THE IRRIGA T10N A GE. 



length is obviously best for cultivation with horse tools, and is adopted 

 by American growers wherever practicable. The foreign-born grower 

 has a traditional preference for hand work, and is more apt to choose 

 one of the flooding systems even where the furrow method would 

 operate well. The furrow method can be used in a wide range of 

 soils in fact, as has been said, on all likely to be encountered except 

 coarse, sandy loams, in which water sinks almost as fast as it is 

 admitted to the furrow and makes very little lateral spread. In such 

 soil a plant may suffer severely although it is very close to a furrow. 

 For the distribution of the water evenly and to apply it to the upper 

 soil where the shallow-rooting plant can use it, one of the flooding 

 systems must be used, and cultivation must be well done at the earliest 

 arrival of suitable soil condition. Although such a soil is not subject 

 to baking and cracking it becomes "cemented" as the local term is, 

 and then the effect of irrigation is of very short duration, 



WHEN SHOULD WATER BE APPLIED? 



This is a question to which a definite answer can not be given, ex- 

 cept that water should not be applied before the plant shows distress. 

 It therefore follows that the time when water should be applied can 

 not be determined by watching the plant. Thrifty growth should 

 characterize a crop from start to finish. Even a small degree of 

 drought will induce some plants to enter upon maturing processes 

 and then a new moisture supply may start an undesirable new growth 

 rather than promote the old. 



Many irrigators decide when their crops should be watered by an 

 examination of the soil. A rule which has been frequently given is to 

 take a handful of earth from a few inches below the surface and press 

 it in the hand. If, when released, the soil holds together in a ball, 

 and shows the marks of the fingers, irrigation is not necessary, but if 

 it does not hold together water should be supplied. The time when 

 crops should be irrigated, depends then, upon the nature of the crop, 

 the soil, and the weather, so that no dates can be suggested for any 

 locality. 



The best sources of information on local practices are the agricul- 

 tural experiment stations in the different States and Territories, 

 which are now very properly giving much attention to this subject. 



THE SHUART EARTH GRADERS. 



STYL _ t_jI^_JL These machines rapidly and cheaply re- 



~ " duce the most uneven land to perfect 



surface for the application of water. 

 Made in several different styles. On the 

 No. 3 style the blade can be worked diag- 

 onally, as well as straight across, thus 

 adapting it to throwing up and distribut- 

 g b cider F, ditches, etc. For descriptive circulars and price, address, 



B. F. SHUART, Oberlin, Ohio. 



