06 ARID AGRICULTURE. 



is in places retained, chiefly among stockmen 

 with only incidental interests in farming and on 

 lands of comparatively small value. As lands 

 increase in value and methods improve, these 

 meadows are re-seeded to finer grasses and more 

 care is used in irrigation. If the practice of 

 wild flooding is retained at all, the meadow is 

 left under water for short periods only, of a few 

 hours to a week in duration. 



FLOODING This is usually known simply as "flooding," 



and is perhaps the most widely used of all meth- 

 ods, especially in the newer irrigated districts. 

 The ditches are most commonly run parallel to 

 the slope, irrigation taking place from only one 

 side of the ditch and extending to the next ditch. 

 Sometimes on nearly level land the ditches are 

 run down the steepest slope, irrigation taking 

 place from both sides and extending midway 

 between ditches. Under either method the dis- 

 tance between laterals should not be over 200 

 feet, and it is better to have them closer together. 

 Irrigation is easier and more uniform if the lat- 

 erals are only 50 to 100 feet apart, though, of 

 course, it is then necessary to have more field 

 ditches, each one of which takes out some crop- 

 growing area from the field. For valuable crops, 

 however, the advantage lies with the closer spac- 

 ing of the ditches. These field ditches may be 

 either temporary or semi-permanent. With an- 

 nual crops, such as grains, the common practice 



