IRiaGATING A YOUNG VINEYARD. THERE IS NO BETTER MEANS KNOWN OF INSURING THE GROWTH 



OF PLANT LIFE 



one plant alone. Farmers on adjoining tracts experienced no difficulty in 

 obtaining all the water needed for their crops, notwithstanding that the 

 larger plant was pumping apparently from -the same underground strata. 



This clearly indicates that it is possible for a farmer to grow alfalfa in 

 a section not now served by a canal system, and that he may safely place 

 absolute reliance upon this method of irrigation for all purposes. There 

 never need be fear of drought. 



An idea of the rapid development of irrigation may be gleaned from a 

 statement made by the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, which is the 

 source of the electric energy used throughout Yolo County. This company 

 had five horse-power used for irrigating purposes in the city limits of 

 Woodland. That was in 1911, and since that time the distributing lines have 

 been extended until today there is a grand total of over fifty miles of 11,000 

 volts pole line and more than 2,500 horsepower have been harnessed by farmers 

 to centrifugal pumps in units varying from five to 150 horsepower for the pur- 

 pose of irrigating alfalfa, sugar beets, grain, corn, orchards and vineyards. 



Reclamation 



Just as the modern farmer has learned to store up the mountain waters for 

 irrigation work in summer, he has also learned to reclaim for his use thousands 

 of acres of overflow land which were formerly useless except for occasional 

 pasturage. Yolo County contains approximately 200,000 acres of such land. 

 Of this about 70,000 acres have already been reclaimed ; another 30,000 are 

 under way ; 6,000 are given over to the by-pass for the Sacramento River, leaving 

 about 40.000 not yet undertaken. This land is part of a general plan involving 

 over $30,000,000, of which one-third is for river improvement and two-thirds for 

 levee construction. It is assured that the Federal Government will bear one-half 

 the river improvement work or about one-sixth of the entire cost. 



SOUVENIR 



13 



EDITION 



