302 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[October, 



water can be introduced, it is a great conveni- 

 ence. 



Asparagus beds, after the tops have been 

 cleared off, are better covered with litter, or sta- 

 ble manure. The plants shoot easier for it next 

 season. 



Sometimes Broccoli does not head before there 

 is danger of frost especially if growing vigor- 

 ously. If taken up with small balls of earth, 

 and set in a damp cellar they will still perfect 

 themselves. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



IRRIGATION IN KANSAS. 



BY J. TEMPLIN, HUTCHINSON, KANSAS. 



The art of agriculture by the aid of artificial 

 irrigation, is a very ancient one. The most an- 

 cient authors mentioned it in a way that shows 

 it to have been understood and practiced from 

 time immemorial. The ancient Egyptians, Per- 

 sians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Chinese con- 

 structed extensive and costly systems of ditches 

 and canals for irrigating purposes. Portions of 

 Arabia were made productive by an extensive 

 dam and reservoir built before the days of King 

 Solomon. The Pharaohs constructed an exten- 

 sive canal for irrigating purposes near if not ex- 

 actly on the route of the present Suez Ship Canal. 

 The Romans constructed canals and aqueducts 

 for this purpose, the ruins of which are the won- 

 der of the traveller in Italy to-day. The Cartha- 

 ginians, Phoenicians and Moors employed this 

 means to promote the fertility of their soils. In 

 modern times many of the nations of Europe 

 resort to this method of culture. 



On this continent the Spanish invaders found 

 very extensive works for irrigation in Mexico 

 and Peru. This method is extensively resorted 

 to in some of the Western States and Territories 

 at the present time. Some of the finest produc- 

 tions of California are the result of this manner 

 of cultivation. This is also employed in Arizona^ 

 Xevv Mexico, Colorado and in Utah, where the 

 desert has been made to rejoice and blossom as 

 the rose. 



The experience of the past and the present 

 proves that where irrigation is possible it is 

 the most reliable method that can be employ- 

 ed to secure moisture for growing crops. Even 

 where the rainfall is supposed to be sufficient for 

 the wants of growing crops, it is well-known that 

 there will often be times when the crops will 



suffer, sometimes to the extent of a failure, be- 

 cau-se at the critical juncture of the crop the 

 rain fails to come. The rainfall of Western Kan- 

 sas amounts to an average of only about sixteen 

 inches, which is far too small to meet the wants 

 of ordinary crops. It is true that broom corn, 

 rice corn and sugar cane do succeed here fairly 

 without irrigation, but other crops fail, except in 

 some exceptionally wet seasons. This has led to 

 the inauguration of the enterprise of irrigation in 

 that portion of the State that borders on the 

 Arkansas river. This river, fed by the melting 

 snows of the mountains, affords a large amount 

 of water, particularly during that season of the 

 year when the growing crops demand the greatest 

 amount. There is in the three most western 

 counties lying along that river in this State over 

 100,000 acres of land that are subject to overflow 

 by irrigation without carrying the water out of 

 the immediate river valley. Several companies 

 have been organized and, several ditches are 

 already in operation. The Garden City Irrigat- 

 ing and Power Company has a ditch eight feet 

 wide, two feet deep and twelve miles long, and 

 it will irrigate 12,000 acres. The Kansas Irrigat- 

 ing Company are cutting a canal thirty miles in 

 length, fifteen miles of which is already dug. Tnis 

 is twenty-two feet wide and two feet deep, to be 

 made four feet when the demand for water shall 

 justify it. The Minnehaha Irrigating Company 

 have twenty miles of twenty feet in width and 

 three feet in depth. This ditch will irrigate about 

 20,000 acres. But the most important enterprise 

 of this kind in thispartof the country is that of the 

 Great Eastern Irrigation Company, with Senator 

 Plumb and other capitalists at its head. This is 

 to be a canal thirty feet wide and three feet deep, 

 and will extend some fifty or sixty miles. It will 

 probably be led out into the higher ground, and 

 thus be made to do service in several counties. 

 The fall in the river is so great (seven to eight 

 feet to the mile), that there is no difficulty in 

 conveying the water to the higher grounds. The 

 usual method by which irrigation is carried on 

 here is to run the main ditch along the upper 

 side of the land to be watered, and led by lateral 

 drains convey the water to the particular place 

 to be irrigated and by shallow furrows extend it 

 to every part of the field. The success that has 

 attended this mode of culture in this section has 

 been very flattering indeed. The crops mostly 

 tried under this system are onions, cabbage and 

 potatoes, though all the common crops have 

 been tried sufficiently to prove they may be 



