IRRIGATION OF FIELD CROPS. 153 



times and gets twenty-five bushels of wheat to the acre. 

 An American irrigates three times and gets thirty-five to 

 forty bushels. Another farmer irrigates twice and gets 

 fifty-five bushels to the acre. An ordinary laborer irri- 

 gates fifteen to twenty-five acres in a day, though much 

 more can and is often done, while thirty to fifty acres are 

 irrigated by some farmers. 



Wheat. This crop should never be sown on low 

 land not even second bottom but always on high land, 

 plateaus or mesas. Where drainage is naturally good a 

 deeply mellow soil is not the best, as some advocate. A 

 good seedbed is absolutely essential, but the surface in 

 rainy sections should be left quite rough for winter 

 wheat, because it prevents the roots from being broken 

 and dried out when the heaving of the soil in the early 

 spring takes place ; and the ground should never be rolled 

 where spring wheat is sown, in arid climates especially, 

 because the heavy west winds will cut the crop entirely 

 off. 



It is always best to germinate sown wheat if possi- 

 ble without resorting to the expedient of irrigating it 

 "up, "as is sometimes done by careless farmers. The 

 ground should be in good moist tilth before the seeding 

 is done, and if the rains have not been of sufficient 

 quantity to supply the necessary moisture the field 

 should be given a good flooding of from six to ten 

 inches in depth. After a good harrowing the seed may 

 be planted with a press drill, using from 60 to 75 pounds 

 to the acre. The use of the press drill obviates the em- 

 ployment of a roller, which is really superfluous where 

 the crop is to be irrigated. It is an object to have the 

 grain germinate as quickly as possible in order to out- 

 strip the weeds. Here in Colorado we plant wheat early 

 in April and it comes up inside of thirty days. If 

 there is good moisture in the soil no water is needed un- 

 til the last week in May, and some men make it a rule 



