IRRIGATION OF CROPS 



my part, I would as soon think of being without 

 a steam pump as the farmer who cuts hay would 

 of being without a mowing-machine. 



There is very seldom a season so wet that the 

 steam pump will not be required two or three 

 weeks; and in most seasons it will be in use eight 

 or ten weeks. When the weather is very dry, 

 and all the crops need abundant watering, the 

 pump should be kept running night and day, 

 by employing two sets of men. It will be economy 

 to do this, not only from the fact that a double 

 supply is thus obtained, but because when the 

 fire is allowed to go out at night it takes about an 

 hour to get the pump to running again. By 

 continuous running, time is saved at both ends 

 of the day. 



Be sure to provide a good pump, one that will 

 pump at least seventy, and better if one hundred, 

 gallons per minute. I do not recommend the 

 smaller pump, for it will cost just as much to run 

 one of the small size, except for a.trifling difference 

 in the quantity of coal required; and the price of 

 a large pump is not much more than that of a 

 small one, while it will do many times the work 

 with the same labour. 



[29] 



