380 Appendices 



" If it be suggested in answer to this statement that the 

 summer months are dry months and that the application of 

 water during the heated term will enable the cultivator of the 

 soil to avail himself of the superior productiveness of the 

 summer months, the answer is that the application of water 

 by canals and lateral ditches produces in all countries where 

 the practice has been in vogue swamp conditions on the 

 lowest lands, unless a supplemental costly system of drainage 

 is resorted to, and besides, as already noticed, it cannot be 

 applied to the entire surface of the land. 



" Naphtha or gasoline engines have furnished a very cheap 

 power for pumping, while improvements in pumps have made 

 their use far more economic than the application of water by 

 the more primitive and crude method of ditches. Of course, 

 the water must be brought to a point from which it may be 

 pumped economically, and this can be done in three ways : 

 first, by a main canal, which is tapped only with the suction 

 of pumps. Such a canal would cost less and would be more 

 permanent in its construction, because it would not be con- 

 structed with reference to supplying water to laterals. Second, 

 by the use of the channels of living streams. For the most 

 part the irrigable lands of California are accessible to streams. 

 Third, by the sinking of wells. Concerning this latter, it 

 should be noted that an irrigated country soon fills with 

 water, and wells in such a country afford an ample supply for 

 such portions of land holdings as need irrigation. The eco- 

 nomic use of the pump is also greatly reinforced by the 

 facility with which, in modern times, electrical power is 

 transmitted at cheap rates. 



" Some practical experiments in pumping were made in 

 various parts of the State during the drought season of 1898. 

 It is stated on seemingly reliable authority that there are not 

 far from two thousand irrigation pumps in operation in the 

 county of Santa Clara alone. For the most part these are 

 using wells, and their use has proven beneficial and economical. 



" In Capay Valley, with irrigating machinery, pumping from 

 Cache Creek was practised and highly satisfactory results 

 obtained. It was found that a six-inch pump, using a fifteen 

 horse-power gasoline engine, was capable of delivering forty- 



