THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 



11 



is almost never even enough to irrigate. 

 The result is a swamp here and a dry 

 ridge or hump there. When the swamp 

 is dry enough to cultivate the other is too 

 dry. Uniform moisture throughout the 

 whole is impossible while the work of 

 handling the water and the cultivator 

 afterward is often doubled. 



This grading is not nearly so expensive 

 as one would suppose from looking at the 

 places of those who have plenty of money 

 and want everything symmetrical. The 

 ground does not need leveling or anything 

 near it. It is not of the slightest conse- 

 quence whether the water is to run 

 straight across a field or slanting; Nor, 

 aside from looks, is it necessary that the 

 slanting course should be the diagonal of 

 the field. Nor need the furrows be 

 straight or trees or vines planted on per- 

 fectly straight lines. Nor need the whole 

 place be graded to the same plane. You 

 may have two or more slopes even on a 

 five-acre tract. And no inconvenience 

 from having too many faces could equal the 

 inconvenience of leaving the ground in its 

 natural condition. In whatever direction 

 the water is to run it should run at about 

 the same speed whether it is to be in small 

 streams or big ones. And if the water is 

 to stand on the ground, as in flooding, the 

 depth should be as nearly uniform as is 

 reasonably possible. These are cardinal 

 principles and the man who neglects them 

 will regret it, perhaps when too late. 



This grading can be cheaply done if the 

 ground is in the right condition of moist- 

 ure from rain, properly plowed and a good 

 machine used. It can be made very ex- 

 pensive by ignoring these conditions. It 

 can not be well done with small scrapers 

 that bounce. A road grader does very 

 well and some scrapers are made purposely 

 for this work. But for a few dollars one 

 can make one that will do as well as any- 

 thing if heavy enough and enough horses 

 put to it. Two long heavy beams, the 

 longer and heavier the better, should be 

 well bolted into an A shaped scraper : An 

 iron shoe along each lower edge should be 

 attached and made so as to cut. The 

 lugs to which the drag chain is to be 

 fastened should be several in number and 

 running down each side of the apex, so 

 that in a moment either edge may be set 

 at any angle to the course of the team. 

 This will smooth down almost any ground 



that has been well plowed, and, cut down 

 considerable that has not been. If 

 weighted with sand bags and drawn by 

 several horses it will cut wet ground quite 

 well without plowing. If long enough, 

 heavy enough and used long enough it is 

 certain to put an even slope on almost any 

 soil sufficiently open to be well drained. 

 Where there are ravines to fill or boulders 

 to remove the expense is of course in- 

 creased and one must then begin to in- 

 quire whether the value of the product is 

 great enough to justify the use of that 

 piece of land. But do not solve the ques- 

 tion the other way, as many do, decide 

 they will use that land but that the cost of 

 grading is too great to put it in proper 

 shape. As a rule if it costs much to grade 

 that proves it is worth little without the 

 grading. In such cases get another piece. 

 Some of the best orchards in California 

 cost one hundred dollars an acre for the 

 grading alone. Some now bearing the 

 heaviest crops of the finest oranges and 

 lemons look smooth as silk on the surface, 

 yet two feet below big boulders are so 

 thick that you could not take out a cubic 

 yard of them and repack them as closely 

 as they are there in place. Ravines 

 ten feet deep in places have been filled 

 with the loose rock from the surface 

 and covered over with dirt. Warmth and 

 perfect drainage make this ground valu- 

 able for high grade fruits, fertility being- 

 of trifling importance beside these con- 

 ditions, though even this ground is much 

 more fertile than one would suppose. But 

 for every dollar the owner laid out on this 

 ground he will get back five or ten. Ta 

 have attempted to irrigate it in its natural 

 state would have been almost madness. 

 The same principles apply, however, to- 

 ground that looks all right and needs but 

 little work. The difference is only in de- 

 gree, and if but little work is needed 

 it is all the more reason it should 

 be done. If much is needed it only 

 proves that the land is almost worth- 

 less without it and if the crops won't jus- 

 tify the expense you should get a piece- 

 where they will. 



You must not be led astray by talk 

 about different systems of irrigation. 

 Nothing is more absurd than to hear some 

 one talking about "the diagonal system ' r 

 for instance because the furrows are run 

 diagonally across the field, or flooding: 



