VI IRRIGATION FARMING. 



order of the hour in all lines of industrial effort. In 

 irrigation this fadl is accentuated with each succeeding 

 year, and to appreciate all the improvements of the 

 times we must not hesitate to command all the best 

 thought and experience of the men who have been 

 successful in leading the waters captive to obey their 

 will in developing the fullest fruition of the earth. 



In treating upon so wide and diversified a subjedl 

 as universal irrigation, I have endeavored throughout 

 to nifke all points touched upon as explicit and com- 

 prehensive as possible, avoiding all useless verbiage, 

 and handling the subjedl as understandingly as has 

 come within the power of simple didlion. While the 

 text of the work is based largely upon personal ex- 

 perience, some of the dedudlions contained in these 

 pages, especially regarding those in which the tech- 

 nical features are most prominent, are adapted from 

 the observations of others proficient in their respecflive 

 lines. I have relied somewhat upon the valuable 

 knowledge of hydraulic engineers and scientists, and 

 have utilized the best authorities attainable whenever 

 technical matters had to be considered. 



Upon careful perusal it will be seen that the strong 

 position taken by the writer all through the work is 

 the importance of consistent and scientific cultivation 

 in connedlion with all irrigation operations. The one 

 is quite as essential as the other, and the two combined 

 are indispensable in attaining the most perfedl results. 

 * * Till and keep tilling ' ' is the most potent axiom of 

 the twentieth century. I have deprecated shiftless 

 methods as derogatory to the best success, and have 

 condemned the practice as inexcusable as the wanton 



