76 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



think of doing anything with such streams, 

 but you may be very much surprised when 

 you try them. 



Nothing would seem more obvious than 

 the need of uniformity in these streams to 

 ensure uniform wetting, avoid cutting or 

 filling, and furnish a uniform condition for 

 cultivation. Yet the length of time it 

 took to learn that furrows cannot be even- 

 ly fed from a larger ditch with earth con- 

 nections, and the persistence with which 

 thousands of irrigators still cling to such 

 connections when lumber is cheap, are 

 among the strangest things about the 

 errors of irrigation. Bogs here and dry 

 patches there are almost inevitable, unless 

 yon do a vast amount of flying about with 

 hoe in hand. When you open laterals 

 from the main feeding ditch, the earth at 

 the junction is sure to cut away in some 

 places and build up in others. In a short 

 time one stream will be nearly stopped 

 and another twice too big. The smaller 

 the furrows, the worse this trouble, though 

 it is bad enough with any. The streams 

 are often stopped by a fallen leaf. I have 

 seen a stranded beetle form a bar at the 

 mouth of one in a few minutes and he was 

 not an extra beetle either. The neglect 

 to secure uniformity of flow in the laterals 

 has been one of the most fruitful sources 

 of loss in irrigation and has made many a 

 one abandon the whole business in disgust. 



Putting straw, brickbats, gravel or other 

 similar stuff in the connection is simply 

 recognizing the difficulty and then resort- 

 ing to the stupidest way of avoiding it. 

 Gates of some kind are so cheap, effective 

 and permanent that in any well regulated 

 State it should be indictable to try to get 

 along without them. 



In some parts of California these 

 streams are fed by hydrants placed at the 

 head of each furrow. But these are a 

 needless expense, and need considerable 

 opening and closing at each irrigation to 

 get the proper flow from them. In other 

 places closed aqueducts of terracotta with 

 gates at every yard or so are used. These 

 are more of a luxury than the case re- 

 quires. Wooden flume which can be made 

 at home is good enough and is generally 

 the cheapest material. Scores of miles of 

 it have been in use at Riverside for many 

 years and are perfectly good today. And 

 whatever is good enough for Riverside is 

 good enough for any part of the world. 

 If made of redwood it will last half a gen- 



eration and most any wood well dipped in 

 coal tar will do in most places. There is 

 no law requiring you to put it under 

 ground. You need not worry about the 

 leakage caused by its drying between 

 times. Throw a little fine dirt into it and 

 fire a head of water down it and that is 

 soon settled. With lumber at twenty dol- 

 lars a thousand on the ground, and the 

 owner doing his own work, a flume of inch 

 lumber one foot square should not cost 

 much over six and a half cents a running 

 foot, as the braces amount to little where 

 there is no pressure. This would be about 

 four dollars an acre for a ten-acre tract, 

 and the best investment ever made. 

 It can be made smaller, but it is well 

 to have it large enough, as it will be 

 dirty and will not run full. Laid on 

 a grade of twenty feet to the mile, it 

 will carry the largest head you want for 

 ten acres. Smaller ones will do where the 

 grade is greater. If you hire the work 

 done, it should not cost over a dollar and a 

 half an acre more. In building it the 

 grade may be kept well enough with a 

 carpenter's level on a plank with a 

 bevelled edge, or with a triangle of three 

 strips of scantling and a stone for a 

 plumb-bob. Or you can turn water into 

 it and let it run as you lay it, as an Indian 

 builds a ditch. Whatever it costs you will 

 in a short time get back with interest com- 

 pounded hourly, not to mention your pros- 

 pects of heaven and good digestion caused 

 by serenity of soul. 



The gates in these flumes are often a 

 wooden button over an auger hole. But 

 a plate of zinc about two inches square 

 with a slide of zinc running in a raised 

 portion on each side made by two slight 

 cuts is better. Almost any tinker can af- 

 ford to make these at two dollars and a 

 half a hundred and less by larger quantity. 

 But they can be made at home with old 

 shears out of scrap zinc and be just as ef- 

 fective. Gates of this remain in position 

 better than wooden ones of any form and 

 when once set to an even flow need rarely 

 be touched. The holes can be punched 

 with a wad cutter and need not be over 

 half an inch in diameter, though it is well 

 to make them larger in case large streams 

 should at any time be wanted. After the 

 first regulation of these gates there is 

 little to do but spend an hour or two each 

 time you irrigate, looking over them to see 

 that the streams are about uniform. Here 



