SUGGESTIONS ABOUT IRRIGATION. 



BY H. WOODMANSE. 



There have been many methods of irrigation tried in the arid and 

 semi-arid territory of America, but what I am most familiar with is in 

 western Kansas and Nebraska, although I have had some experience 

 in New Mexico and other parts of the west. It is our impression that 

 it is generally settled in the minds of all thinking people who have 

 given this matter of irrigation much thought, that to raise water for 

 irrigation it can be done most successfully by wind power and pumps 

 constructed with a view to great strength and durability. Outfits 

 have been made specially for this purpose, which have given very 

 satisfactory results, and which will pump five times the quantity of 

 water as the ordinary windmill and pump that has been made for gen- 

 eral purposes. Practical irrigators have tried all methods, steam, 

 gasoline, and almost every known power to get water to the surface, 

 but the cheapest method for this purpose has been proven to be wind 

 power. It is generally conceded now that windmill outfits are the 

 only practical plan for the ordinary farmer, and one that will make 

 success, being comparatively cheap. The outfit costs comparatively 

 nothing to keep in repair, while a steam engine or any other power is 

 a constant expense, much more than the ordinary farmer can afford. 

 It may be said, there is a time coming when on nearly every farm in 

 America there will be one or more pumping plants lifting water from 

 an underground supply to be thence carried out over the lands in 

 small canals and laterals that will insure a crop. The future of wind- 



