15 



the water will corae up there in the form of seepage, 

 bringing the alkalies contained in the soil with it, 

 and killing the plants in the vicinity. Having short 

 rows means, of course, much channelling, which 

 greatly adds to the first cost of the place, but it will 

 pay in the long run in the ease with which the land 

 can be watered, and in the satisfactory growth of 

 the trees. 



Another matter in which care has to be exercised 

 is to see that the channels are so situated that the 

 grade of watering is not too steep or too level. On 

 sandy rises a fall of one foot to the chain is suffi- 

 cient, while anything under 4 inches to the chain is 

 too little. It is a mistake to water straight down 

 steep slopes, as the force of the water washes deep 

 gutters in the land at the top. The washed-out soil 

 carried down by the water silts up the furrows further 

 down the slope, causing the water to spread over the 

 land at that place, so that very little water reaches 

 the end of the rows. 



Where the land is hard, as on most of the flats, 

 the grade along which to irrigate may be considerably 

 less than upon sandy rises, as the soil absorbs the 

 water far more slowly than is the case with the 

 looser land. The danger of watering along an almost 

 level grade on loose, sandy land is that, through the 

 porous nature of the soil, the water sinks in so 

 rapidly that the top ends of the rows get too much 

 water before the bottom ends have had sufficient. 

 Unless the drainage of the land is excellent, such a 

 system of watering will, sooner or later, cause seepage 

 to appear lower down the slopes. Thus it is not 

 safe to water with a fall of less than 4 inches to the 

 chain on sandy rises from 6 to 9 inches being the 

 most convenient grades. 



