TALKS WITH PRACTICAL IRRIGATORS. 



GARDEN IRRIGATION. 



BY C. C. HUTCHINSON. 



THE pretty village of Susanville, California, lies on 

 the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mount, 

 ains, at the foot of a noble wood-crowned cliff which 

 overlooks Honey Lake valley stretching forty or 

 fifty miles eastward. 



At the head of Main street are two residence lots, 

 which illustrate the power of a little water when 

 properly applied to good soil. In one lot a rich blue 

 grass lawn occupies the space in front and on two 

 sides of the dwelling, only broken by the walks and a 

 few flowers and flowering shrubs, while a small gar- 

 den extends from the rear of the house to the over- 

 hanging cliffs. 



At the base of the cliffs throughout the town, and 

 at many similar positions and altitudes throughout 

 the valley 4,200 feet above the ocean are noble 

 sprawling oaks, while 100 feet higher begin the inter- 



TREET 



minable pine forests. The town is abundantly sup- 

 plied with water from a distant spring, and gardens 

 throughout the place are usually irrigated by water 

 flowing in open ditches. But the above named grass 

 plat and garden is watered by spraying. Upon the 

 lawn this works well, but upon the sloping face of 

 these gardens the water sometimes gathers in rills, 

 which form disagreeable little gullies. 



The adjoining grounds, of which I would partic- 

 ularly write, also have too great a slope for spraying, 

 and instead of providing ditches through which 

 water flows, the owner constructed permanent 

 trenches, which have no outlet except by seepage. 

 These trenches extend 100 feet in length along 

 the face of the slope, each being 18 inches deep 



and 30 inches wide. The earth was scattered 

 on the upper side of each cut, and by a little care in 

 plowing the garden was terraced into slopes of less 

 grade, each 100 feet long and 28 feet wide. As a 

 driveway passes along each end of the terraces, 

 nearly all the cultivation is done by a horse, turning 

 on the driveways. 



The trenches are designed as miniature reservoirs, 

 and are kept nearly full, when irrigation is required, 

 by a small stream flowing from one-half inch stand 

 pipes at one end of each trench. The ground is free 

 from stone and was originally covered with sage 

 brush, which sufficiently describes the land to those 

 who are familiar with the fertile, friable, easily irri- 

 gated soils indicated by such natural growth. These 

 trenches prove quite sufficient to irrigate the garden 

 in the long, dry summers of this region, and ground 

 which would not mature white beans, rye or buck- 

 wheat produces heavy crops of sweet corn, tomatoes, 

 peas, strawberries and all small fruits asparagus, 

 celery, potatoes, onions, melons and, in short, the 

 usual variety of first-class gardens. In the middle 

 of the lower terraces, and occasionally about the 

 grounds, are planted a few family fruit trees : apple 

 for which this valley is famous pear, cherry, plum, 

 peach, prune and apricot. 



The size of the stream filling each trench is in- 

 credibly small. By my actual measurement, with a 

 gallon measure, each trench is supplied by the flow 

 of three quarts per minute ; each one of these little 

 streams thus irrigating a strip of land 28 feet wide 

 and 100 feet long. Where water is taken from a 

 stream or open ditch it is certain to carry more or 

 less sediment or vegetable matter, although it may 

 look clear. Unfortunately, this is the case with our 

 water works, as the spring water flows through an 

 open ditch a considerable distance before it is piped 

 over town. 



In this instance, as in all similar cases, allowance 

 must be made for the effect of such sediment in 

 puddling the bottom and sides of the trench. At 

 first this would be hardly appreciable, but the water 

 continually standing would, in time, materially retard 

 the seepage. This, however, is not objectionable. 

 The trenches above described were kept full about 

 one-half the growing season, but if the seepage was 

 so retarded that they must be kept full all the time, 

 no harm would result. 



The system requires some extra labor, but it is all 

 expended at the beginning when you lay out your 



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