THE IRKIGATION AGE. 



May in the State of Illinois. A farmer who is fairly 

 well provided with help and teams can check his land 

 with only a small cash outlay for lumber to build 

 check boxes. Those who are obliged to contract for 

 the work pay from $7.50 to $20 per acre. The various 

 items of cost are shown in the accompanying table of 

 prices submitted by Mr. Joshua Cowell, of Manteca, 

 Cal. Mr. Cowell has had a wide experience in this 

 kind of work and his figures aim to represent average 

 prices as they existed in 1900. The estimate also in- 

 cludes the price of alfalfa seed in the ground. 



Estimated cost of checking and preparing twenty 

 acres for irrigation : 



Scraping with scrapers, 4 horses, 48 days, at $4. $192.00 

 Plowing for scrapers, 2 horses, 7y 2 days, at $3 . 22.50 



Surveying contour checks, 3 days, at $4 12.00 



For 4-foot check boxes, No. 2, redwood lumber, 



1,666 feet, at $24 per 1,000 feet 40.00 



Labor and hardware for boxes 25.00 



Six-horse team, plowing, 5 days, at $5 25.00 



Four-horse team, harrowing, 2y 2 days, at $4. . . 10.00 

 Three hundred and twenty pounds of alfalfa 



at 10 cents 32.00 



Sowing, 11/2 days, at $2 3.00 



Total $361.50 



Average cost per acre, $18.08. 



The figures given in the following estimate of cost 

 represent the actual amounts expended by Mr. S. 

 Richardson, of Tulare, Cal., in checking and seeding 

 160 acres in Tulare County. It will be noted that the 

 cost of the check boxes is not included. 



Cost of checking and seeding 160 acres : 



Survey (main laterals only) $ 7.50 



Labor, at $1.15 per day, and board 435.33 



Teams (mules at 50 cents a^span per day) . . 294.00 



Provisions, feed, etc 156.87 



Lumber for headgate, on main laterals only. . 60.00 



Repairs on tools 15.84 



Plowing 155.00 



Alfalfa seed, 10 pounds per acre, at 11 cents. 170.50 



Water rental 230.00 



Cost of irrigating (twice) 68.00 



Total $1,593.04 



Average cost per acre, $9.96. 



Average size of checks, about three-fourths of an 

 acre. 



Assuming that two men, each working 12-hour 

 shifts, will irrigate on an average fifteen acres per 

 day, and that their wages, board and implements cost 

 the owner $5 a day, the cost of one irrigation per acre 

 would be 33 1-3 cents. Mr. Richardson's expense for 

 this was slightly more. 



THE BORDER METHOD. 



A modification of the check system as used in 

 the Imperial Valley of southeastern California is de- 

 scribed on this page. A similar method of preparing 

 land and applying water is practiced in the alfalfa 

 fields of Arizona and in the vicinity of Stockton, Cal. 

 The prominent features of this method are a large 

 head ditch and the division of the field into long, nar- 

 row strips, by borders of earth. These low ridges, or 

 borders, serve to confine the water within each strip as 

 it slowly traverses the field from top to bottom. 



In Imperial Valley the soil consists mainly of 

 -fine sediment, and the slope of the surface varies from 



oiii' to five feet per mile. The rectangular checks are 

 laid off with the long side in the' direction of the steep- 

 est slope. These checks are from 60 to 100 feet 

 wide and from one-eighth to one-fourth of a mile long. 

 A deep ditch is built at right angles to the long 

 side of the checks, and a wooden box is inserted in the 

 ditch bank to supply water to each check. 



The wing plow is most frequently used to make 

 the borders, or levees. This implement differs from 

 the ordinary plow only in having a large curved mold- 

 board to throw the dirt further. 



Where the slope is excessive or very irregular, con- 

 tour checks are used. The fall between contours is 

 usually three inches. Contour basins in,close an area 

 of from three to twenty acres. These large basins, 

 whether rectangular or curved according to contour 

 lines, while possessing some advantages, can not be 

 recommended. The chief objections to such basins 

 and the manner of flooding them may be summed up 

 as follows : 



1. A large head of water is necessary. 



2. A large stream often removes the soil from 

 the upper end and deposits it over the crops at the 

 lower end of a basin, the results at both ends being 

 injurious. 



3. In order to cover the higher portions, too 

 much water is frequently used on the lower portions, 

 thereby damaging both crop and soil. 



4. There is great waste in attempting to spread 

 water over so large a surface. 



5. A temporary lake is formed at the lower end 

 of the basin, or else the water enters the drainage ditch, 

 which, in consequence, must be large. 



6. The distribution is not uniform, the high 

 spots receiving too little water and the low spots top 

 much. 



The remedy for these defects can be readily ap- 

 plied. It consists, in brief, in forming smaller checks. 

 This would, of course, increase the cost for the first 

 year, but the gain in subsequent years would much 

 more than pay for additional expense. 



FURROW IRRIGATION. 



There are few irrigated farms in Western America 

 where furrow irrigation in one form or another is not 

 practiced. In regions devoted chiefly to the produc- 

 tion of fruit it is usually the most common mode of 

 irrigation. In other colder regions, where the staple 

 crops are grain and hay, it is mostly confined to root 

 crops, vegetables and small orchards. 



FURROW IRRIGATION FROM EARTHEN DITCHES. 



Brieflv described, the most inexpensive, inefficient 

 and at the same time the most common method of 

 furrow irrigation is from earthen ditches. A small 

 ditch, often parallel and adjacent to a permanent 

 ditch, extends across the upper boundary of the tract 

 to be irrigated. In one embankment of this small 

 ditch openings are made with a long-handled shovel, 

 and the water conveyed by the ditch issues through 

 these openings and flows down the furrows. Theoret- 

 ically this is all that is required for proper distribu- 

 tion, but in practice there are difficulties that can not 

 be successfully overcome. It is impossible, for in- 

 stance, to divide an irrigation stream equally among 

 a large number of furrows by such means. This is j 

 shown in Fig. 1 in an attempt to divide wat 

 between the rows of sweet potatoes. A skille 

 irrigator may adjust the size and depth of the opening 



