THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The Art of Irrigation 



CHAPTER EIGHT 



By T. S. VAN DYKE 



Assuming that you have the ground laid out just 

 right, the subsoil wet enough, and the ground planted 

 with fruit trees well cultivated, everything now looks 

 quite fine. And it probably is far better than it 'could 

 be under any rainfall. But it is not as good as it should 

 be. You cannot see it, for your eye is not practiced like 

 that of a buyer of fruit on the trees. Even he may not 

 know what the matter is, -though he may quickly see 

 that the fruit is deficient in flavor, keeping qualities, 

 perhaps, and in the percentage of the first grade, which 

 is the first thing he looks after. Perhaps only an ex- 

 perienced grower from some of the most successful fruit 

 growing districts could tell you and he could not do it 

 at a glance. Probably he would not offer any criticism 

 unless pressed for an opinion, when he would probably 

 say: 



very porous soil would disappoint one who could not get 

 large enough heads of water. 



On tight soils, it may be used with very small 

 heads. 



Suppose you have a square ten acres in orchard. 

 It will be two hundred and twenty yards on each side 

 and you want to put into the soil an equivalent of 

 three inches (rain measure). As a second foot equals 

 an inch an hour per acre (rain measure), it will need 

 thirty hours to make three rain inches on the whole. 

 This would be far too slow for flooding, even in twenty- 

 five foot checks. But if you can get a second foot for 

 thirty hours you can do better work with small furrows 

 with less help, and if you can get it sixty hours you can 

 do still better on many soils with only half that head,' 

 or half a foot. 



It may seem quite absurd to divide such a stream 

 into two hundred and twenty little ribbons of water, 

 running only a little over a gallon a minute and 

 spread a yard apart and expect them to get anywhere. 

 Yet that is exactly what is done in many a fine orchard 

 and to do it all you need is patience, and to remember 

 that it is the greatest step in advance that was ever 

 taken in horticulture, and . one that has been so thor- 



Cattlc in the North Platte Valley. Note the Groves in the Distance. 



"Well, down our way we get better fruit and more 

 of it by irrigating with furrows than we can by flood- 

 ing." 



"How so?" you ask. "Flooding puts in water 

 enough, doesn't it?"' 



"Oh, yes, but we quit it long ago .and are making 

 more money out of less water." 



"But it doesn't interfere with good cultivation," 

 you suggest. 



"Well, no, I suppose not. But there's some differ- 

 ence we can't account for exactly, something besides 

 keeping the water away from the trunk of the tree. But 

 we do know the difference in the cash box. We thought 

 we were doing well enough before we changed. But 

 it is certain that we are doing much better. You 

 might not be able to point out the difference when in 

 the orchards, but there is no appeal from the returns." 



Such talk as this has within twenty years changed 

 the irrigation of whole sections in the west and I do not 

 know of a single case in which there has been a return 

 to the old method, or that any one has any fault to find 

 with the new ; though there are many places where a 



oughly tested for thirty' years that it will never go 

 backward. 



You naturally remark that your soil will never 

 hold up such a little stream to run two hundred and 

 twenty yards across the ten acres. That is exactly 

 where you may deceive yourself. It probably will if 

 you give it time enough. Suppose you try it. Make 

 a small furrow about three inches deen with the corner 

 of a hoe, turn in such a stream and sit down and watch 

 it. Or better yet, go down town, or go to bed. If it 

 will cross the ten acres in ten hours with the land well 

 graded to a uniform slope, with the furrow evenly made, 

 and no gopher hole to enarulph it, it is all you should 

 expect. If it will do it in fifteen it is fine, and if it 

 takes twenty-four it is good enough, provided you can 

 have the stream one or two days longer. 



The results of such work if well done are those of 

 a long, slow rain and are superior for almost anything 

 to any form of flooding. This is especially the case in 

 orchards where the cutting of one check to rush its 

 contents into the next one has the effect of a heavy 

 dashing shower. And even the finest flooding that can 



