THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



are now cutting alfalfa seeded last June, 

 and it is an extra fine and heavy yield. 



The pumping plant of F. Shults irri- 

 gates twenty-two acres. His onions yielded 

 600 bushels an acre. 



P. J. Griebl irrigates five acres, has a 

 good garden and raises fine fruit. 



Chas. Marten has five acres in a bear- 

 ing orchard, mostly apples, irrigated by a 

 pump. 



Many farmers raise crops worth from 

 to $100 on an acre of irrigated land, 

 and I know of some who have produced 

 worth of cabbage on one acre. 



FIFTY ACHE CABBAGE FIELD UNDEE THE IKKIGATION DITCHES OF THE BOW CREEK SYSTEM. 



THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 



CHAPTER XIV. THE GREAT FLOODING SYSTEM OF THE 



SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY Continued. 



BY T. S. VAN DYKE. 



THE large checks described in the last 

 chapter are almost always fed from 

 the side and not from one end. They are 

 generally so long that if fed from one end 

 the water would have too long a run to 

 reach the other end. It would also have 

 less room in which to spread, and the large 

 head needed to cover so much ground be- 

 low would cut the soil too much, unless it 

 could spread out. In case you want to 

 cut the check in more than one place to 

 get the water quickly out of it, which you 

 generally should do, you cannot empty it 

 so well from the end as from the side. 



When made with the plow, as described, 

 there will be a low swale adjoining the 

 bank which will hold water too long, un- 

 less the bank is cut all the way down. 

 Some things at some times of the year 

 will not be injured by this. Old alfalfa, 

 in winter, seems to suffer little if any in 

 this way. But young alfalfa or grain 

 would be damaged at once by it. Most 



fruit trees would not be hurt by it in win- 

 ter, whereas it would be ruin to some, and 

 damage to the fruit on most anything but 

 pears to have them in such a swale in the 

 summer or spring. And when the sun 

 is hot, old alfalfa and grain old enough to 

 cut for hay would quickly show a material 

 loss. 



On the reclaimed swamp land mentioned 

 in the last chapter all the irrigation of alfal- 

 fa and grain is in the winter, and even that 

 of corn is practically so, it being irrigated 

 not more than twice and often only once 

 after coming up. Remember the average 

 rainfall here is about four inches, or prac- 

 tically nothing in assisting the summer 

 growth. But this soil is a mixture of tule 

 roots, rushes and reeds for many feet deep, 

 with water at an average of about eight 

 feet, and rarely over ten feet below, the 

 year round. The capillary attraction of 

 this soil is enough to draw water more 

 than half way to the top. It is very re- 



