46 



Effective Farming 



Flooding. The method termed flooding is employed 

 principally for watering grain fields. When a field is to be wa- 

 tered, the area is covered with a sheet of water from the supply- 

 ditch which is elevated above the level of the field. This 

 method is used chiefly in arid and semi-arid regions. 



Furrow irrigation. In furrow irrigation, the water from 

 the supply-ditch is conducted into furrows that have been 

 plowed across the land. The water in the furrows will 



soak into the soil 

 by capillary force un- 

 til the whole area 

 has been watered. 

 This system is espe- 

 cially applicable to 

 fruits and vegetables 

 and is largely em- 

 ployed in the western 

 part of the United 

 States, although it is 

 found installed in a 

 few places in the 

 East and Southeast. 

 In Fig. 18 is shown 

 a section of an orange 

 grove in California 

 watered by furrow 

 irrigation. 



23. Soil drainage. Lowering the water-level by drainage 

 is the farmer's method of reducing the quantity of water in 

 the soil. There are many large areas of land in the United 

 States that are practically worthless for farming because of too 

 much water and by the installation of proper drainage-systems 

 many such areas could be made to produce abundant crops. 

 On many farms there are low wet places that, if drained, could 

 be used to increase the tillable land. Drained land is usually 



FIG. 18. Furrow irrigation in a California 

 citrus grove. 



