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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



CORRESPONDENCE 



CLEARWATER, MANITOBA, CANADA, October 30, 1902. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, 112 Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111.: 



Dear Sir Will you kindly send me a copy of THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE? I have been looking for something of this 

 kind for some time and will subscribe for your paper in the 

 near future. 



I would like a few hints on damming a creek with shale 

 bottom, or "under-current." 



I would also like to know what power a turbine wheel 

 would develop under a five-foot fall of one cubic foot of 

 water flowing through a pipe. 



If I were to attach an electric dynamo to above turbine, 

 under above circumstances, what electric power would 1 

 get, or would it pay for farm power? 



Hoping to hear from you in the near future, I am 

 Respectfully yours, 



GEORGE SPEARMAN, 

 Clearwater, Manitoba, Canada. 



Replying to your inquiry, asking for hints about damming 

 a creek with shale bottom, or under-current, one of the best 

 practical papers on that subject was prepared by Prof. S. 

 Fortier, who now lives at Bozeman, Montana, as a bulletin 

 of the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. If you will 

 write to Prof. Fortier, it is likely he can furnish you with a 

 copy. 



If it is proposed to build an earthen dam, the first thing 

 to be done is to get rid of all of the vegetation on the present 

 ground surface, in order that the dam and the soil on which 

 it rests may have a close union. If there is a perceptible 

 under-current, it may be necessary to dig a trench through 

 this and fill this trench with clay or some impervious material. 

 A substitute for this, which is sometimes used, is the driving 

 of deep piling down to an impervious strata. In building an 

 earthen dam, the front slope should be not less than 3 to I, 

 and the back slope not less than 2 to I, with a width of 10 

 feet on top. It should be built up in horizontal layers of 

 about one foot in thickness, and if these layers can be wet as 

 they are filled in, so that the teams driving across them can 

 puddle the soil, it makes a much better structure. 



If the intention is to build a masonry dam, then you will 

 have to go to a solid foundation. The last Yearbook of the 

 Department of Agriculture contains an article on the useful- 

 ness of reservoirs, which describes the construction of a num- 

 ber of storage dams built in Colorado. We have requested 

 that a copy of this be mailed you. 



In your inquiry about the power of a turbine, you do 

 not give the time in which one cubic foot of water would be 

 delivered. If it was one cubic foot of water per second, you 

 would have theoretically about one-half a horse power. I 

 question whether it would pay to install a dynamo to use 

 this for farm work, as it could only be applied to very light 

 operations. 



MANSFIELD, OHIO, October 22, 1902. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111. : 



Gentlemen We are today in receipt of a letter from A. 

 H. Garrett, 1913 Washington street, Boston, Mass., who saw 

 our ad. in THE IRRIGATION AGE, and writes us concerning 

 alfalfa huller and machine for threshing castor beans. We 

 can equip him for both the alfalfa and the bean, but Mr. 

 Garrett desires information and detailed estimate of the ma- 

 chinery necessary to prepare, plant and harvest 500 acres of 

 alfalfa, including barbed wire to surround the plantation to 

 keep cattle out. He also desires to know where the most 

 reliable alfalfa seed can be purchased. Kansas and Nebraska 

 produce considerable alfalfa seed, but this year the crop was 

 rather a failure. Will you kindly give Mr. Garrett the desired 

 information, and if you cannot, perhaps you can refer him 

 to the proper authority? Yours truly, 



THE AULTMAN & TAYLOR MACHINERY COMPANY, 



By A. KALMERTEN, Secretary. 



The above inquiry was referred to Hon. W. J. Powell, of 

 Iliff, Colo., one of the largest ranchers and alfalfa raisers in 



that State, and the following is his reply, which may prove 

 interesting and instructive to our readers : 



SPRING VALLEY RANCH, POWELL & BLAIR, 

 ILIFF, COLO., October 26, 1902. 

