2. Units of measurement of water and methods of measuring water. 



3. Methods of conveyance of water. 



4. Duty of water and factors influencing the correct use of water in 

 irrigation. 



5. Irrigation and cultivation of orchards. 



6. Irrigation of potatoes. 



7. Irrigation of alfalfa. 



8. The use of small pumping plants for irrigation. 



The writer has not attempted to take up questions which are purely agri- 

 cultural or horticultural and wherever information along those lines is 

 given it is because of their relation to irrigation. 



During the summer of 1911 the writer at the request of the British 

 Columbia Government, visited many of the irrigated districts of the prov- 

 ince. On two other occasions he has visited the districts in the vicinty of 

 Kamloops and Summerland. This experience has been of great value in 

 selecting for this bulletin information based not only on personal experience 

 and observation, but also on the best practice in the irrigated districts of 

 the United States. Because of the similarity in conditions of the fruit 

 growing regions of British Columbia and those of northwestern states of 

 the United States such as Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana, the 

 practice in those states has been given more weight. The writer has not 

 limited himself to his own experience, but has drawn freely from authorita- 

 tive sources, especially the bulletins of the Irrigation Investigations Office 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the bulletins of the Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Stations of the various western states, for which due 

 credit has been given in all cases. 



I. SELECTION OF AN IRRIGATED FARM 

 AND SETTING OUT ORCHARDS. 



SELECTION OF AN ORCHARD OR FARM UNDER IRRIGATION. 



The intending purchaser should select his land only after he has made 

 a careful investigation of all the requirements necessary for a good farm 

 or orchard. The factors which he should consider are: 



1. Climatic conditions. 



2. Chemical composition of the soil. 



3. Texture of soil and subsoil. 



4. Location and site of orchard. 



5. Surface conditions. 



6. Drainage. 



1. Climatic Conditions. 



These include precipitation and its distribution, temperature, wind 

 movement, length of growing season, etc. A study of the rainfall and its 

 distribution will show whether irrigation is necessary or only desirable. 

 The rainfall, no matter how large during the year, is generally deficient 

 during the growing season and there are very few localities which can not 

 be benefitted by irrigation. This is well shown by the extension of irriga- 

 tion in fruit districts of California, Oregon and Washington where it was 

 formerly believed that irrigation was not necessary. 



The conditions desirable for fruit growing are that the growing season 

 be sufficiently long to mature the fruits and that there be no great or sud- 

 den fluctuations between high and low temperatures in the winter and 

 spring time. At very high elevations the growing season is too short. 



