38 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



Land to be irrigated must present an absolutely 

 flat surface. Alfalfa will not thrive in water-logged 

 soil. Now comes in our friend Juan or Jesus, who 

 with plow and scraper reduces the land to a uniform 

 level. Then he blocks it out* in squares until the 

 whole affair looks like a gigantic chessboard. The 

 sides of each square are heaped sufficiently high to 

 retain the water for thorough saturation of the soil. 

 As soon as one square is soaked a hole is made in 

 the "border" with the ubiquitous hoe, and the stream 

 gushes forth into the next square, and so on. This 

 is irrigating after the Mexican manner, and even if 

 some American farmer prefers a more elaborate 

 method, it comes to much the same thing in the end. 



Nevertheless, the American who makes his ir- 

 rigating ditches deeper and wider and his borders 

 higher is the man who gets ahead. 



Many Americans irrigate before sowing and not 

 again until the crop is well above ground. Personally 

 I have had indifferent success with this plan, and so 

 have done as the natives do. The Mexican sows 

 his seed before repairing to the Community acequia, 

 or ditch. He raises the water gate, and lets the wa- 

 ter flow into the private ditches of the ranch, and 

 then following up with his hoe, proceeds as here- 

 tofore described. This is the simple yet effectual 

 flooding system. It seems as if the fine seed of the 

 alfalfa, sown near the surface and only brushed 

 over and not harrowed into the ground, must in- 

 evitably be swept away and drowned, but somehow 

 or other it survives, and soon greets our eyes with 

 a brave show of green. It is usually sown here in 



