132 The Sugar-Beet in America 



rainfall, type of soil, and a number of other factors. It 

 is impossible, therefore, to say that any given amount of 

 water should be applied. 



Widtsoe ^ and his associates working at the Utah Sta- 

 tion found that on a gravelly loam from twenty to twenty- 

 seven inches of water gave higher yields than either more 

 or less. On a deep fertile soil there was an increase in 

 yield with increased application of water up to fifty inches. 

 There was a gain of nearly five tons to the acre when the 

 amount of water was increased from five to ten inches, 

 but when more than ten inches were given, the increase 

 in tonnage was slight. One acre of land with thirty 

 inches of water applied produced 20.28 tons, but when this 

 amount of water was spread over six acres of land it gave 

 a total yield of 82.68 tons. 



Investigations carried out in Colorado by Mead ^ and 

 his co-workers, covering twenty fields irrigated in the 

 usual way, showed that the average amount of water 

 applied during the season was 15.6 inches. Most farmers 

 irrigated from one to four times with about 5.8 inches to 

 the application. The same investigations showed that 

 for Montana and Arizona the irrigation season lasted 

 from July 13 to August 17, during which time an average 

 of 25.8 inches of water was applied. 



Roeding,^ from experiments in Colorado, concluded 

 that a higher yield to the acre was produced from about 

 11.3 inches of water applied in two irrigations than from 



1 Widtsoe, J. A., et al.,Utah Exp. Sta., Bids. Nos. 80, 116, 117, 

 118, 119, and 120. 



2 L^ S. Dept. of Agr., Off. Exp. Sta., Bui. No. 158. 



3 Roeding, F. W., U. S. Dept. of Agr., Farmers' Bid. No. 392. 



