THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VOL. IX. 



CHICAGO, APRIL, 1896. 



NO. 4, 



THE ART OF IRRIGATION/ 



CHAPTER XI. IRRIGATING WITH FURROWS (Continued). 

 UNDERGROUND WATER. FLOODING. 



BY T. S. VAN DYKE. 



ALL systems of making water soak side- 

 ways from ditches are practically the 

 same, no matter by what name called or 

 how many distinctions may be multiplied 

 from different ways of running the water. 

 Filling up the soil with water from below 

 by seepage from large ditches around the 

 tract differs somewhat from this, but hard- 

 ly enough to justify calling it a new sys- 

 tem. Sometimes it is done unintentionally 

 and on a very large scale, as in parts of the 

 great San Joaquin valley in California, 

 where the steady seepage for several years 

 from large ditches and waste water has 

 raised the level of underground water, over 

 tens of thousands of acres, from sixty or 

 seventy feet to six or seven or less. Some- 

 times it is unintentionally done on a small 

 scale by the use of too much water on 

 land having hardpan, clay or other imper- 

 vious material beneath. On all land not 

 well drained it is liable to happen from very 

 ordinary waste after the land has been ir- 

 rigated several years. And sometimes it 

 is done intentionally where the conditions 

 will allow it. And where the soil is very 

 " leachy " (lets water through too fast) it 

 may be advisable to do it as the cheapest 

 method, and in some rare cases the only 

 method. Its simplicity commends it in 

 many cases where other methods are far 

 better, and it is the favorite of many a lazy 

 man who has plenty of water, because there 

 is nothing to do but let it rua. Sometimes 

 the ditches are made around the tract, some- 

 times across it, sometimes both; often they 



are large and often small, but it is all the 

 same, and is generally possible only on 

 land that is quite sandy. 



At first glance it seems fine to dispense 

 with work and cultivation in this way, and 

 have the roots go down out of the way of 

 evaporation. Being a kind of subirriga- 

 tion, it has all the attractions of that sys- 

 tem with apparently none of the disadvan- 

 tages of underground pipes. 



Time, however, shows that many things 

 are injured by having the roots in stand- 

 ing water, while some are killed. It is 

 doubtful if anything does as well that way 

 as under surface irrigation on land well 

 drained. It certainly does not if the 

 water becomes stagnant and heavily im- 

 pregnated with salts of iron, making it 

 "sour," as it is often called. And if the 

 water is clear and changing, with a steady 

 underground flow, it is doubtful if any- 

 thing does as well in it. While alfalfa 

 will grow on such ground, and often give 

 large yields, it has been proved over and 

 over again that alfalfa, on well drained 

 open soil with surface irrigation, is still 

 better. The same is true of the pear, 

 which will often do well on ground too wet 

 for other deciduous trees, but with plenty 

 of water does still better on well drained 

 benches. With the orange and lemon, 

 and most of the deciduous fruits, there is 

 no longer room for question. Grapes of 

 some kinds will bear heavily on wet land, 

 but you can see the difference on higher 

 soil, while the finest corn I ever saw was 



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