266 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



TIME TO IRRIGATE. 



AS Euclid told the Egyptian Ptolemy of old, 

 " There is no royal road to learning," so in our 

 modern Egypt we may say that there is no 

 golden rule telling us exactly when to irrigate our 

 plants. It is aquestion which the experienced irriga- 

 tion farmer has to settle, and each individual case has 

 to be settled separately. It is a question where 

 experience outweighs all rules and theories, and the 

 experience has generally to be learned by failures, 

 or partial failures. 



Nevertheless there are natural laws and facts, 

 a knowledge of which will greatly aid us, and of 

 these I propose to dwell upon the most important. 



When to apply water is governed by the needs of 

 the soil and the plant. The soil needs it all through 

 the winter months. The plant also needs it toward 

 the end of the winter. This much, I think, we may 

 safely decide upon. 



The moisture left in the soil from the winter irriga- 

 tion should be sufficient to start the spring growth. 

 Now, as seventy-five per cent, of the growth of nearly 

 every plant consists of water, it follows that it must 

 be well supplied with this at the time when the great 

 growth is being made. This should be in middle or 

 late spring. Also at this time are our drying winds 

 most prevalent, and the quick evaporation from the 

 leaves has to be met by an equal supply of moisture 

 from the rootlets; and here let me remark that for 

 every cubic foot of water evaporated from the leaves 

 a cubic foot of air has to enter the soil to replace the 

 moisture taken out; and if the air cannot enter free- 

 ly the moisture cannot come out freely, and the plant 

 will wither or burn, no matter if there are oceans of 

 water below. It is, therefore, as essential to keep the 

 soil open as to supply water. 



If a plant appears to want water, examine the soil 

 six inches from the surface and see if it be dry. If 

 not dry, it is probably cultivation that the plant 

 requires. 



During the hottest months of summer the plant 

 growth is partly suspended and the tissues are harden- 

 ing, and it is probable that little if any irrigation will 

 be needed. The fall rains will render irrigation still 

 further unnecessary. After cropping, it would be 

 be very desirable, and I think would pay well, to irri- 

 gate and plow, leaving the land rough and moist for 

 the winter frosts, except, of course, where it is desired 

 to put in a crop such as oats or rye. 



Except for these general rules, it would be mislead- 

 ing to say when to water. One plant can stand and 

 require water enough to kill another plant. A tree 

 may flourish well under a liberal supply of water, but 

 it may not bear fruit. Water enough to rot one tuber 

 may be needed by another. 



A good deal of experience may be saved, it is true, 

 by a knowledge of botany. If you learn the natural 

 surroundings and climate of a certain class of plants, 

 for instance, you will know more or less what to do in 

 the matter of irrigating them; but the only true way is 

 to study the needs of each individual plant. 



E. M. SKEATS in the Eddy Argus. 



A New Grape Trellis. Mr. T. V. Munson, a 

 most successful and progressive grape grower of 

 Texas, has devised a sort of trellis which is highly 

 commended by those who have tried it. It consists 

 of posts, set at suitable distances apart in the row of 

 vines, standing five and a half feet high from the 

 surface of the ground. To the top is nailed a cross- 

 piece of 1x6 stuff, two feet long. Along each end of 

 these crosspieces a wire is run so that the trellis has 

 two top wires two feet apart. Eight inches below 

 them a single wire is run, which is fastened directly 

 to the posts. In using this trellis, a strong cane is 

 brought up to this lower wire and the top pinched off 

 and two branches trained to run along the wire, one 

 each way. Then when the bearing branches appear, 

 next season, they are carried out at the sides and 

 hung over the top wires. Thus the fruit hangs down 

 in easy reach for spraying and picking, yet is, at the 

 same time, in the shade of the foliage of the vine. 

 The bearing wood is renewed each year by two new 

 side shoots brought out from the top by the upright 



It is estimated that three and a third million acres 

 of arid lands in South Dakota have been reclaimed 

 by irrigation, at a low cost. The value of these lands 

 before irrigation was estimated at 877,000,000, while 

 now they are rated at nearly 8300,000,000. 



One Method of Growing Plunis.A. very 

 successful plum grower near Denver gives his meth- 

 ods of culture as follows : "Cultivation is an all-im- 

 portant factor in raising plums. Failure in this re- 

 spect means a failure of crop. I cultivate my plum 

 trees oftener and better than corn. I run the culti- 

 vator up to the first of July and soon after I apply a 

 mulch of coarse manure, or straw that is partly rot- 

 ten, for the purpose of retaining the moisture in the 

 soil to mature the crop, and also to mature the fruit- 

 spurs and buds for the following season. In the fall 

 of the year, however, I apply a light coat of barnyard 

 manure, and in the spring I sow a quart of salt to 

 each tree, as far as the branches extend. This pro- 

 motes the health and growth of the trees, and from 

 the dislike that insects have to this substance, it 

 drives away, if not destroys, many that attack both 

 tree and fruit. I am careful not to irrigate after the 

 middle of August, but turn on a good head of water 

 early in December." 



More About the Sugar Beet. In those portions 

 of the arid and semi-arid regions adapted to its 

 growth, one of the surest and best paying crops is 

 the sugar beet. This is a crop that may be grown 

 with but a moderate amount of irrigation if the 

 ground is properly prepared for the crop and the 

 most thorough cultivation is practiced. One of the 

 prime requisites in growing sugar beets for sugar 

 making is that the ground be plowed deeply. In no 

 other way is it possible to grow a straight, smooth 

 root, such as is required in sugar production. A 

 stunted, scraggy root, such as will be produced where 

 the subsoil is dry and hard, will not yield a satisfactory 

 per cent of sugar. Deep plowing and thorough 

 surface cultivation, the two requisites in producing a 

 good crop of sugar beets, are also the two processes 

 which most surely and effectually conserve water 

 supply. Hence it is, that if a crop of beets is 

 properly planted and cultivated, the water used to 

 irrigate them can be made to go a long way. A few 

 acres of sugar beets, well tended, will pay the culti- 

 vator a larger profit than a big field of wheat at cur- 

 rent prices. 



A Large Eastern Fruit Farm. There are 

 many large fruit farms in western New York just as 

 there are large grain farms in Illinois and Indiana. 



