31 



$5 to $20 per acre and the annual charge from 50 cents to about $2.25 

 per acre. Where water is paid for by the acre-foot (the quantity that 

 will cover one acre one foot deep), $1.50 is not an unusual charge, 

 although it may be more or less. Where it is paid for by the miner's 

 inch (ll^ gallons per minute according to California statute; nine 

 gallons per minute the original miner's inch in California in 

 Southern California), it may cost a few cents or it may cost 50 or 

 60 cents per inch running continuously for twenty-four hours, totalling 

 from about $5 to $20 or more per acre per year. Obviously only 

 products yielding a high gross return will justify the larger of the 

 charges mentioned. If an individual pumping plant is to be installed 

 the usual initial cost of installation for a forty-acre alfalfa farm will 

 vary from, say, $25 to $40 per acre where the lift does not exceed 

 50 feet. Circular No. 117 of this Station gives information about the 

 installation and cost of small pumping plants. 



The amount of water needed for irrigation in California cannot be 

 stated definitely in a few words because it varies so widely, chiefly 

 according to soil and crop. When bargaining for certain quantities 

 settlers should know whether the water is to be measured at the point 

 of use or at the point it is taken from the canal, possibly one-half mile 

 away, for transit losses from small earthen ditches are sometimes very 

 large. For alfalfa in the central valley probably 2% acre-feet per year 

 is an average requirement ; very heavy soils will not always absorb 

 this amount and very light soils ordinarily receive more, the use of 

 4 acre-feet per year not being uncommon and sometimes apparently 

 not unreasonable. Grain and cultivated field crops, such as sugar beets 

 and potatoes, need less. Deciduous orchards mostly get along well 

 with about 1 acre-foot, net, per year, where the land irrigated is not 

 too steep and it is well cultivated; citrus orchards sometimes receive 

 as little as 0.8 acre-foot per year (say 1 miner's inch to eight acres 

 irrigated), but more frequently are given twice that amount. Settlers 

 should not be satisfied to accept less water than well-kept and successful 

 farms in the neighborhood chosen are receiving. 



Finally, the settler without irrigation experience should not expect 

 to learn the art of irrigation all at once. With land well prepared, 

 however, practice will soon enable him to work with the necessary 

 efficiency, but he must wisely choose both his methods of preparing 

 land and his methods of applying water. 



FARM LABOR 



Anyone who desires to employ labor or to secure farm employ- 

 ment needs to understand that the early ranchers of California were 



