104 



THE IREIGATION AGE. 



PREPARING LAND FOR IRRIGATION AND METH- 

 ODS OF APPLYING WATER. 



I'rom Bulletin 145, courtesy United States Department of Agriculture. 



(Continu d.) 



Similar tubes are used on many of the naval-orange 

 orchards of Tulare County, Cal. Some few orchards 

 were also noticed where short pipes supplied the place 

 of the wooden boxes. These pipes are usually one and a 

 half inches in diameter and about twenty-four inches 

 long, and are inserted in the lower' bank of a tempo- 

 rary ditch. The water is held at the desired .elevation 

 in these temporary ditches by earth dams, and water 

 passes from one division to another through a short 

 length of 6-inch pipe, which is built into the earth 

 dam. 



is placed with its center five inches below the surface 

 the discharge will be two miner's inches. 



THE USE OF FLUMES AND PIPES IN FURROW IRRIGATION. 



In irrigating the more valuable varieties of fruit 

 trees, such as oranges, by the furrow method, it .is 

 customary to carry the water to the upper ends of the 

 furrows in flumes or pipes. Flumes for this purpose 

 were formerly made of wood, but the short life of lum- 

 ber in contact with the soil has led many orchardists 

 to substitute more durable material. The cement flume 

 made without joints is now the most popular. When 

 pipes are laid to convey water to the head of each 

 furrow they may be made of iron, steel, cement, mor- 

 tar, clay, canvas or paper. These half dozen kinds 

 of pipes are in use at the present time iu California. 



Wooden Flumes. A common form of wooden flume 

 is made, in the manner shown in Fig. 14, of redwood 

 boards, which are held in place by yokes about four 



Fig. 1 Rotary Scraper. 



These home-made devices for regulating the flow 

 in furrows may be adapted to any size of furrow. The 

 box first described has an opening of nearly 8.5 square 

 inches and, if placed with its center four inches below 

 the surface, would discharge 7.5 miner's inches under 

 a 6-inch pressure. Such boxes are intended for large 

 furrows. On the other hand, the small lath box just 

 described is intended for small furrows. The discharge 

 of a tube can be controlled by a gate in such a manner 

 as to suit any furrow. 



The appliances recommended are all cheap. Farm- 

 er's boys can make them during the winter months. 

 There is usually enough lumber lying around the farm 

 buildings to provide boxes for a 10-acre tract. This 

 suggests that Western boys who live on irrigated farms 

 should practice carpentry in learning to make some of 

 these boxes, and next spring, when the vegetable gar- 

 den needs water, try the new way. Fig. 13 shows the 

 construction of such boxes. They are made of ~y^2- 

 inch lumber, dressed on both sides and edges. The top 

 piece is cut back three-fourths of an inch and a metal 

 slide operated in saw kerfs is shown. When this box 



feet apart. Water flows to the furrows through auger 

 holes in the side midway between the yokes and is con- 

 trolled by small zinc slides. 



When V-shaped flumes are preferred they are 

 usually built as shown in Fig. 15. The slides are 

 fastened near the bottom of one slope. 



Head Flume of Cement Mortar. This flume is 

 made in place in one continuous line across the head 

 of the orchard by a specially designed machine. The 

 ingredients of the cement mortar are one part by 

 volume of imported Portland cement and five parts by 

 volume of clean, coarse sand. The sand and cement 

 are mixed into a mortar and fed into the machine, 

 which forms the bottom and sides of the flume and 

 compresses the mortar in one operation. 



Flumes of this kind are made in five sizes, desig- 

 nated by the number of inches across the inside of the 

 bottom. An 8-inch cement flume is shown in cross 

 section in Fig. 16. The remaining sizes are similar in 

 form but have varying dimensions. 



The sizes, cross sections, volumes of mortar and 

 prices are given in the following table: 



