THE 1RKIGATION AGE. 



141 



oped interior districts which were inaccessible before 

 their construction and have built up some oi the great- 

 est cities in the east. 



Parallel with this favorable experience in India 

 stands the prediction made in the current report of the 

 division of hydrography of the United States Geological 

 Survey, to this effect: 



"The open range of the arid region in the United 

 States is generally stated to be capable of supporting 

 one cow to every twenty acres. The same land, when 

 watered and put in alfalfa, will frequently feed ten 

 cows to every twenty acres; or, in orchards at favorable 

 altitudes, will support a family of three, or even five, 

 persons. The open range may have a value of 50 cents 

 an acre, while under irrigation the selling price may 

 jump to $500 an acre. Thus the values of the lands are 

 directly reversed, the grazing land having the greatest 

 extent and the least value, and the irrigated land the 

 least extent and the greatest value." 



The general effect of internal improvements in 

 India, despite the bad influence of an enforced and un- 

 welcome old standard, is strongly shown in the figures 

 which represent the foreign trade of that empire. The 

 commerce of India in 1857 was $72,000,000 in imports 

 and $128.000,000 in exports. In 1902 the imports were 

 $264,000,000 and the exports $392,000,000. India has 

 grown in forty years to be one of the great exporting 

 countries in the world, standing sixth in the list. The 

 increase in commerce, to say nothing of the great in- 

 crease in internal trade has resulted mainly from 

 irrigation and railway building. In Egypt the 

 same system has been carried out by the British, and 

 the revenues of the government and the wealth of the 

 country have been increased tenfold. In Ceylon irri- 

 gation works have brought wealth to the agricultural 

 districts. 



It is further demonstrated by the official reports 

 that in India the heretofore arid regions have become 

 more productive under irrigation than are the 

 lands in the rain belts, where natural moisture is 

 reasonably certain. Yet in India, according to official 

 data, the extreme between heavy rainfall and little 

 or no rain is greater than in any of the arid districts 

 in our Western states or territories. The Nile river 

 in Egypt has been more difficult to control than any 

 of our Western rivers would be, but in India and Egypt 

 public and private capital has found profitable invest- 

 ment in irrigating works. 



Based upon the wide importance of the topic 

 upon its general effects as to railroads and internal 

 commerce it is needless to add that the forthcoming 

 irrigation report of the geological survey, now in the 

 hands of the printer, will be received with interest and 

 closely perused. It may well point to India and 

 Egypt as examples to follow. 



DEEP IRRIGATION. 



BY G. -M. HAWLEY, El CAJOK. 



The object of irrigation is to make available the 

 plant food that the soil may contain, for tho benefit of 

 the growing crop. This being established, the next 

 question is the best method of securing these results. 

 There are practically three systems of irrigation in use; 

 the basin system, the furrow system and the subsoil, or 

 deep irrigation system. The first two accomplish prac- 



tically the same results, leaving the surface wet or satur- 

 ated and require immediate cultivation as soon as the 

 soil is dry enough to permit, in order to produce a dry 

 earth mulch to prevent evaporation. The advocates of 

 this system assume that the plant food that nourishes 

 the crop is nearly all in the surface soil, and TO become 

 available this should be kept moist. While their theory 

 seems good, there are certain qualifying conditions that 

 make the ^practice bad, and it is not in accordance with 

 facts. Prof. Hilgard assures us that in counter dis- 

 tinction to the east, the California subsoils contain plant 

 food from many feet in depth that can be made available 

 if the roots can be got down there. By making a reser- 

 voir of the subsoil .instead of the surface, these results 

 can be accomplished and the attended evils of surface 

 irrigation avoided. By surface saturation there is a 

 tremendous evaporation going on until a dry mulch 

 is formed; its tendency is to form an irrigation hard- 

 pan or plow sole just below the cultivated surface. It 

 also brings the feeding roots near the surface necessitat- 

 ing frequent irrigation and incapacitates them to stand 

 the effect of hot, dry winds. 



With deep irrigation we make the furrows apart, 

 usually following with a subsoil plow, breaking up the 

 bottom of the furrow and running the water a much 

 longer time in each furrow than by the other method. 



My practice for winter irrigation is to make the 

 furrows nearly on a level, so that when we turn in the 

 water there is practically no current and the water goes 

 straight down until it meets a resistant surface, which 

 is the bottom of my soil reservoir, and there begins to 

 spread out and is retained where there will be the least 

 possible chance for evaporation. If your furrow is 

 steep so as to form much of a current or, in other 

 words, if you flush your furrows, there is a sediment 

 that forms on the bottom that prevents perpendicular 

 and promotes horizontal saturation. In land that has a 

 good depth of soil and is filled with water, drainage is 

 very slow, varying with different soils and conditions. 

 With proper cultivation this moisture may be retained 

 in some instances for several years. 



To retain winter rains I would cultivate the sur- 

 face thoroughly and then plow, using no clod crusher 

 or cultivator. This will tend to prevent the baking and 

 assist in perpendicular seepage of water. 



In conclusion, deep irrigation tends to educate the 

 roots downward and make them drought-resistant, it 

 prevents in a large measure the formation of an irriga- 

 tion hard-pan, requiring less frequent irrigation and 

 much less cultivation, and gives much better crop 

 results with the same amount of water. Having prac- 

 ticed this system for over three years, I am confident 

 that it has increased the productive value of my farm 

 over fifty per cent. My raisin crop this year was a hun- 

 dred per cent larger than last year, and last year's crop 

 was a hundred per cent larger than the year before. My 

 orange crop, the first year I practiced it, averaged five 

 pounds heavier to the packed box than any other crop 

 brought to the packing house. The next year they took 

 the first premium fit the San Diego county fair, and 

 have given a large increase in productiveness each year. 

 My attention was first called to this method at sc Farmers' 

 Institute, and I believe these institutes have been worth 

 more than they have cost to the horticulturists of South- 

 ern California. Cal. Cultivator. 



