208 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



PREPARING LAND FOR IRRIGATION AND METH- 

 ODS OF APPLYING WATER. 



From Bulletin 145, courtesy United States Department of Agriculture. 



(Continued.) 



SETTING SPOUTS. 



A man ordinarily sets forty or fifty spouts in a 

 ditch bank in, a day, but as many as eighty are some- 

 times set. They are made of wooden strips or laths 

 one-half inch thick by two inches wide and three feet 

 long. Four of these are nailed together, forming a 

 square spout. The strips cost $6 a thousand, or 0.6 

 of a cent each. It costs 1.1 cents to make each spout. 

 This makes the cost of each 3.5 cents. If a man sets 

 lifty in a day they will cost in place 6.5 each. Placed 

 four feet apart there will be 330 in a length of eighty 

 rods, making the spout system cost $21.45 for each 

 80-rod line. With furrows eighty rods long this will 

 serve forty acres, making the cost about 54 cents per 



careful farmers tell us, is to have the furrows carry 

 as nearly full as possible without breaking over the 

 sides. One successful irrigator says: 



"I run my furrows as full as they will hold until 

 the water gets half way across the field, then I shut 

 of the supply. The water already in the furrows is 

 sufficient for the balance of the field and I have no 

 waste. I have the best success with new seeding when 

 I make the furrows six inches deep and eight inches 

 wide on top, and four feet apart. I make them with a 

 shingle shovel plow drawn by two horses. I keep the 

 furrows straight by means of a side gauge which makes 

 a mark parallel to the last furrow, which I follow on 

 the return passage. (PI. VI, Fig. 1.) A man and 

 team will furrow five acres a day, making the cost 

 of furrowing 50 cents an acre. I can thoroughly wet 

 my land in four days, while my neighbor over the slope 

 has his furrows two feet apart and runs water in them 

 for a week before the two wet streaks meet midway be- 

 tween the furrows." 



Fig. 1. Furrower Used on Nevada Experiment Station Farm. 



acre. When set they must be well puddled in. The 

 quantity of water which is passed through them is regu- 

 lated by a piece of lath or shingle placed vertically in 

 the ditch against the end of each spout. The best work 

 can be done by having the head ditches at short dis- 

 tances from each other, enabling the owner to save water 

 and irrigate with greater ease and efficiency. One of 

 the best irrigators near Sunnyside, Wash., has this to 

 say upon the subject: 



"I made two serious mistakes when I started to 

 improve my forty acres. I did not use a sufficient 

 number of drop boxes in my head ditches and I placed 

 the ditches too far apart. I attempted at first to make 

 one head ditch serve a length of eighty rods, but it was 

 too far to run the water profitably in the irrigating 

 furrows." 



THE IRRIGATING FURROWS. 



Furrows are run down the slope from the spouts. 

 The practice of irrigators varies much with respect 

 to their depth and distance apart. Some land wets 

 up more easily and speedily than other land, giving 

 rise to the difference in furrowing. One point to be 

 particularly noted in irrigating by this method, so 



The irrigating furrows when only two feet apart 

 are mere marks not over three inches deep. When the 

 crop is once established every alternate furrow is 

 abandoned. 



FIELD FLUMES. 



Instead of head ditches, wooden flumes or troughs 

 are frequently used. (PL VI, Fig. 2.) In many 

 respects they are superior to the ditch, especially where 

 the slope of the land is considerable. Water may 

 flow at a good velocity down the flume, and yet be de- 

 livered to the distributing furrows as desired. Auger 

 holes are bored through the side of the flume flush 

 with the bottom at points where water is to be deliv- 

 ered to the furrows. A swing gate or stop placed on 

 the inside of the flume covers or partly covers the hole 

 as may be desired. A cleat across the bottom below 

 each hole swings upon a nail through the middle in 

 such a way that it may be used as a movable dam to 

 increase or diminish the quantity of water discharged at 

 each hole. This is a favorite method of distributing 

 water with many, especially in gardens and fields where 

 a great number of drop boxes will otherwise be required. 

 A flume one foot wide with 6-inch sides can be built 



