IRRIGATION. 395 



400. Watering the Orchard Fruits. A large part of the 

 watering in the arid States is from mountain streams or 

 from reservoirs filled from such streams or from melted 

 snows. But in the States east of the mountains the 

 streams usually run in deep channels and orchards are 

 usually on much higher land. In the prairie States they 

 could rarely be used for direct irrigation, as the channels 

 are low and they usually run dry except in wet seasons in 

 August, when most needed. But in the more uneven or 

 hilly sections of the States east of the lakes a combination 

 of neighbors will often permit taking the water from some 

 point higher up on the stream into irrigating channels for 

 watering fruits on a lower level. But the rule that water 

 must be pumped from streams, stream-beds, or wells on 

 lower levels to reservoirs on the highest side of the orchard 

 or small fruit plantation has few exceptions. 



Perhaps no plan for general uses is more practical and 

 profitable than the one extensively used in east Europe 

 and over a large part of central Asia, where they usually 

 have rains in the early part of the season. During the 

 spring months water is pumped by windmills from a lower 

 level to reservoirs on the highest side of the fruit planta- 

 tions. These reservoirs are excavated in the soil and the 

 bottom and sides are puddled with clay as now practised 

 in Kansas and Nebraska. When made an iron pipe is laid 

 from the bottom to a distributing pipe across the high 

 side of the plantations, with a hydrant for every two rows 

 of trees or for a space of about forty feet for small fruits 

 and gardens. The water is led by a hose to wooden 

 troughs made V-shaped for running it over the ground. 

 In orchard-watering some work is done in advance. The 

 earth is drawn away to a depth of four or five inches 

 around the crown of every tree, forming a basin six to 

 eight feet in diameter, with the loose dirt compacted at 



