IRRIGATION IN MINNESOTA. 311 



IRRIGATION IN MINNESOTA. 



PROF. \V. M. HAYS, ST. ANTHONY PARK. 



The development of irrig-atiou only in the arid and semi-arid re- 

 g-ion8 of the United States has led the public mind to associate 

 irrigation with the arid west and to regard it as having no interest 

 to states east of the one hundredth meridian of longitude. Irriga- 

 tion in Europe and Asia knows no such restrictions, as is shown by 

 the fact of irrigation being practiced in countries far more moist 

 than Minnesota. Irrigation is not fashionable here. People look 

 upon it as one of the possibilities which may come in the far distant 

 future. Co-operative dairying as now developed with its beneficent 

 effects is a thing of very recent taking on, and as we look back over 

 the recent history of the movement toward co-operative butter fac- 

 tories we see that it was at first simply sowing of seed,addingleaven, 

 getting a starting point, starting the "fashion," and the masses fol- 

 lowed. Tile drainage, in like manner, in Illinois and surrounding 

 states started in each country an industry supporting numerous 

 tile .factories and expert tile ditching laborers. The successful 

 drainage of a single farm often resulted in the fashion spreading to 

 neighboring farms, then to townships and to the entire country. 

 There was a need of and opportunity for co-operative dairying and 

 tile drainage in the regions named. Irrigation to take on a similar 

 development must be needed, and there must be financial and phys- 

 ical possibilities, else only starting would not cause the growth of 

 the system. 



The rainfall of Minnesota is sufficient during the entire season 

 only during the occasional year and on soils quite retentive of 

 moisture. During some j'ears the rainfall is not sufficient at any 

 time during the entire season, and during most 5'ears the rainfall is 

 insufficient during a portion of the season. On open soils which do 

 not conserve the moisture well there is not enough rain during any 

 3'ear. During our wettest years there is too inuch rain only on our 

 heaviest soils, provided there is an ample system of surface drains, 

 and rarely if ever do we have a season too wet for our heaviest soils 

 if well tiled drained. The average record of annual precipitation 

 for twenty-five years at St. Paul is 27.38 inches; for nine years at 

 Grand Rapids is 26.59 inches; for six years at Crookston is 21.61 

 inches; for ten years at Morris, 25.14 inches. The distribution of the 

 rainfall throughout the 3^ear is not uniform, and during occasional 

 years the drouth at some period is indeed very severe. In 1894 the 

 accumulated drouth was so great that black oak trees fifty years 

 old got so little moisture that many of them died, and many crops 

 made no growth whatever. At University Farm some seeds of field 

 crops lay in the ground the entire summer, there not being enouo-h 

 moisture in the upper half of the furrow slice to cause them to 

 germinate from late spring until autumn. 



Admitting that our rainfall is not ample, that our crops very often 

 suffer for lack of moisture and that we are forced to grow crops 

 which are peculiar in their ability to resist drouth rather than for 

 other intrinsic qualities, we are ready to admit the importance of 



