364 IRRIGATION PRACTICE 



Still another application of the method of rotation is 

 found where city lots are watered for the purpose of main- 

 taining home gardens, which usually, because of less care- 

 ful cultivation, require water very frequently. Under this 

 method the flow of water is divided into many small 

 streams that make it possible to irrigate every week or 

 every two weeks. 



Each farmer, under the rotation method of distribution, 

 is notified at the beginning of the irrigation season of the 

 size of the stream allotted, and the time and frequency 

 of its use. The farmer is sometimes permitted to turn the 

 water into his own ditch at the hour assigned, but the 

 better plan is to allow a regularly employed water- 

 master or ditch-tender to open or close all gates and to 

 divert water to or from farms. The farmers under a 

 lateral frequently organize, and as a company manage 

 the water from the lateral, exactly as the laterals are 

 managed by the canal company. When this is done, the 

 responsibility for the ultimate distribution of the water 

 rests upon the group of farmers living under the lateral. 

 Such lateral organizations are proving very satisfactory, 

 and it may be that they will increase until the canal 

 managements will need to exercise no further jurisdiction 

 over the distribution of water after it has once been 

 turned into the laterals. Such a lateral organization 

 determines for itself the method of water distribution to 

 be used. 



219. Distribution on application. This method means 

 that water flows to a farm only at the request of the 

 farmer. The method is practicable only under reservoirs, 

 or canals that are always filled with water. Under reser- 

 voirs the farmer may be said to own a definite quantity 

 of stored water upon which he may draw as he chooses, 



