~ i : - ‘ ae! ee’ 5 SS 
56 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
PUMP IRRIGATION. 
PROF. W. M. HAYS, ST. ANTHONY PARK. 
I thought of writing a paper, but I saw the papers ahead of me on 
the program, and I concluded I had better speak about what might 
be left when the others got through, 
I want to say, in the first place, a few words in regard to the sources 
of supply of water with which it is possible to irrigate by means of 
pumping machineryin Minnesota. Thatsupply is larger than most 
peoplethink. The possibilities of pump irrigation in Minnesota are 
indeed very great, and the machine men are going to take hold 
of this question of pumps, to study how best to use machinery and 
what kind of machinery to use. I believe as the years go by there 
will be a large development in this direction. If we should have a 
dry year next year we should have a great boom for irrigation, but 
if a wet year, interest in this subject would wane. Occasional years 
we do not need to irrigate, andonly occasional years do we need to ir- 
rigate as our friend of Sparta did, using ten thousand barrels of water 
on three and one-half acres each week or two. Most years we need to 
irrigate alittle. Itis rare that Minnesota needs as much irrigation 
as last year. There will be more conditions where irrigation will 
pay, as we plant more of those crops that grow an immense amount 
of money value per acre. 
I want to call your attention to the fact that in Minnesota we have 
an immense number of lakes, which have water that is always warm. 
We have a good many rivers and small streams that are carrying 
large amounts of water. We have in many places, also, an under- 
ground supply of water that is within a reasonable distance of the 
surface, and we have within easy reach of all this water an immense 
amount of land; no need to go on a high hill or high ground. If 
you are going to try to do something with pump irrigation go down © 
near the water, so you do not have to raise the water very high. You 
will often find low land where irrigation pays better than on tops of 
high hills. There are still other sources of supply we can draw 
from. The flood waters from the snow and rain in the spring we 
might dam up, as was mentioned by one of the gentlemen here. There 
are many places where there are long ravines at the lower end of 
which we can store water with a small dam, if the soil is of sucha 
nature that the water will stay there during the early part of the 
summer. 
As regards this matter of the amount of water it requires to irrigate 
an acre, an inch of water, or a thousand barrels, per acre are required, 
and that is a good deal to getina dry time. It will do more good in 
a dry time than when we have nearly enough rain. It will go 
further in a dry time on a heavy soil than on a light soil. Where 
this gentleman irrigated with his artesian well he used ten thousand 
barrels of water to irrigate three and a half acres, which indicates 
from one to ten inches of water; but remember this fact, he hada 
soil in which the water percolated through the soil, and it is a ques- 
tion if he did not use more water than paid. If he had had ten acres 
he might have realized more money than he did from the water he 
used on his three and a half acres. 
