THE DUTY OF WATER. I I 



an amazing amount, yet far less than has sometimes been calculated. 

 If so much is given up to the air through the leaves, an equal amount 

 must be absorbed from the soil by the roots the only way that plants of 

 the kind under discussion obtain the water required by them." 



Mr. Cole, author of the " New Agriculture," found that a single hill of 

 cucumbers would drink a half a barrel of water in three days time, and, 

 having done so, would begin to languish for want of moisture, and, failing 

 to secure it, die in a week. 



It is also known that crops growing on manured land evaporate more 

 water than on the same land unmanured. Likewise land growing a heavy 

 crop of barley was shown by Messrs. Laws and Gilbert to have evaporated 

 nine inches, or 1,800 tons of water more than bare land lying alongside. 

 It will be seen then that the necessities of plant life, with respect to moisture, 

 is a matter that is influenced or governed more or less by surroundings and 

 by local conditions. 



Another important point that enters largely into a proper determin- 

 ation of the "duty" of water is the manner of cultivation practiced on 

 any given crop. The plow and the cultivator are most effective conser- 

 vors of moisture. Hence, crops are saved by frequent and thorough 

 stirrings of the soil, when otherwise they would either perish or fail to 

 mature. This fact is often noticed in the cultivation of corn. When 

 parched and wilted during a season of excessive drouth, I have seen this 

 crop fully restored by a timely use of the cultivator. Among garden 

 crops, the beet and squash are conspicuous examples of the efficacy of 

 good cultivation as a diffuser of moisture. 



So important is this item of tillage to the best results on the farm or 

 the garden, that with good soil, deep plowing, and thorough culture, crops 

 may often be assured with little or no surface irrigation. Therefore, it 

 should be said that no discussion, or mathematical calculation of the 

 "duty of water," is accurate or logical that ignores the influence of these 

 local conditions. 



In a report of the Farmers' Alliance, of Fort Collins, under date of 

 January 21st, 1888, the recommendation was made that land should be 

 plowed deep in the fall of the year, to allow the frost and snow to have 

 full action on the upturned soil. "It was also demonstrated" says the 

 report, " that one irrigation on land thai has been plowed deep was as good as 

 three irrigations on shallow plowed ground." We italicize this because it 

 goes to confirm a position for which we have for years contended. " Deep 



