TWO .METHODS OF TAl^M IRRIGATION. 245 



(4). The hotter the sun after the water is off the worse it is. 

 45). High winds after flooding; may cause more trouble than 



stiU weather. 

 (6). Most plants stand flooding better as they grow older, and 

 many never do as well with flooding as with the furrow 

 system, in which the w^ater never touches the stem of the 

 plant. This is the case with most trees and with many 

 garden vegetables. 

 (7). Some plants, such as well-established lucerne on loose open 

 soil, seem to do as well under flooding as under the same 

 amount of rainfall. 

 (8) The injury from flooding is much less in damp, cool 



weather than in dry hot weather. 



The real remedy for the troubles that may arise under the 



-system of flooding is to have the ground so wet, and so thoroughly 



-cultivated, that the seed will come up and grow for a long time 



without needing more water. It is difficult to induce some people 



to believe that ground thoroughly wet, and having the surface 



• cultivated so as to cover it with a thick tilth, will carry a crop for 



several weeks without another irrigation ; but it is nevertheless 



a fact, and in parts of America, where grain cannot be raised 



at all without irrigation, immense crops are carried bv this means 



:almost to the point of heading. 



The injury caused by flooding appears to \'ary to some extent 

 \\ ith the soil and climate, and you may find the results to be good 

 in spite of the crops looking a little sickly at the start. I am not 

 .advocating flooding — I am simply trying to describe one of the 

 recognized systems of irrigation ; but a farmer who has to irrigate 

 by flooding (and in many cases it is very convenient) had better 

 find out as soon as possible its effect on the crops he intends to 

 cultivate. If the soil is not too hard and tight, and water is not 

 applied too frequently or too liberally, you may find flooding very 

 profitable and convenient ; but it is not always the best and is often 

 the w^orst way to irrigate. You must be guided bv circumstances 

 and experience. 



The basin system described is only applicable to land that is 

 level or almost level; but where the slope of the ground is great 

 enough for the water to move freely after the crop is up, a modi- 

 fied system of fairly long narrow strips of land enclosed by banks 

 <lown the sides mav be used with advantage. These strips must 

 "be level from side to side, so that the water will spread over the 

 whole surface and flow down in a fairly even stream. If there is 

 any side-slope the water will soon find it out and will flow down 

 that side of the strip, leaving the upper part dry. These strips 

 are sometimes made quite long, and vary in width from lo feet 

 lo over 25 feet; but I think that as a rule they should only be 

 moderatelv long, and a farmer should hesitate before he makes 

 them over 300 feet long or over 25 feet wide. If they are made too 

 long the upper ends get too much water. 



To enable the water to run properly the slope or fall should be 

 about I foot in 100 feet ; but if there is a thick crop a greater fall 

 ■oan be used. In any case the water must not run fast enough 

 to cut up the ground when first planted. 



