SUB-IRRIGATION. 



When we see the word irrigation we are quite inclined to couple 

 it with a running stream of water through ditches and onto the land 

 where crops are growing, or are to be grown, because it has been 

 so conceded by the masses for generations. History goes back to the 

 very early days and conveys the same idea. But this is not the broad 

 or more modern view; some rather phenomenal results have been ob- 

 tained in recent years by sub -irrigation by the use of pipes and other 

 means. Several patents have been taken out covering various devices 

 and ideas, one of which we saw in practical operation; while not only 

 being somewhat novel, its operation illustrated and demonstrated 

 some very important points. In this case the idea was floral designs 

 on the lawn. 



A pipe was cut and bent to form the word HOME in large letters, 

 and buried beneath the surface about 18 inches; the portion of the 

 pipe forming the letters being perforated and the pipe generally kept 

 full of water under very low pressure. The lawn was then nicely 

 fitted and a fine lawn mixture of grass sown. This lawn had been 

 seeded two years, and when we saw it there had been about three 

 weeks of severe drouth; the main part of the lawn was of short and 

 light colored grass, while directly over these pipes the grass was 

 growing rank with a very dark green color in the center gradually 

 shaded down to the light color. The word home stood out very prom- 

 inently presenting a very attractive contrast. A similar condition, al- 

 though the result of nature's own way. and might be properly termed 

 natural irrigation, is shown in fields of small grain where from some 

 obstruction the snow has drifted deeply across out into a field. When 

 the warm spring days came the snow melted and percolated on down 

 deeply into the soil below, as far as the free water could be carried by 

 gravity. Springtime came, the wheat, oats or barley sown, soon the 

 hot weather of early summer would begin to fade the foliage of the 

 plants in the field, as the ground was getting dry; but lo, where the 

 snow drift had been the foliage continued unusually dark green and the 

 plants grew rank, indicating an enormous yield of grain, while all 

 the rest of the field indicated a very short crop, if not a total failure. 



These two illustrations demonstrate clearly that if there is plenty 

 of moisture in the soil just below, it will come up and supply the de- 

 mands of the growing plant, and in spite of the hot, dry weather (so 

 disastrous to the plant where there is no stored moisture below) the 

 plant grows and matures a fine crop. Hon. J. A. Morland, of McCook, 

 Neb. , in 1898 also demonstrated the same point by turning the ditches 



