310 AGRICULTURE FOR BEGINNERS 



when only a small supply of water is needed. Engines, 

 hydraulic rams, and water wheels are also employed. The 

 water wheel is one of the oldest and one of the most useful 

 methods of raising water from streams. There are thousands 

 of these in use in the dry regions of the West. Small 

 buckets are fastened to a large wheel which is turned by 

 the current of a stream. As the wheel turns, the buckets 



FIG. 269. THE MAIN DITCH OF AN IRRIGATION PLANT 



are filled, raised, and then emptied into a trough, called a 

 flume. The water flows through the flume into the irri- 

 gating ditches leading into the fields. In some parts of 

 California wells are sunk in or near the beds of under- 

 ground streams, and then the water is pumped into ditches 

 which carry it into the fields to be irrigated. 



Engines are often used for pumping water from streams 

 and transferring it to ditches or canals. The canals dis- 

 tribute the water over the land or over the growing crops. 



