1 68 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



place that there is in another, the ground will dry un- 

 evenly, and the dry patches will be too dry before the 

 wet spots are dry enough to plow, for in irrigating 

 orchards, or any crop that requires cultivation, the plow 

 or cultivator must follow as soon as the ground is in 

 good working order. A bird's-eye view of a well- 

 planned irrigated farm is given in Fig. 46. It will be 

 observed that the land lies on a gentle slope, over which 

 water nay be spread with easy gradient and in equal 

 ratio to all portions. The various plats may or may 

 not be fenced, according to the owner's judgment, and 

 in most cases fences are obsolete except for pasturage. 

 In the use of water it may be estimated that i ,000 

 gallons of water a minute will irrigate an acre an hour 

 of row crops, such as potatoes, corn, etc. , and it requires 

 two men to handle this amount of water properly, as it 

 is equal to ninety miner's inches. An inch of water 

 nominally will cover an acre of land. The cost of 

 irrigating an acre will vary all the way from 75 cents 

 to $1 . 50 for a season of 100 days. Water-rates in Colo- 

 rado, where water is rented, are usually $1.50 an acre 

 per annum, and this rate is fixed by the county com- 

 missioners. It is a good rule, in the arid region at 

 least, to have the water running constantly on some 

 portion of the farm, although this is not an inflexible 

 rule on account of the wastefulness which it entails. 

 Old irrigators never shut off the water when a shower 

 comes up. In all irrigating work it is well to imitate 

 nature as nearly as we can. It will be well to remem- 

 ber in this connecftion that the soil must be adapted to 

 the way, which on the other hand is itself not adapted 

 to all soils. 



