1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



103 



will understand the various cuts. Figs. 1 

 and 2 show the main canals, the water for 

 which finds its source many miles away. 

 Sometimes these canals are built on em- 

 bankments raised above the level of the low 

 ground, just about as one would see rail- 

 road embankments. On the very top of the 

 artificial ridge a broad ditch is cut. In 

 Fig. 1, if I mistake not, the land has been 

 elevated somewhat to provide for this. 



In Fig. 3 we have an illustration of the 

 regulating structiu^es that are used to con- 

 trol the How in the several directions from 

 the main canal. These smaller ditches are 

 usuallv" called laterals. As the suppl}' of 

 water ma_y be somewhat limited, we will 

 saj' lateral No. 1 will get water to-daj' or 

 to-morrow, and supplj' the farmers all along 

 its line. Lateral No. 2, at right angles to 

 it, will be opened up while lateral No. 1 

 will be closed. In some instances there is 

 enough water to supply two laterals at a 

 time. But in an}' case the amount of water 

 in each lateral is regulated to the number 

 of users on that lateral. This is accom- 

 plished by means of wooden gates that are 

 raised up and down between wooden slides. 

 In fact, the}' are big wooden valves. Their 

 exact construction does not show very dis- 

 tinctly; but if one will look closely he will 

 see in Fig. 3 some wooden sttindards in the 

 shape of a letter T. The one that has been 

 raised higher than the other two is open 

 while the other two are closed. 



In Fig. 3 will be noticed examples of the 

 cotton wood-trees that grow so luxuriantlj' 

 along these canals; and delightful shady 

 drives are often found paralleling these ar- 

 tificial streams of water. These same cot- 



tonwoods are shown in Figs. 4 and 5, but 

 in 4 they are of a younger growth, and are 

 probably not much over five or six years 

 old. In ten years more they will be great 

 massive shade-trees with trunks from 10 to 

 20 inches in diameter. All through Arizona 

 one can trace the line of the ditches clear 

 across the country by the splendid rows of 

 cottonwoods growing along their banks. 

 Sometimes there is a ditch on each side of 

 the road. In that case there is a handsome 

 arch of shade for miles. 



Fig. 4. This represents the "furrow 

 method " of watering the ground. As I 

 understand it, the water is allowed to run 

 from the ditch in the foreground into each 

 little furrow; then it is cut off by a shovel- 

 ful of earth, and the next furrow is opened 

 up. Clear over by the trees will be seen 

 two inen called irrigators. They are irri- 

 gating the crop on the other side of the 

 road by opening up the furrows, as I have 

 described. These cottonwoods are proba- 

 bly alongside of the main canal from which 

 the water is diverted into these smtiller 

 ditches. One can see how very, very level 

 the country is in some of these irrigated re- 

 gions from the cuts here shown. 



Fig. 5. As one goes through the irrigated 

 regions he will run across scores of these 

 main canals, some of them being a hundred 

 miles or so long. Where the fall is great 

 enough to make an erosion of the bank, 

 small dams are run across the ditch at in- 

 tervals of one or two miles. This keeps the 

 water a still-running stream, or compara- 

 tively so, and yet keeps the ditch full so the 

 water can overflow and run into the lat- 

 erals. 



FIG. 1. 



-AMITY CANAL, ARKANSAS VALLE;V, COLOKAIJO. 

 Fiom I '. S. Depl Agriculture, Bulletin 7j. 



