82 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



tion was done in quite a hap-hazard manner. In no respect has any pains 

 been taken, by the persons engaged in the enterprise, to prove how much ir- 

 rigation would produce. But the main point has been established — that is, 

 that water, in sufficient quantities for irrigation, and at moderate cost, can 

 be taken from the Arkansas river by ditches, and carried to fields in the bot- 

 tom lands, in the valley of that river. 



The mode of using the water on the farm of Mr. Worrel, was what is called 

 bed-work irrigation. The land is gently-sloping bottom land. It is laid off 

 in large beds, running in the direction of the slope. The beds are separated 

 by shallow ditches. Skirting the upper end of the entire plat, embracing all 

 the beds, is a main ditch. If it is desired to flood the upper part of any bed, 

 and not the whole of it at once, a furrow is run across the lower end of the 

 portion to be flooded, making a ridge to check the water. Then the water 

 is let from the main ditch of the plat, at the upper end, and the whole of 

 this portion is allowed to become covered with water. Then the water may 

 be allowed to escape into the side ditches, or the supply being cut off, to soak 

 into the ground ; or it may be let into another section of the bed, to be in its 

 turn irrigated. On such nearly level land the process is extremely simple, 

 and the work is easily performed. 



In the digging of this ditch no engineering was done. The ditch was 

 started a short distance, and water let run in, to see if it would run. Then 

 another portion was dug and tried. Of course a mistake could hardly be 

 made in judging where to run the ditch; having only the main object, and 

 not the best selection, in view. The uniform declivity of the Arkansas river 

 bottom renders it extremely easy to obtain a fall after the water is once 

 brought out upon the bottom land. There are believed to be about six thou- 

 sand acres of land that can be reached by water from this ditch. An inter- 

 esting question is, how much laud has the ditch actual capacity to irrigate? 

 If the owners proceed upon the plan employed in locating the ditch, that of 

 trial and experience merely, they may meet with disappointment and loss; 

 but doubtless they will in this matter consult the experience of irrigation 

 elsewhere. 



Taking the rules of hydraulic engineering as a guide for calculation, and 

 supposing this ditch to have a fall of three feet per mile and a twelve-foot 

 volume of water, its capacity is 153,420 cubic feet of water per hour. 



From a lengthy paper on irrigation, in the United States Agricultural 

 Report for 1860, I have been enabled to obtain information for comparison 

 of the Kansas experiments with works of irrigation in other countries. 



In the south of France, in Italy and Algeria, where irrigation has long 

 been very extensively practiced, the season of irrigation is, at the maximum, 

 six months; that is, from the first of May to the end of October. Experi- 

 ence has there evolved at least general rules for the computation of the 

 capacity of irrigating canals of various sizes, and the quantity of water re- 

 quired for irrigation; and many other practical matters, the result of long 



