THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 



9 



none too easy to define clearly. Almost 

 any land forms some alkali in every coun- 

 try, and under bad drainage may show too 

 much when irrigated. The spots of na- 

 tural alkali seen on the surface of the 

 ground in some of the deserts are instances 

 of this. They are not found where the 

 soil is perfectly open below with good 

 water beneath. There is somewhere a sub- 

 soil of some tight material that stops the 

 alkali as it is carried down by the water 

 from some occasional cloudburst or unusual 

 rain. Then the evaporation brings it 

 again to the surface where it is left as a 

 white powder. Alkali is not often in the 



Oranges do not seem injured by consider- 

 able of it, though ground so badly drained 

 as to make alkali possible will not gener- 

 ally produce a fine orange. But the pos- 

 sibility of alkali is always to be considered 

 in irrigation; for under ordinary treat- 

 ment it grows worse instead of better. 

 Thousands of acres in California that were 

 once fertile land, showing no trace of alkali 

 on the surface, but having it in the subsoil, 

 have had it brought to the surface by bad 

 irrigation and defective cultivation and 

 drainage and are now about worthless 

 though they may be reclaimed. But 

 ground with an open soil and good sheet 



SPECIMEN OK VERY GOOD FURROW IRRIGATION. A YOUNG ORCHARD WITH GROUND BETWEEN 

 ROWS OP TREES. PLANTED WITH VEGETABLES. 



sheet water below but is more commonly 

 in subsoil of some tight material from 

 which it is carried up and down alternately 

 by capillary attraction and leaching. 



"Alkali land," as it is called, is land al- 

 ready so full of alkali as to show plainly 

 either in efflorescence or coloring standing 

 water on the surface. Such land is not 

 necessarily bad If the alkali is not too 

 strong on the surface the soil will raise 

 many things as well as any land. When 

 once well started alfalfa will stand consid- 

 erable of it. So will corn and many 

 kinds of vegetables, especially beets. So 

 will many kinds of fruits, especially pears. 



water beneath, and hardpan lands with a 

 slope of fifty feet or more to the mile have 

 been worked for years with the worst kind 

 of irrigation without showing a trace of 

 alkali. 



Your choice of methods will also depend 

 upon your object in irrigating. Almost 

 every rule and caution that this work con- 

 tains may in some places and for some pur- 

 poses be disregarded. Are you irrigating 

 for profit or only to raise something for 

 your own use ? If for profit it may pay 

 you to do the best work possible. For 

 remember that good irrigation is often as 

 far superior in results to bad irrigation as 



