IRRIGATION. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



IRRIGATION OF FARM CROPS. 



No other country in the world offers so wide a scope, and 

 such enormous opportunities, for the application of irriga- 

 tion to the profitable culture of farm crops, as the United 

 States. A grand chain of mountains, in which are the 

 sources of several of the largest rivers in the w r orld, presents 

 a watershed of enormous proportions, which supplies a myr- 

 iad of streams whose waters flow down into dry plains, de- 

 prived of rain by the interception of the mountains. The 

 summer rainfall and winter snows which fall upon the moun- 

 tains, are thus carried down into the arid plains, where a. 

 wealth of the richest soil lies uselessly, for want of rain,. 

 When the streams which thus flow down, are turned from 

 their natural channels into canals provided for the purpose, 

 and the water is carried over the land in irrigating ditches,, 

 the soil yields the finest crops with the greatest ease. No 

 adverse weather interferes with the labor of the husband- 

 man. The unclouded sun, beams down upon the verdant 

 fields, and ripens the crops, invigorated to most abundant 

 fruitfulness, by the constant and ample supply of water thus- 

 provided. 



But it is not only in these arid climates that irrigation 

 becomes a most valuable aid to the farmer in the culture of 

 his crops. Wherever streams can be turned to this use, and 

 their waters poured out upon lower ground, the grass crop 

 may be doubled or trebled; and what is of more account, 

 may be made safe against all the adverse contingencies of 

 weather. The common and necessary rotation of crops in 

 ordinary farming may be an obstacle in the way of the gen- 

 eral use of irrigation, but for permanent meadows it will be 

 found invaluable and exceedingly profitable. There are 

 thousands of opportunities for making these meadows along 



