needs of any 

 particular place than to visit some place where a system similar to 

 the one contemplated has been installed. An engineer can be of help 

 on the size and capacity of concrete lines, as he can on open ditch 

 capacities ; but any irrigator who has handled a head of Avater in a 

 ditch will tell the inquirer that the ditch must be sufficiently large for 

 the head of water, must have big, full banks and, if possible, the slope 

 of the banks should be such that they can be mowed with a horse mower. 

 It is hard to find dirt to enlarge a small ditch after a field is completely 

 seeded to alfalfa. 



The working out of all of the details of irrigation practice in the 

 Sacramento Valley is a proposition that is very much in its infancy. 

 The best general advice that I can give to anyone is to study the indi- 

 vidual problem; and not to be afraid to dig big holes in the ground. 



