SPECIAL FARM TOPICS 291 



and the further fact that basins are much smaller and last but for 

 one season, have served to distinguish between them and to ac- 

 cord to each a separate place. 



Orchards are prepared for irrigation by this method by form- 

 ing ridges of the loose earth midway between the rows of trees in 

 both directions. These ridges are made with ordinary walking 

 plows by throwing up two furrows or else by a ridger. When the 

 top soil is light and free from weeds only the ridger is required, but 

 in more compact soils and on soils covered with weeds tne surface 

 should first be disked. 



Border Method. One of the most common ways of fitting the 

 surface to be flooded is to divide each field into narrow strips or 

 "lands" by means of low, flat ridges of earth. These ridges extend 

 from the head ditch at the upper margin of the field down the steep- 

 est slope to the bottom. When the slope is too steep they follow a 

 diagonal course. In either case the field is divided into bands or 

 borders, each of which is watered separately. The tract is first 

 plowed or disked and then laid out in narrow parallel strips by plow 

 furrows which mark the locations of the levees. On an average the 

 levees are spaced about 50 feet apart and extend for a distance of 

 800 or more feet. They are usually formed with a scraper, which 

 is driven back and forth in a direction at right angles to that of 

 the markings, and as each full scraper crosses a marking it is 

 dumped and the surface is again skimmed over to collect earth for 

 the next levee. The ridges or levees thus formed are top steep and 

 irregular and they are trimmed and flattened by suitable implements 

 until their height is not more than 8 to 10 inches and the base is 6 

 to 7 feet wide. The land between the levees is carefully leveled 

 and graded so as to permit water to flow in a thin sheet from the top 

 to the bottom of each border. 



Pipe Method. Where water is pumped from wells and where 

 it is conducted from gravity canals under pressure, a convenient way 

 of irrigating certain crops is by means of surface pipes. These 

 pipes are made at the factory into convenient lengths, usually 10 

 feet, of various diameters, and of different weights and kinds of 

 metal. When not in use they are stored in an outbuilding or shed 

 and carted to the field which is in need of water. In the main feed 

 pipe, which is laid underground across the top of the field to be 

 watered, there are standpipes at regular intervals, and a length of 

 the movable pipe is attached to the lowest standpipe, using heavy 

 canvas hose to make the connection. To this length others are at- 

 tached until a line extends on one side of the field to within a short 

 distance of the bottom. When the water is turned on, a section of 

 canvas hose serves to distribute the water down the slope and as far 

 on each side as the hose will reach. Several lengths of pipe are then 

 removed and carried over to an adjoining strip. The hose is again 

 attached and another block of land watered. In this manner an en- 

 tire strip on one side of the field is watered, and the pipe is again 

 strung out in such a way that the strip next to the first can be 

 watered. (Y. B. 1909.) 



