CHAPTER VIII. 



PIPES FOR IRRIGATION PURPOSES. 



People who have plenty of money and little water 

 will find that the employment of pipes will enable them 

 to use whatever water they have to the best advantage. 

 The use of pipe lines for conveying water, in the place of 

 ditches or flumes, has increased much since the intro- 

 duction of certain cheaper forms of pipe. In the West 

 pipes of wood banded with iron are extensively used as 

 are also pipes of spiral, riveted, or welded iron or steel. 

 The latter combine great strength with lightness and 

 economy. Where waters can be forced under heavy pres- 

 sure the use of surface pipe lines of light pipe will find a 

 broad field of usefulness and should receive such con- 

 sideration as its merits deserve, especially where the work 

 of constructing ditches or flumes is of any special mag- 

 nitude. A large pipe line is intended to take the pkce 

 of a main ditch or flume and not of the distributing lat- 

 erals. The advantage of a pipe line over a ditch lies in 

 the fact that the water supply is not reduced by seepage 

 or evaporation, and the duty of a reservoir is thereby in- 

 creased. The area of surface occupied by the pipe line 

 is not nearly so great as the space occupied by the ditch 

 and embankments, arid thus the area subject to cultiva- 

 tion is increased. The cost of maintenance is less, for a 

 pipe line will need but little attention, whereas ditches, 

 however well they may be made, will require an annual 

 overhauling. The advantage over a flume lies in the 

 fact that evaporation and leakage are done away with. 

 It is here assumed that a pipe connects with a well or 

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