THE 1REIGATION AGE. 



245 



proportion of organic matter is not high enough to 

 maintain an equilibrium of plant food consumption. 

 Still, this is not an incurable disadvantage, for when 

 the labor and expense of draining, mixing, tempering, 

 and reducing soils in the rain belt is compared with 

 the trifling care and attention devoted to desert land 

 soils to render them continuously fertile, the wonder 

 is that they produce any crops at all, so slight is the 

 effort to make them yield. 



It is not uncommon to fill the subsoil with water 

 from irrigating ditches, by putting into it all the sup- 

 ply obtainable during the flood season, thus bringing 

 the water table sufficiently near the surface to supply 

 the crops by capillary action. This brings the ground 

 water within three or four feet of the surface, which 

 is well enough for alfalfa and gross feeding plants, but 

 is bad for trees, vines, and more delicate plants. In 

 arid regions where irrigation is the only means of bring- 

 ing moisture to the .soil the water table may be a hun- 

 dred or more feet below the surface and can not rise on 

 account of impenetrable strata of rock or hardpan. But 

 in that case the irrigation water creates a new water 

 table, the excess of the irrigating water sinking down 

 until it meets an impervious stratum of rock or hard- 

 pan, and there it accumulates, becomes stationary, dis- 

 solves out the . earth salts and when the surface soil 

 dries out or is deeply cultivated begins coming to the 

 surface by capillary action, every subsequent additional 

 saturation of the soil from the irrigating ditch increas- 

 ing the area and zone of the artificial water table. 

 When that happens, and it does happen in desert lands 

 sooner than it takes to clear the ground of trees and 

 stumps in the rain belt, drainage becomes of vital im- 

 portance, second to irrigation itself. 



In semi-arid regions, where there is some rain fall, 

 though inadequate, the amount of rainfall, whatever 

 it may be, has washed the alkali out of the surface 

 soil down into the water table, and the surface soil 

 is freer from the deleterious material, which in the 

 arid soils even prevents the seeds from germinating 

 and obtaining a foothold strong enough to resist it, 

 for when a plant has outgrown its infancy, and devel- 

 oped its first true leaves, it will require a most extraor- 

 dinary quantity of deleterious material to destroy it. 

 It refuses to absorb what it does not need and does 

 not require, and unless wholly overpowered by the so- 

 lutions in the water that surrounds it, it will grow 

 up to be something more or less perfect. 



_It is said that six or eight inches of rain will 

 mature a crop in the semi-arid region with proper cul- 

 tivation. It matters little whether it be wheat or bar- 

 ley if the grain be sown very thin to allow more room 

 for stooling. Six inches will grow it to fodder and eight 

 inches will cause it to head out fairly well. An instance 

 has been called to the attention of the author, where 

 ten inches produced two crops without irrigation. 



A fair crop of potatoes was grown in and removed 

 from the fibrous, red clayey soil in April. The land 

 lay on a side hill, about in the center, the summit of 

 which had been roughly plowed to gather as much, 

 rain as possible so as to utilize the seepage for the po- 

 tatoes. Immediately after the removal of the potatoes 

 the land was plowed deep, and moisture still showing, 

 it was carefully cultivated. Corn, of the variety known 

 as "white Mexican," was then dibbled in and left to 

 its fate. From the time of its planting, until harvested, 

 not a drop of water was put on the land by way of 

 irrigation, and only about an inch of rain in "Scotch 

 mists" fell upon the surface. The corn came up in 



four days and grew strong and vigorous. The soil 

 was plowed deep about every ten days, fully turned 

 over and followed with the cultivator and harrow, until 

 it became so soft and powdery that it was difficult to 

 walk in it. It was also hoed frequently, not a weed 

 being permitted to appear, and the soil stirred deep 

 and drawn well up over the roots. The land measured 

 about an acre. The corn grew to full maturity without 

 a single set back, or twisting of a leaf. The stalks 

 measured an average of nine- feet and each bore from 

 two to four perfect ears of plump kernels, and made 

 good roasting ears, and when harvested in "the. middle 

 of June, the ground still showed some moisture. 



Instances of this particular kind are abundant in 

 every locality in the arid and semi-arid regions. They 

 are nothing but experiments, or rather accidents, and 

 prove nothing that can be of general utility. They 

 show, however, what may be done by careful cultivation 

 with a small amount of water husbanded to the last 

 drop. There was not a particle of alkali in the soil 

 above referred to, and it was very retentive of moisture. 

 It emphasizes what the author contends, and what sci- 

 entific investigation places beyond the pale of denial, 

 that cultivation and moisture are what may be con- 

 sidered essentials, and not water in its liquid form. 

 To borrow a word from another profession : we are 

 dealing with the homoeopathy of agriculture, and ad- 

 vocating water triturations provided they accomplish the 

 purpose of growing a profitable crop, where drastic 

 doses will ruin. 



In every case, however, the supply of water dimin- 

 ished by evaporation must be restored either by irriga- 

 tion or by rain fall, and the requisite amount must be 

 continuous and not intermittent; that is, the plant 

 must be kept growing. 



If it were not for the fact that water "is a solvent 

 of the salts necessary to plant life, and as a medium 

 for conveying them in a state of solution to the plants, 

 there would be no necessity for water, and plants could 

 grow in an absolutely dry and rainless region without 

 irrigation. 



It should be borne in mind that it is not so much 

 "wetness" that plants require, as a medium for dissolv- 

 ing the earthy salts and vegetable acids, so that the two 

 may find their affinities and form the various chemi- 

 cal combinations which are necessary to make the plant. 

 When that has been accomplished all the rest is sur- 

 plus, waste, useless expenditure of the forces of nature, 

 deleterious to plants by over feeding them, and injurious 

 to the soil by washing its reserve elements out alto- 

 gether, or driving them down into the subsoil beyond 

 the reach of the plant roots, or forcing them to com- 

 bine in excessive quantities which leach out, or crys- 

 tallize on the surface and accumulate in masses that 

 prevent the germination of seeds. 



More will be said upon this important subject in 

 the chapter on "The Relations of Water to the Soil/' 

 the second hane of desert land, "alkali," being next in 

 order. 



The Collins Plow Co., of Quincy, 111., recently 

 shipped to Europe one of their Jumbo Eli Haypresses, 

 the largest machine of its kind made in the world. This 

 press has a capacity of ten tons per .hour. This is the 

 second press shipped to the same purchaser. Another 

 press of this kind is being shipped to California, where 

 machines of large capacity are in demand. These 

 presses each weigh over five., tons, which will give some 

 idea of their massiveness. 



