THE ART OF IRRIGATION. 



CHAPTER XVI. THE PROPER TIME TO APPLY WATER. 



CULTIVATION. 



BY T. S. VAN DYKE. 



66 \17HEN it needs it" is the answer 

 W the beginner is very apt to get 

 when he asks the experienced irrigator 

 what is the proper time to water some- 

 thing. 



The question cannot be easily answered 

 even as to any one thing, and anything 

 like an attempt at a set of rules for a gen- 

 eral list of products to apply to all places 

 would be very absurd. It is true that you 

 can soon learn to tell by the appearance of 

 anything whether it needs water. Vege- 

 tation of every kind has a mute language 

 that one can learn to read as well as print. 

 Long before there is any sign of suffering 

 or wilting in the leaves, an air of weariness 

 steals over the whole, the brightness weak- 

 ens just a trifle, and if it is a tree well 

 laden with fruit it will not leave you many 

 days, or in hot weather many hours, in 

 doubt about its meaning. 



But it is equally true that there is dan- 

 ger in waiting to be thus informed. If 

 you have your own water system and have 

 it well under control, so that you know 

 just what it will do, you may wait if you 

 choose, though, in such case, there is no 

 excuse for taking chances if your crop is 

 very valuable or easily shrunk by a little 

 neglect at the proper time. 



Considerable repetition is unavoidable 

 in a work of this kind, and I will here re- 

 peat what is one of the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of the whole art of irrigation. Re- 

 peat it until it is engraved on the bottom 

 of your memory. 



There is very little difficulty about get- 

 ting fine fruit from young trees, but when 

 they are old and in full bearing and heav- 

 ily laden, to bring to maturity a large 

 percentage of first grade fruit requires 

 unremitting diligence. Almost all the 

 profit is in the first grade, and this grade 

 is quickly reduced by the slightest neglect, 

 neglect that will not otherwise affect the 

 tree, ivould not show on a young tree, and 

 to the common eye may not show on the 



126 



old one except in the market returns from 

 your crop. Hundreds of dollars a day 

 may be lost without your seeing it until 

 too late. 



This principle applies with more or less 

 force to almost everything in the line of 

 orchard or garden produce that you will 

 raise to sell, and you will never lose by 

 applying it to all field crops as well. It 

 is largely ignorance of this that makes so 

 many different opinions about irrigation 

 and water supplies, and makes so many 

 think they are doing wonders when they 

 are really losing money. 



If you are depending on a ditch with 

 others you will probably have to take your 

 turn, and cannot have the water just when 

 you want it. If, then, you are depending 

 on the appearance of anything, the time 

 you may lose in getting the water running 

 may be a loss of many dollars an hour; 

 and yet you may never know it. Far bet- 

 ter to do such things on principle. 



By the time you have watched things 

 long enough to know far enough in ad- 

 vance of actual suffering that they need 

 water, you will also have learned to calcu- 

 late in advance the time when things will 

 need it. You will have some idea of how 

 much they need, when they last had it, how 

 long a certain run of water lasts with proper 

 cultivation on stuff of a certain age. You 

 will also note the weather, the heat and 

 the amount of moisture in the air. If 

 wise, you will assist your observations by 

 frequent inspection of the soil six or eight 

 inches below the surface. The soil should 

 never be so dry that it will not easily pack 

 into a ball in the hand. A valuable crop 

 under irrigation should be studied every 

 day, just as a successful merchant spends 

 much of his spare time in looking over the 

 books, no matter how much he trusts the 

 employes. You will thus understand the 

 business so thoroughly that you will al- 

 ways have the water ordered in time and 

 ready to run. And with a growing crop 



