178 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



Aprils 



raising water from the creek. A tem- 

 porary dam causes a small amount of 

 water to accumulate, and this is pumped 

 by the centrifugal pump up the bank 

 and to the fields. In this creek the 

 flow ceases frequently during July, but 

 pools are to be found where the water 

 percolating through the gravels comes 

 to the surface. From these depressions 

 the pumps obtain a supply, the pools 

 filling gradually after the pumps are 

 stopped. 



For fuel, straw, brush, wood, and coal 

 are frequently used. The average price 

 paid in the Sacramento Valley, Califor- 

 nia, for straw is 75 cents a load ; for 

 wood, $4.00 a cord ; for coal, $8.50 per 

 ton, and for gasoline 11 cents a gallon. 

 The pumping engines, being portable, 

 are taken about from place to place and 

 used in turn by neighbors. Each con- 

 tributes his share of the expense, the 

 average cost of irrigation being in many 

 cases less than that paid for the supply 



from gravity ditches. This can hold 

 true only where water can be had at 

 moderate depths, say 20 or 30 feet be- 

 neath the surface. For much greater 

 depths the cost increases to an amount 

 to be prohibitor}'. 



These devices, which are more or less 

 temporary or home-made, can be im- 

 proved upon if the entire outfit is pur- 

 chased from manufacturers experienced 

 in such matters. For temporary emer- 

 gencies it is sometimes necessary to em- 

 ploy any machiner}^ at hand, but if a 

 farmer is proposing to, irrigate and has 

 not already any machinery at hand, he 

 should ascertain the character of his 

 water supply, the height to be lifted, 

 and furnish these facts to an experi- 

 enced manufacturer of irrigation pumps 

 in order that the highest efficiency may 

 be had, or, in other words, the ma- 

 chinery planned on such lines that the 

 necessary quantity of water may be 

 raised with the least amount of fuel. 



PUMPING PI,ANT ON CACHE CRKEK, CALIFORNIA. 



