96 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



injurious, the rainfall in South Carolina is frequently 9, 10, to 12 

 inches per month. In July, '96, one-half the State had over 8 inches, 

 and in one-third the State over 10 inches. 



The reports of the increased annual rainfall is no criterion of what 

 actually takes place in any season at diffierent places. The rainfall of 

 nearly all the Eastern States is sufficient, could it be distributed at 

 regular times and in regular amounts. But while this is an impossi- 

 bility, must the farmer look on idle and helpless and see his toil but a 

 toil of disaster'? 



While we cannot insure enough water from the clouds at proper 

 times, we must irrigate. While we cannot prevent an excessive rain- 

 fall we must furrow our plant in .a manner that the surplus may go 

 harmless away. 



No one who stops to think for a moment, can deny this great ne- 

 cessity for a more regular moisture supply, but the question is how 

 shall the people be led to think a minute, and how shall the impor- 

 tance of i his question be impressed upon them. 



To those who realize the great importance of the matter, the 

 question is how r to get the water supply and how to apply it. The 

 answer to both inquiries is exceedingly simple when the practical 

 working of a windmill pump or artesian well, or the directing of some 

 water from a nearby stream is once seen. Everyone has watered a 

 plant by sprinkling it or pouring some water at its base, and every 

 one has seen how green and luxurient is the herbage in the path of a 

 small flow of water from a spring. These are illustrations of irriga- 

 tion. 



Every farm must have a water supply. Let it be increase! in a 

 furrow or ditch upon the higher part of the field, and when this is 

 done the entering wedge of a complete system of irrigation is fur- 

 nished, and each farmer can chose for himself the manner in which he 

 will increase it. 



For the year 1896 I possessed an inch stream of water at the high- 

 est point of my grounds. My neighbors on either side had none. I 

 had crops perfect and in succession, exact to a dot, they had none till 

 the rains came in July. The increased profit per acre was sufficient 

 to pay the cost of watering ten acres. That inch stream of water was 

 sufficient to furnish one inch of water over one acre each 5 hours, and 

 was, with the little rainfall that came, sufficient to irrigate ten acres 

 of ground thoroughly. The best means of applying water is to run it 

 along in a smooth cut course ditch or furrow upon the ridge of a field, 

 and make openings each 25 feet and let in the water for an hour or two 

 and then close the opening and carry the water further along. When 

 one acre is once experimented with, the farmer will readily be able to 

 devise methods for larger fields. 



TOTTENVILLE, N. Y. 



