PUMP IRRIGATION ON THE PLAINS. 



187 



EC; v p r i A N T v M r ANUM. 



Reservoir of 1896 is 50 feet on outside at base 

 and five feet high. It is over two feet below 

 the surface, will hold, when full, seven feet of 

 water, and has nearly twice the capacity of one 

 shown in engraving. Crops grown in 1895 were 

 largely experimental but were satisfactory. 



F. L. Kichter, Garden City, Finney Co., Kan- 

 sas. Seventy acres alfalfa and orchard, income 

 seven thousand dollars. 



A. L. Parson, same address. Five acres fruit 

 and produce, six hundred dollars. 



E. E. Fri/ell, Lamed, Pawnee Co., Kansas. 

 Reservoir 130 feet in diameter, banks eight feet 

 high. Can draw out of it (at one time) over a 

 half-million gallons, or seven acres three inches 

 deep. Two fourteen-foot steel mills on thirty- 

 foot towers. Ten-inch cylinders. Twenty-six- 

 foot lift. Fill resprvoir in three days on an 

 average. Have successfully irrigated 25 acres 

 of orchard, 20 of alfalfa, 13 of potatoes, 16 of 

 beans, cabbage and onions. Spanish onions 

 yield 400 to 1000 bushels per acre.* 



The mistakes that have been made the 

 disappointments resulting from less acre- 

 ages being irrigable by given plants than 

 their owners had anticipated have been 

 more than balanced by the phenomenal 

 yields under reliable water supply and 

 thorough cultivation. The mills above 

 mentioned are the common form of radial 

 fan windmills on towers. Hundreds of 

 similar cases could be cited. Suffice in a 

 general way to say that windmills of ten 

 to sixteen feet diameter (mostly steel mills) 

 on towers 30 to 40 feet high are success- 

 fully irrigating from 6 to twenty acres 

 with 20-foot lift, or 1 to 3 acres with 150 

 foot lift, and an investment of $150 to $300 

 is enabling the farmer to realize generally 

 from $20 to $100 per acre per annum. No 

 definite statement can be made as to aver- 

 age results obtainable from such invest- 

 ments. Intelligence and muscle are as 

 essential as water. The man who still in- 

 sists on growing wheat and corn does well 



if he nets $12 to $15 an acre above 

 expenses. He who grows alfalfa and feeds 

 it nets $20 to $50 an acre. He who has a 

 handy market for vegetables or has a bear- 

 ing orchard or vineyard often nets $100 

 to $200 an acre and occasionally very 

 much higher figures are given. 



THE MOGUL WINDMILL. 



As the price paid for a pair of pants 

 frequently depends upon the amount 

 which the purchaser has to spend, regard- 

 less of the real economy of the purchase, 

 so, many farmers on the plains who have 

 trusted for years in the possibility of an 

 increasing and more reliable rainfall, only 

 to be disappointed, and who have lost crop 

 after crop, and seed after seed, have been 

 obliged to economize in the extreme in 

 pumping plant investments and, in the 

 absence of credit, to buy or make what they 

 could. This has resulted in the experi- 

 mental and limited use of the Mogul. 

 This machine is generally set for a north 

 or south wind, working equally well with 

 either, and diminishing in power as wind 

 veers toward east or west. 



A Mogul 12 feet in diameter, 14 long, 

 with 8 fans 2 x 14 feet, will irrigate from 

 1 to 2 acres with 20- feet lift. The cost, 

 if built new and all work paid for, is from 

 $100 to $200. If made by the farmer, of 

 old stuff on hand, the cash outlay may be 

 as low as $25. This machine is some- 

 times made with fans of one board only, 

 say 1x10 feet, for irrigating small garden. 



D. M. Frost, President State Board of 

 Irrigation, has on his farm at Garden City 

 a Mogul, diameter 18 feet, shaft 12 feet, 

 fans 3 x 10 feet. Cost $175. Irrigates 3 

 acres in summer or six during the year. 

 Also a steel tower mill, diameter 14 feet, 

 cost $300. Irrigates 10 acres in summer 

 or 20 during the year. Water lift 15 feet. 



PERSIAN WHKKL. 



From 12th Annual Keport U. S. Geological Survey. 

 Part II, Irrigation. 



*See Illustration of Mr. Frlzell's reservoir in April numbe- of THE AGE. 