 D. H. ANDERSON, Chicago, 111. : 



Dear Sir Your favor to hand regarding the information 

 desired. The expense would depend upon locality. Taking 

 our locality as a basis, this is how I would estimate : 



Two 3-horse riding plows $70.00 



One 2-horse stirring plow 12.00 



Two hand seeders (rotary) 3.00 



One disc harrow 25.00 



One 4-horse drag (good) 30.00 



Posts and wire for fence, 4 wires, posts 21 



feet apart, per mile, here 90.00 



In sowing alfalfa seed here, if party owns, or can borrow 

 or rent, a grain drill suitable for sowing grain or clover seed, 

 we usually adopt this mode of sowing, as alfalfa seed are 

 very similar to clover ; in fact, it is of the same family of 

 plants. We usually plant the alfalfa with wheat or oats, 

 using about two-thirds or three-fourths amount of wheat 

 or oats seed per acre, as where planted alone we use from 

 ten to twenty pounds alfalfa seed per acre. If wanted for hay, 

 the thicker it grows, the better for the hay. If for seed, the 

 contrary. There is also a wagon seeder, costing $10.00 or . 

 $15.00, to be attached to wagon bed and hind wheel of wagon, 

 that does excellent work, both for grain and alfalfa seed. 



Geo. A. Henderson, Sterling, Colo., deals in alfalfa seed 

 and can generally supply any kind of seed wanted. This 

 information is necessarily vague about cost, etc., of preparing 

 and planting 500 acres of alfalfa, as some kinds of lands 

 can be handled for almost one-half compared with others, 

 but this will give a general idea. If further information 

 is desired, I will take pleasure in trying to give it to you at 

 anv time. With best wishes, I am sincerely yours, 



W. J. POWELL. 



SPOKANE, WASH., November 6, 1902. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111. : 



Gentlemen I am trying to find a copy of Flynn's "Irri- 

 gation Works." If you know where one can be obtained, will 

 you kindly forward this letter and oblige yours truly, 

 SPOKANE VALLEY LAND & WATER COMPANY? 

 By W. L. BENHAM. 



CHICAGO, November 9, 1902. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111.: 



Dear Sirs Will you please change the address of A. A. 

 Crane from Alta Loma to 703 McKinney avenue, Houston, 

 Texas? He writes that he is much pleased with THE IRRI- 

 GATION AGE. He says irrigation is coming to the front in 

 Southern Texas. The drouth there the past season has put 

 the people to thinking. I remain yours truly, 



F. P. CRANE. 



THE SNAKE RIVER VALLEY. 



OGDEN, UTAH, October 31, 1902. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111. : 



I send you a pamphlet, issued about four years ago ; it 

 states fairly all you wish to know about our Owyhee canal 

 and farm. We do not now sell any of the land. I have 

 bought out Mr. Theodore Danilson and am, therefore, the 

 owner of two-thirds of this farm, incorporated under the 

 name of "The K. S. & D. Fruit Land Company," besides own- 

 ing 1,000 acres of lands adjacent, belonging to me individu- 

 ally. 



I cannot well enlarge on what you have already stated 

 in your letter. We raise on an average seven tons of alfalfa 

 per acre. We fed and reared on ten acres of alfalfa, by 

 alternating (i. e., changing from one five-acre lot to another), 

 in one season 93 head of pigs, at an average weight of 130 

 pounds, at no cost but the alfalfa pasturage. 



We can raise by rotating crops (. e., plowing up the 

 alfalfa after three years) on the same land from 60 to 65 

 bushels of wheat, 97 bushels of corn, 100 bushels of oats, 

 300 bushels of potatoes, 90 bushels of barley per acre, always 

 presupposing that the land and crops have good care and 

 plenty of water. 



We can raise so much fruit that half of it has to be 

 knocked off to save the trees from being overloaded. The 

 clirrlate is simply perfect about 300 days of sunshine in a 



