IRRIGATION WITH RESERVOIR. 113 



IRRIGATION WITH RESERVOIR. 



GEO. H. WHITING, YA.XKTOX, S. D. 



Mr. President and ?Ieiiihers of the Ninii. Horticultural Society: 



It i3 at the earnest solicitation of your secretary that I undertake 

 to ffive you in a crude state a few thoughts on my experience with 

 irrig-ation; "Irrigation with Reservoir" your worthy secretary has 

 been pleased to name it on the program. 



Now, I shall not perhaps confine myself very closely to the latter 

 part of the title, because a great portion of ray irrigation has not 

 been from my reservoir but direct from the well. 



My artesian well, which is a three inch one with a flow of about 

 400 gallons of water per luinute, gives one man all of the water he 

 can convenient!}' handle as it flows from the well. Thus far, I have 

 only tried to cover from thirty to forty acres and have had a sufiS- 

 cient amount of water to do it without the necessity of storing it in 

 advance of the time it wa:i wanted for use. 



Now, just a few words in regard to my manner of distributing the 

 water. My grounds are laid ofif in blocks, making the rows from 

 twenty to thirty rods long, and I run the main ditch across the 

 upper ends of the rows that it maj' be tapped at any point desired. 

 My method is to begin at one side of the plat (usually the side 

 nearest where the water is coming from), taking the water out of the 

 ditch by removing a few shovelfuls of earth from the side of the 

 bank and placing the same across the channel, and turn it into 

 one or more rows, allowing it to move along down the cultivator 

 marks until the lower end is reached and the ground is well soaked. 

 Right here allow me to state that land with just a sufficient incline 

 to make the water run is preferable to land with a greater slope 

 where the water runs over it rapidly, causing it to wash more or 

 less and not giving it time to soak well into the soil. 



The water from my well has a temperature of sixty-three degrees, 

 making it warm enough for irrigation just as it flows from the well 

 without taking the time to warm it in a reservoir. 



Returning to the subject of reservoirs, I find that they have many 

 advantages, especially so in cases where the water supply is limited 

 as regard.s the amount of land to be covered. In fact, they are an 

 absolute necessity in a majority of instances, especially where the 

 water does not run continuously or where it is necessary to save it 

 for a dry time between showers. In my case, I have not yet been 

 troubled about storing water in advance. 



My reservoir is comparativelj' a small one, being approximately 

 round with a diameter of about one hundred feet and a depth of 

 about four feet. As my demands for water increase, I expect, of 

 course, to increase my reservoir capacity. 



With two years experience with irrigation in the growing of 

 nursery stock, fruit and vegetables, the writer is thoroughly con- 

 vinced that it puj'S to irrigate where practicable, and that Minne- 

 sota fruit growers and gardeners should give more attention to 

 irrigation. It is the only sure method; that is, it is comparatively 



