METHOD OF IRRIGATION 



201 



is that the first cost of preparing the land for irrigation is 

 small; the top soil is not disturbed, and the field is not 

 cut up by levees that make ordinary farming operations 

 difficult. The disadvantages are that the necessary 

 field labor is hard; the field ditches must be made over 

 from year to year; and, finally, it is difficult to secure 

 an even distribution. It is clear, however, from the 

 great extension of this method that the advantages over- 

 shadow the disadvantages. This is the method employed 

 by the Mormon pioneers when they founded irrigation 

 in the Salt Lake Valley and is still one of the safest methods 

 of irrigation in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, (Colorado and some 

 of the other irrigated states. Practically all manner of 

 crops, except those planted and cultivated in rows, can 

 be irrigated by this method. In spite of its disadvantages, 

 immense yields, the largest on record, have been secured 

 by this method of irrigation. (Figs. 35-39.) 



