WATER SOILS. 127 



"In September, 1897, a careful test was made of the available supply in this well. 

 The pump was placed on a 24-inch stroke and was run at the rate of forty-four 

 strokes per minute. At this rate the well supplied 24 gal. per minute delivered at 

 the reservoir (equal to 1,440 gal. per hour), but this fast pumping partially exhausted 

 the supply of water in the well, after which a flow of 13 gal. per minute was obtained. 

 This, we concluded, was the normal force of the stream supplying the well after some 

 months of drought and very low average rainfall throughout the section to the north 

 and west supposed to supply this sheet water that flows at a depth of 75 to 90 ft. 

 below Bee County. During the preceding spring season the supply had been mate- 

 rially stronger." 



To the north of Beeville and along the coast flowing wells are obtained 

 by tapping this water bearing stratum. 



Irrigation. — The need of irrigation in the region of Texas in which 

 Beeville is situated and the duty of water are discussed and the pump- 

 ing outfit at the station is described. This consists of "a windmill and 

 gasoline engine, so arranged as to use either wind or explosive gas as 

 power for driving the pump, and is situated in a depression, or 'draw.' 

 The reservoir is located on the rise of the hill and is 500 ft. east of the 

 well and pump station. The top of the reservoir is some 15 ft. above 

 the ground level of well. Water must be pumped from its level to sur- 

 face of well (49 to 70 ft.) plus the 'rise' from well to discharge pipe in 

 reservoir (15 ft.). This provides for a total pump lift of 64 to 85 ft. 

 When pump is used regularly and water is lowered in well the lift is 

 probably about 80 ft." 



At the beginning a 12 foot steel windmill was relied on entirely 

 to pump the water required, but "in many cases the windmill tailed to 

 show sufficient strength to run the pump for days at a time. In snch 

 cases the experimental crops would suffer severely from droughts." 



"An existing popular idea to the effect that windmills can be relied upon to lift 

 irrigation water from depths of 75 to 100 ft. must be critically examined by those 

 intending to use mills for this purpose. All semi arid sections are supposed to have 

 frequent and strong winds, but for windmill irrigation purposes they must also be 

 regular, or, just at the critical crop-growing period, a calm may occur and entirely 

 ruin the prospects of the farmer or trucker, and so cause the loss of labor and capi- 

 tal invested for that season. The regularity with which the wind blows, the depth 

 from which water must be pumped, aud the size of the receiving reservoir are the 

 factors that determiue the success of windmill irrigation plants." 



In the spring of 1897 a 4-horsepower gasoline engine with pumping 

 apparatus was installed, and it has been used with very satisfactory 

 results. With this plant the cost of raising 1,000 gal. of water 65 to 

 85 ft. through 560 ft. of 2.^-inch pipe has been found to be 8.42 cts., 

 or at the rate of $4.58 per acre (2 acre-inches). 



The construction of reservoirs is discussed and directions are given 

 for the construction of dams with concrete, masonry, and puddle cores 

 aud with surfaces of coal tar mastic and concrete gravel. 



Statements regarding methods of distributing and applying irriga- 

 tion water are reprinted from the Yearbook for 1895 of this Department, 

 and the influence of irrigation water on the increase and rise of alkali 

 in soils is briefly discussed. 

 4485— No. 2 3 



