116 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



though some condemn it. Theoretically 

 it injures the trees by drawing too heavily 

 on the soil. Practically it does nothing 

 of the kind and the difference cannot be 

 seen. Of course the extra product is an 

 extra drain upon the fertility of the soil, 

 and will hasten the time when fertilizers 

 must be used. But most all ground is rich 

 enough for young trees, while no ground is 

 rich enough for old ones in full bearing. 

 The time will come when you must fertil- 

 ize anyhow for large yields of high-grade 

 fruit, and in the meantime by using the 

 ground you have some returns before 

 your orchard comes into bearing. If the 

 ground is well irrigated and cultivated the 

 amount of stuff that can be raised between 

 the rows under a warm sun without ap- 

 parently injuring the trees is wonderful, 

 and helps out many a poor man in Cali- 

 fornia. But it must of course be done 

 with care and good judgment. 



REGULATING THE FLOW. 



When everything is ready and the water 

 turned into the distributing flume there is 

 little to do but regulate the gates. This 

 is not much of a task, even the first time, 

 for they may be set very nearly by guess. 

 But you should go along the line to and 

 fro several times watching the flow closely 

 so as to get it as even as possible from 

 every hole. It is not easy to judge of the 

 amount of flow by the size of the stream, 

 for velocity is as important a factor as 

 thickness. But by watching the discharge 

 a while, and the way the water flows down 

 the furrows you will soon have the gates 

 set so as to insure quite an even delivery 

 to each furrow. Give the small boy of 

 the ranch a half dollar to let them alone 

 and you will have little or no work with 

 them the next time. 



With hoe in hand go over the field a 

 few times and see that the furrows are all 

 right. Some think bare feet and legs 

 essential to thorough irrigation. So they 

 are for shiftless people and for flooding 

 they sometimes are in the best work. But 

 for small furrows, after you have every- 

 thing working right, you will need nothing 

 but slippers and will hardly soil them. 



You need not spend any time coaxing 

 water down a furrow. This will do in a 

 little garden patch, but on a tract of any 

 size it is an endless job. If the water 

 does not run fast enough after a fair trial 

 open the gates a little more. But be 



careful how you decide it is not running 

 fast enough. Patience is here the cardi- 

 nal virtue. The water may seem to drop 

 out of sight too soon and yet be creeping 

 along below and filling up toward the top. 

 Give it at least twenty- four hours to go 

 660 feet. If your soil has stood the test 

 before mentioned the water will probably 

 get through, though very slow at the start. 

 Once acquainted with the vagaries of your 

 soil you will have little trouble. You will 

 know whether to crowd on more water at 

 the beginning and force it through or to 

 wait and let the smallest streams work 

 their way. When you can have the irri- 

 gating head long enough the latter course 

 is most always the best. If limited to a 

 short run you will, of course, have to force 

 it through with larger streams. The 

 length of the run will be considered fur- 

 ther on. 



THE WASTE WATER. 



To insure good wetting of the lower 

 end of the tract some waste must run off. 

 If the tract is well laid out this should not 

 exceed five per cent and on many places it 

 is almost nothing. But even a little may 

 be considerable in amount and it is well to 

 provide some way to utilize it. Consider- 

 able firewood, as well as shade, and wind- 

 break for things like oranges that do best 

 in almost dead air, is grown in this way in 

 some of the dry sections. Where the 

 waste amounts to anything and is run in 

 a ditch along the outer edge of trees it will 

 generally keep the roots at home instead 

 of allowing them to rob the main tract as 

 they are apt to do if left to shift for them- 

 selves. In the dry countries no unneces- 

 sary trees or large shrubs should be grown 

 around the irrigated tracts, unless in some 

 way supplied with water to keep the roots 

 at home. In a garden the waste may be 

 used for berries, a small alfalfa patch for 

 the cow or chickens and many other 

 things. As it carries considerable of the 

 fertilizers that may be used, it should 

 never be allowed to run away as it gener- 

 ally is. At the same time provision for 

 waste ditches should be made as water is 

 at any time liable to escape under care- 

 less management and do damage. 



SMALL STREAMS BEST. 



One who has never watched them for a 

 whole season can scarcely believe the work 

 done by streams so small that they never 



