174 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



It is highly important to level all land so that the 

 water will run freely across at uniform depth and 

 velocity. Leave no low places anywhere, and espe- 

 cially see that no water stands at the foot of the field 

 to make mud holes. A farmer near Springville, Utah, 

 who planted fifteen acres of sugar-beets, started to level 

 the land, and had completed five acres of it when the 

 seeder came along, and so it was planted just as it was 

 — in the usual way. The fifteen acres had precisely 

 the same treatment. The five leveled acres yielded 

 twenty tons to the acre on an average. The ten other 

 acres produced but twelve and a half tons an acre. If 

 the ground is watered uniformly and is properly culti- 

 vated it will make a fine seed-bed. If level and fine 

 when the seeds are planted, they are all covered at the 

 same depth, all will germinate under the same condi- 

 tions, and the capillary attraction in the soil does its 

 perfedl work. The tender rootlets find nourishment 

 and moisture, and make rapid growth. The plant 

 that is well started makes vigorous aftergrowth, and 

 the harvest finally tells the interesting story of in- 

 creased produ(5l. 



The laterals should be carried to the highest van- 

 tage-ground possible and should be opened at con- 

 venient points to allow the water to pass out upon the 

 ground, and in this way it covers the field in seeking 

 its level. The method of making laterals, especially 

 as to the necessity of having them raised above the 

 natural level of the ground, is described in Chapter 

 VI. 



Time to Irrigate. — Generally all ditches in the 

 temperate zone should be ready to receive water by the 



