ATMOSPHERIC IRRIGATION. 



BY WILLIAM REECE. 



IN discussing this subject let us first consider the 

 cause of the arid condition of our country. In 

 the equatorial region, at a high altitude the air 

 acquires a rapid eastward motion, and on account of 

 the more rapid eastward motion of the air there than 

 in the temperate regions, the principal part of the 

 air from the Gulf of Mexico passes ordinarily toward 

 the northeast and waters the great Mississippi valley. 

 The air that comes from the Pacific ocean necessarily 

 crosses the mountains and in so doing loses a con- 

 siderable portion of its moisture. 



In the summer the land is much warmer than the 

 water because in the evaporation of water much 

 heat becomes insensible or latent. This may be il- 

 lustrated as follows: Plunge the bulb of a ther- 

 mometer into boiling water and note the temperature. 

 Then hold the bulb in the steam over the boiling 

 water and the temperature of the steam will be found 

 the same as that of the water, yet it is well known 

 that steam can give off much more heat than water at 

 the same temperature. 



It is also well known that the humidity of the at- 

 mosphere varies with its temperature. To illustrate 

 this, select a cool room, as nearly airtight as possible 

 and in the room boil water until the water is running 

 down the walls and windows, and dry clothing hung 

 in the room readily becomes damp. Then remove 

 the water and raise the temperature of the room. 

 The wet windows, walls and clothing will become 

 dry and green cornstalks or any growing plants 

 placed in the room will (unless the roots are well 

 supplied with moisture) dry up the same as in the hot 

 winds. There is just as much moisture in the air of 

 the room when the clothing readily dries as when 

 it readily dampens, but at a high temperature the air 

 has a capacity for holding great quantities of moisture 

 in an invisible or latent condition. 



There is nothing mysterious about the hot, wither- 

 ing winds of the plains. Nearly every State in the 

 Union has at times hot, drying winds, but where the 

 heating and drying basins are small, the damage to 

 crops is slight. I have experienced hotter winds in 

 Ohio than I ever felt on the plains in western Texas, 

 Kansas or Nebraska; but the hot winds in Ohio came 

 in short puffs, because the heating surfaces were 

 small. 



Let us place observers at three-hour points, in a 

 line from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the north 

 line of Nebraska. 



To the observer at the mouth of the Rio Grande at 

 6 a. m. the south wind is cool and refreshing; to the 

 second observer at 9 a. m. the wind is still pleasant 

 but warmer and drier. The third observer at noon 

 finds the air much warmer and much drier. The 

 fourth observer at 3 p. m. finds the air hot and dry. 

 At 6 p. m. the air is still warm and dry. The sixth 

 observer at 9 p. m. finds the air much cooler. The 

 observers at midnight, 3 a. m., and 6 a. m., find the 

 wind cool, moist and invigorating. To the tenth ob- 

 server the same current of air is again warm and dry. 

 At stations 11 and 12 the wind is hot and dry. It has 

 become a furious, thirsty monster, sucking the life- 

 blood from every living thing. 



Every man who has lived in these hot winds well 

 knows that his only safety is in drinking a great 

 deal of water. On severe days, he puts at least two 

 gallons of water into his stomach every twenty-four 

 hours and the thirsty wind sucks it from his surface 

 pores. In like manner the successful farmer supplies 

 as much water to the roots of his crop as the hot 

 winds can take from the branches. Follow this wind 

 farther north and we find it each day a fierce, thirsty 

 destroyer and at night an invigorating supporter of 

 animal and vegetable life. 



On the plains are many thousands of square miles 

 of unbroken, impervious and heat-reflecting mesquite, 

 gramma, and buffalo sod. These plains become a 

 great dry-kiln and the air cannot pass over it in any 

 direction without having its capacity for moisture 

 greatly increased. 



Plenty of water falls on the plains, but the un- 

 broken ground is hard; the tough sod is almost im- 

 pervious and the water rushes through draws and 

 channels out of the country and in three hours of 

 sunshine the ground is about as dry as it was before 

 the rain. It seems incredible, yet it is true and 

 settlers will verify the statement, hat out on these 

 dry plains teams and drivers have been drowned in 

 draws where an hour afterward another teamster 

 could not find enough water to quench the thirst of 

 himself and horses. During the past summer, with 

 the exception of a belt through central Nebraska and 

 Kansas, there were heavy rains all the way from 

 Falls City, Neb., to Cindad Juarez, Mexico. This 

 rain did much damage to the crops in some parts of 

 Colorado and New Mexico. 



It has often been stated by experts that but about 

 30 per cent of western Nebraska and Kansas can be 

 irrigated. We see no reason why all the land can 

 not be made to produce good crops if the dry winds 

 be allowed to slake their thirst by drinking water in- 

 stead of the sap of growing crops. 



The country in many places is too wild for agri- 

 culture and must be tamed. 'Tis true the Indian, 

 buffalo and desperado are gone, but the farmers' worst 

 enemies are the wild grasses, and the wilder prairie 

 fires that remain to drive the lonely farmer from the 

 plains. The plowing under of all the wild, tough 

 and impervious sod will prevent prairie fires and will 

 cause most of the rainfall to be retained in the soil.. 

 The ground should be plowed deep and alfalfa and 

 other tame grasses used for pasture. 

 f~ Every farmer can construct retaining- walls across 

 the narrow necks of feeding draws on every quarter 

 section. If the ground be gravelly, straw, fodder, 

 etc., can be hauled in and cattle and hogs fed in the 

 basin. It will soon become as a buffalo wallow and 

 will hold water very well. On high ground basins 

 can be made and treated in a similar manner, and the 

 basins can be filled by pumps bringing the water 

 from wells, rivers or lower reservoirs. The lower 

 reservoirs can be filled with flood waters. 



Two gray-bearded veterans of the plains told me 

 that my ideas of irrigation were all visionary. They 

 said wherever tried it was a failure. I asked them if 



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