208 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



more than paid it the past season. Ten dollars per acre will putour 

 prairie lands under a most complete system of irrig-ation. There is 

 more water in South Dakota today than there are farmers who 

 know how to use it, and many will fail to spread the water over 

 much land the first j^ear. They must not be discouraged. My ad- 

 vice is to build' a good reservoir first, then make j'our ditches as j-ou 

 need them, arrange 3'our crops so that j^ou always have land to use 

 the water on. Keep the wells going night and day. Every time you 

 have a good head of water in the reservoir, spread it on the land — 

 don't pay any attention to rains. Do not irrigate the same piece of 

 land twice until you have gone over your whole farm. After you 

 have irrigated a field once, it is much easier to do so the second 

 time, because you know how to handle the water, and the land does 

 not require as much. 



Do not trj^ to spread water unless you have a good supply in the 

 reservoir to work with. Make a large opening in the ditch and rush 

 the water over the field. This is the secret of successful irrigation 

 on level land. 



CONSTRUCTING STORAGE PONDS FOR IRRIGATION. 



In connection with pumping plants, storage ponds are being 

 mostly used and are inade on the flat surface of the ground. If the 

 land is in sod, remove all the sod from the ground on which the em- 

 bankments are to be constructed, otherwise a seam will always 1 e- 

 main through which water would escape frotn the reservoir. When 

 the outlines of the embankment have been established and the sod 

 removed, plow within the proposed limits; then with a scraper draw 

 the earth from the inside of reservoir and with it form the walls. 

 The walls should not be less than five feet high and very thick at the 

 ground level. Carry thein up so that the slope from the inside will 

 be very gradual, for if the walls are nearly perpendicular wind 

 waves will destroy them. The outside of the walls can be more per- 

 pendicular. Having built the walls by using the earth from the in- 

 side of the reservoir and with everything read}- for puddling ihe 

 earth to hold water, plow the entire bottom of the pond four or five 

 inches deep, then with a harrow or other suitable implement pul- 

 verize the earth finely. Everything is now ready for puddling. 

 Turn in the water and begin to puddle at one edge. Work carefully 

 until the earth has been reduced to mortar. Continue until the en- 

 tire bottom has been completed as far up the embankment as can be 

 worked to good advantage. It may very often happen that pud- 

 dling is out of the question because of the porous condition of the 

 soil. If it is sandy, haul into the basin several loads of anj- kind of 

 clay and mix this thoroughly with the earth. Fresh manure or 

 even sawdust maj-^ often be employed to just as good advantage. 

 Frequentlj' it is necessary to run muddy water into the basin and 

 allow the sediment to find its way into the loose sand. Of course, 

 the more clay there is carried into the muddy water, the more ef- 

 fectual will be the puddling. This method proved successful in a 



