266 



TEL IRRIGATION AGE. 



IRRIGATING POTATOES. 



The University of Wyoming has issued 

 a bulletin on the effect of different amounts 

 of water used in irrigation upon the yield 

 of potatoes. 



The yields from Plats A, B and C in 

 1900 were 1,176, 2,230 and 3,069 pounds 

 per acre respectively, and the correspond- 

 ing depths of water received by the plats 

 from irrigation and rainfall were approxi- 

 mately five, seven and ten inches. In 1901 

 the yields on the respective plats were 

 3,332, 3,956 and 5,432 pounds per acre, 

 and the corresponding depths of water 17, 

 18 and 48 inches. 



For both seasons the plats receiving the 

 largest amounts of water gave the largest 

 yield of marketable tubers and the great- 

 est total weight. 



Of course, the results for these two sea- 

 sons are by no means conclusive. The 

 amount of water which one plat received 

 sufficient to have covered it to a depth of 

 three and one-half feet seems enormous, 

 yet this plat produced the largest yield of 

 potatoes, and the difference in the table 

 qualities of the potatoes from this plat and 

 from those receiving smaller amounts of 

 water is said to have been \ erceptible. 



A LARGE COMPANY. 



The Northwestern Irrigation Company 

 is now being organized. The paid up 

 capital stock is $225,000, most of which is 

 northern capital. This company is headed 

 by Albert Anderson, the successful rice 

 farmer of Jennings, Tex. 



Seventeen thousand acres of the K. 0. 

 Range between El Campo and Bay City 

 has been purchased. The pumping site of 

 the Planters' Irrigation Company on Colo- 

 rado river has been bought, making an 

 easy water lift. 



Contracts for macinery, farm buildings 

 and canals are now being let. Six thou- 

 sand acres will be put in rice for 1903 and 

 the company has already received many 

 applications from tenants who want to rent 



land. The land is high and considered to 

 be the finest rice land in Texas. Mostly 

 Scandinavians are wanted. At least 

 twenty- five tenants from Minnesota and 

 Dakota will settle on this land. 



TO RECLAIM BABYLON BY COLO- 

 RADO METHOD. 



Baron von Oppenheim, commissioner 

 from Germany to investigate western irri- 

 gation, has completed a tour of northern 

 Colorado and is enthusiastic over the ap 

 plication of water from the mountains and 

 the results derived. He praposes to adopt 

 the same form of storing storm water for 

 the reclamation of the valley of Babylon, 

 which is largely owned by German capital- 

 ists along the line of a railroad under con- 

 struction from Constantinople through 

 Bagdad to the Persian gulf. Upon the 

 site of Babylon there is now being built a 

 small city which will be touched by the 

 railroad, and Baron von Oppenheim be- 

 lieves that once the water is stored and 

 again turned into the canals the land will 

 become productive and resume its former 

 prosperity. 



ARTIFICIAL WATERING. 



When water is applied to fields arti- 

 ficially it should generally be done late in 

 the day, where the operation is not of 

 great magnitude, in which case this mat- 

 ter of time cannot always be controlled. 

 The soil being wet at night, absorbs the 

 water thoroughly before another day. It 

 is applied in the morning when the sun 

 is hot, evaporation sets in and a crust is 

 formed by the particles being drawn close 

 together. This in turn has to be broken 

 up. It is desirable to prevent this, for it 

 not only causes loss of water, but the 

 crust acts as a barrier to the entrance of 

 air into the soil. This holds good in the 

 case of crops that do not cover the soil. 

 Of course if the soil is well shaded the 

 application of water can be made at any 

 time of day, without regard to the vol- 

 ume or intensity of solar heat. 



