THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



quicker and does better work than a hoe, and can 

 be set to plow, cultivate, or weed between the rows. 

 Irrigate as often as the plants show signs of flagging. 

 Large plants will, as a rule, not need water whenever 

 the soil is wet enough six inches deep to roll up with 

 your hands into a ball ; but for small seedlings or 

 newly-transplanted vegetables the surface must be 

 kept moist. I do not mean that it should be wet or 

 sodden, but it must not be allowed to go dust-dry. In 

 very arid climates it is a good plan, whenever a bed is 

 sown with seeds, to cover it with straw, brush or hay. 

 so as to prevent evaporation. Of course, the cover- 

 ing must be removed as soon as the seeds are well up, 

 or they will grow weak and spindly for lack of light 



and air. The covering is also useful as a protection 

 for radishes, lettuce, peas and other vegetables that 

 may be sown extra early. 



The question as to 'whether the water should be ap- 

 plied to the beds by the flooding or by the furrow sys- 

 tem depends upon the variety of vegetable cultivated 

 and the quality of the soil. Where the soil is light 

 and contains plenty of manure or vegetable humus, I 

 have found the best results are obtained by leaving 

 the beds flat and just running the water over them. 

 There are, however, many crops, such as potatoes, 

 strawberries and chilies, which need to be grown in 

 furrows. The beds as planned may be utilized for 

 either system. 



THE WATER SUPPLY FOR WESTERN KANSAS. 



THE BEST WAY FOR GETTING IT ON THE LAND. 



BY G. D. BUCHANAN. 

 Read before the Farmers' Institute of Finney County, Kansas. 



TO my mind, there is no other subject of such vital 

 importance to people of Western Kansas at the 

 present time as the water supply. It is natural 

 that this should be so; because on the water supply 

 and its development depend the success or failure 

 of many hundreds of people, in an effort to make for 

 themselves comfortable and happy homes. 



As far as the supply for ordinary purposes is con- 

 cerned, we know we have an abundance of water, 

 even for the irrigation of market gardening; but my 

 subject reaches beyond this, and requires me to say 

 something in regard to the extent of the supply. 



By reasoning from effect to cause, and from cause 

 to effect, we may arrive at some conclusion relative 

 to the extent of the supply. If we pump water into 

 an inclined trough leading from the pump to a tank, 

 we notice the water is of even depth at all points of 

 the trough as long as the pump goes regularly, but as 

 soon as the pump stops the head of the stream in the 

 trough tries to assume a horizontal position, and thus 

 follow the main stream down and out at the lower 

 end of the trough. We thus see the upper end of 

 the trough left dry while the current is running full 

 depth at the lower end. If we then fill our trough 

 with sand and apply water to the upper end, until it 

 finds its way by percolation to the lower end, and 

 then shut off the supply above, we will find the sand 

 becoming dry directly, while the water will be still 

 running at the lower end ; and it will continue to run 

 even after the sand in the upper half of the trough is 

 free of water. 



From these effects, then, and from the fact that 

 there is no water held in suspense of any conse- 

 quence by the earth and rock lying above our sheet 

 water from which the supply can be maintained; and 

 from the fact that we have had no rain for twenty- 

 seven months sufficient to wet the surface to exceed 

 ten inches, and from the further fact that our water 

 supply has not perceptibly diminished through all 

 this long-continued drouth, we reason : 



First. That our main water supply comes from be- 

 neath the mountains to the west of us, and constantly 

 maintains the surface of the sheet water at near the 

 same point through drouth as well as flood. 



Second. We reason that our water supply is 

 abundant for the irrigation of all the land that will 

 come under cultivation for many years to come. We 

 arrive at this conclusion, not by observing the amount 



of water flowing to us from the west, but by noticing 

 the amount that flows away from us on the east. 



As concerning the best means of getting the water 

 on the land, it, to my mind, depends much on the 

 amount required. To irrigate small gardens where 

 it is not deep to water, and where men want to water 

 one kind or plants to-day and another tomorrow, I 

 would think individual pumping arrangements the 

 best and most convenient. 



But for the general irrigation of farm land in the 

 cultivation of alfalfa, wheat, the sorghums and other 

 field crops, I most emphatically say that gravity is 

 the best, cheapest, most convenient and only natural 

 way of getting water on land in large amounts in 

 Western Kansas. 



There are two ways of getting water on our land 

 by gravity. One way is to choose a suitable place on 

 the river bottom and drive a trench to the west, less 

 in grade than the grade of the river, until we reach 

 a point in the underflow at least double the depth of 

 the ditch we wish to fill, and then trunk, curb or tile 

 the trench from a point before where its bottom first 

 reaches the sand above the water to a point near its 

 head, and beyond the latter point; wall the trench 

 with an impervious wall, thus forming an immense 

 spring and causing the water to find its way into the 

 irrigating ditch through the conduit instead of fol- 

 lowing its natural course through the sand. 



The other, and, in my judgment, the best way, in 

 case the water supply should not be as abundant 

 as we may suppose, would be by the use of the 

 siphon. 



All are no doubt aware of what a siphon is, and 

 are also aware that our country falls to the east at 

 the rate of seven feet to the mile. Then it must be 

 plain to every one that if we were to make an im- 

 mense well somewhere on the valley or in the river 

 bed, and then by laying a pipe-line down the valley 

 for a few miles, having its western end elbowed down 

 into the water in the well ; that by filling the pipe 

 with water and starting it to run it would continue to 

 run as long as the supply of water in the well holds 

 out. 



One advantage I see in this system is the fact that 

 in case there should prove to not be water enough in 

 one location, our siphon could have several arms like 

 those of an octopus reaching out to different wells,, 

 which may be located any distance apart. 



