214 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



same up two or more feet above the pipe so as to 

 arrest any leakage along the outlet pipe. The surface 

 upon which embankments are to rest should be 

 plowed and the roots of brush and weeds removed to 

 the outer toe of the slope, after which the ground is 

 again plowed and a trench dug along the center of 

 each proposed embankment. When this much is 

 done water should be applied. The writer considers 

 the abundant use of water of prime importance in all 

 works of this nature. Usually it can be conveyed to 

 the site through a flume or pipe, and made to dis- 

 charge at a height equal to the top of the embank- 

 ment when finished. 



( Concluded next month.") 



HOW MUCH WATER PER ACRE. 



The Varying Estimates for Different Crops and 

 Localities. Need of Experiments. 



BY H. V. HINCKLEY, 

 Consulting Engineer of the Irrigation Commission of Kansas. 



At the Salina Inter-State Irrigation convention I 

 assumed, as a safe average duty for water in Kansas, 

 100 acres per cubic foot per second (second foot) con- 

 tinuous flow. I was at once reminded by an engineer 

 from western Kansas that we should not expect a 

 duty of over 55 or 60 acres. 



In a report to an eastern bondholder in a Kansas 

 canal I estimated the economical duty for water on 

 the higher lands of western Kansas to be 300 acres 

 for a continuous flow. I have since been confronted 

 with a paper read at the Los Angeles Inter-National 

 Congress by Chas. W. Irish, chief of the U. S. Irriga- 

 tion Inquiry (a trained hydrographic and civil engi- 

 neer of nearly forty years' experience), in which he 

 names a duty of 56 acres and says that this average 

 is so thoroughly proven that it is not safe to vary 

 from it, except where there is rain during the grow- 

 ing period. 



The published authorities ( ? ) give duties ranging 

 from 50 to 6,000 acres, showing only the extreme indif- 

 ference in the application of the water or in the com- 

 pilation of the results, for no such difference can be 

 attributed to the soils, crops or climates of the arid 

 districts. 



I am glad to note two recent attempts to determine 

 the actual duty of water. L. P. Maxwell, state engi- 

 neer of Colorado, has had the water measured as 

 used by the numerous irrigators of five of the large 

 irrigation districts of Colorado and, in report for 

 1889-90, gives duties of from 168 to 436 acres per 

 second foot average 226 acres. Average depth of 

 total water applied, 13 inches. This average depth 

 was determined by dividing the flow in the stream by 

 the acreage covered. It consequently covers seep- 



age, evaporation and effective irrigation, and the re- 

 sults are computed on a basis of four months' flow, 

 making no use of the water for the other eight 

 months. 



The Utah experiment station (J. W. Sahborn, di- 

 rector, Logan, Utah), in bulletin number 26, just is- 

 sued, gives experiments showing duty of 100 days' 

 flow, to vary with the crops (as it should, of course), 

 from 67 to 660 acres per second foot, farm measure- 

 ment. Average duty, 256 acres and, at the same 

 time, average depth of water applied, 16.4 inches. 



These later results fully confirm my predictions, 

 and warrant, in my opinion at least, the assumption 

 of 300 acres as the duty of water intelligently con- 

 served and economically applied to such Kansas soils 

 as are not too sandy. Where ample reservoirs are 

 practicable, the duty can be doubled. But we need 

 more light. We want to know the most profitable 

 depth and duty of water for each crop, potatoes, 

 alfalfa, etc., on the bottoms and on the uplands; also 

 the most profitable frequency of application. The 

 third annual report of the Utah station gives valuable 

 information on this point, but we need experiments 

 of our own. 



A WINDMILL IRRIGATOR. 



Describes His Plant and How to Make Simple 

 Keservoirs. 



A bright Nebraska farmer writes as follows: " I 

 have a wind power plant run by a 14-foot wheel, 

 with an 8-inch pump that throws 4,400 barrels per 

 day in a medium wind. I have two reservoirs, one 

 60x150 and one 80x150 feet. With this plant I have 

 watered from ten to fifteen acres, and it can be 

 managed so as to water still more by using and 

 applying the water to some of the land during the 

 winter season. It is necessary to use reservoirs so 

 as to have a larger volume of water whenever you 

 irrigate. By this means you have more pressure 

 and can water more land at one time and do it 

 quickly. 



HOW HE BUILDS RESERVOIRS. 



"To build reservoirs take from the inside of the 

 dimensions that you wish to put into the reservoir the 

 earth to make your banks with, by plowing and 

 scraping it up from your bank, and by so doing you 

 spoil no land on the outside. Two men and a team 

 can make a reservoir 100x100 feet in eight or ten 

 days or less time. The Cause pump that I am using 

 can be used in an open well or with drive points. 



" To make your reservoir hold when you begin to 

 pump water into it commence tramping with horses 

 as fast as the water covers the bottom of the pond 

 until you get k into a loblolly of mud two or three 

 inches deep, and this will then settle into the pores of 

 the ground and stop very nearly all the seepage. Do 



