IRRIGATION BY SPRINKLING 177 



hard soils by running the stream too large and then reducing it. This seems to 

 "slick" or cement the soil so that it will not take the water, and the consequence 

 is a poor and unsatisfactory irrigation. On the other hand, if the streams are 

 started small and allowed to soak the ground as they go along, it is simply 

 astonishing how much water can be put in the ground. On sandy soils the 

 streams should be larger. A little practice would give any one the desired 

 information. 



About three rows of trees at the lower end should be blocked up, provided 

 one has no place where the overflow water could be used. This last provision 

 is the better, however, as there would be only about 10 inches of water run over 

 the last three or four hours, and a thorough job would be done from one end 

 to the other. 



I making furrows I have an extension made for my cultivator to bolt on 

 each side andj use four plows. With this extension I can wet the whole ground 

 thoroughly. The furrows will extend under the limbs of the trees, and by 

 making a slight curve around each tree the ground will become wet ins the rows 

 as well as between. 



As compared with the check system, the furrow method, properly handled, 

 makes the soil light and loose, while the check system is apt to packj the soil, 

 rendering it lifeless and leaving it so that v it will not retain moisture long. Be- 

 sides, the cost of ridging and extra labor in handling water in checks for one 

 season will nearly pay for 'the flume, by which one man can do the irrigating. 

 Two horses will furrow out 10 acres in half a day, and a little) hand labor at 

 the flume will connect the furrows. In 'the check system generally a disk is run 

 first where the ridges are to be made, and then the ridger is run with four 

 horses; then jump scraper is run to stop up one side of the blocks; then ditches 

 must be made ; then from 2 to 3 men are required to handle the water by shut- 

 ting up the checks when 'filled. Afterwards the ridges must be plowed down 

 before the ground can be harrowed and got in condition to cultivate. At a 

 glance one can see that it costs fully three times ! as much to irrigate by the check 

 system as by the furrow system, and with the latter the soil acts more as it 

 does after a rain. 



OVERHEAD IRRIGATION 



Although Californians have always been strongly impelled by the 

 desire to get irrigation water away from contact with the air and into 

 the soil as directly as possible, to escape losses by evaporation and to 

 maintain a loose soil-surface, sprinkling methods have recently become 

 matters of considerable expenditure. Such systems are in operation 

 in the orange orchards of Robert Baird of Porterville and R. D. 

 Williams of Exeter. The former has overhead perforated pipes sup- 

 ported on redwood posts ; the latter has underground pipes with a 

 stand-pipe rising through the center of each fourth tree and sur- 

 mounted with a revolving sprinkler. The cost of installation in each 

 case is about $150 per acre.* The desirability of such sprinkling 

 methods is still to be demonstrated. In both cases the water is forced 

 into the pipes by pumps. 



DEVELOPMENT AND STORAGE OF WATER 



It is, obviously, beyond the limitations of this work to attempt an 

 extended review of irrigation enterprises and practices. The enter- 

 prises undertaken by capitalists, or by co-operation among settlers, 



^Details are given in the Pacific Rural Press, July 13, 1912. 



