THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



397 



ditches. Now it happened that right under 

 one end of my truck patch ran a tile ditch. 

 It was fourteen inch tile and carried the 

 water from a never failing spring. The 

 ground along the course of the ditch was 

 very productive and also very dry and 

 loose. So I thought I would imitate the 

 Valley Mills man as best I could, and went 

 to the lower end of the ditch and threw up 

 a dam. In a few days great damp spots 

 began to appear on the ground over the 

 ditch. These spots would fade away in the 

 heat of the day, and then appear again in 

 the morning. It was not long until there 

 was a change in vegetation. The first 

 thing noticed was that almost the whole 

 surface of the ground along the ditch was 

 covered with little weed*, which had a de- 

 cided inclination not to stay little. I tore 

 away some of the dam. letting some of the 

 water out, and ploughed and hoed the ir- 

 rigated part. Then I built the dam again. 

 And how the truck did grow! I think it 

 was fifty per cent better here than else- 

 where. In this part of the patch I had 

 cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet and Irish pota- 

 toes, and many were the exclamations of 

 surprise and delight when I marketed them. 

 I have had some experience in irrigation 

 by running a spring branch over the sur- 

 face of the ground, but it is just nothing 

 when compared to the tile ditch. In irri- 

 gating by means of a tile ditch, care must 

 be taken not to get the ground too wet, as 

 it will rot the roots of the truck. For fear 

 someone will draw a wrong conclusion as 

 to the amount of water I had, I will say 

 that a two inch tile would have carried all 



the water in a dry time. 



* * * 



Irrigation certainly pays from what ex- 

 perience I have had We have a truck 

 farm on muck soil, and in draining it we 

 made the ditches in such a manner that 

 we could use them for irrigating them if 

 necessary. We have a water supply higher 

 than our farm, but it must pass through 

 their farm Whenever we need the water, 

 the main ditch is closed and the water 

 turned down a lateral ditch. On the 



ditches we use wedge shaped boards, and 

 put them where needed, and the water can 

 be raised or lowered at the operator's will. 

 It costs little or nothing to do this, and 

 the help to the the crops is quite an item. 

 We raise mostly onions on this muck soil. 

 On such soils water can be used to better 

 advantage than on clay land, as the water 



is more porous. 



* * * 



It is evidently not common to irrigate in 

 the central west. Many do' not appreciate 

 that in large sections of country we live 

 over a lake of water. About here it is 

 often within 20 feet of the surface. An- 

 other fact that many do not consider is 

 that our machinery for pumping is now so 

 very simple and economical. Pumping 

 water is one of the most simple problems 

 of mechanics. I have a friend who grows 

 small fruit and garden plants for market. 

 He uses a wind mill to irrigate one-half 

 acre. And he says that in the berry sea- 

 son he drenches the soil every other day, 

 if dry weather. That it makes a uniform 

 growth and large and high flavored fruit. 

 It also largely increases the yield. He 

 tells me that with a good well he can irri- 

 gate an acre enough for small fruit with 

 one wind mill. I once tried watering a 

 few hills during a very dry time, and I 

 found that to overflow the ground hard- 

 ened it, and of course when hard, it dried 

 out more than ever. A man came to my 

 creek one day with a water tank to get 

 water to wet some currant bushes. But a 

 litt'e vigorous talk induced him to invest 

 in a wind mill. In irrigation as in manur- 

 ing too many are wanting to water their 

 plants when they are not half tHling the 

 soil to save what moisture they have. If 

 the soil is fairly damp, a dust mulch two 

 inches deep will stop the evaporation at 

 least ten tons per acre a day. An inch of 

 rain is 113 tons. So in thirteen days one 

 may save as much water from evaporating 

 as equals an inch of rain. There is more 

 in a shower than simply the falling of 

 water. In fact the condition of a low 

 barometer and presence of clouds are often 



