I03 



Irrioration is a matter which calls for considerable me- 

 chanical and engineering skill. 



The water must be let on to the field at its highest point. 

 and so guided as to reach all parts by gravitation, in many 

 small ditches usually made with the plow. These ditches 

 must be filled at least two or three times per month and 

 the ground thoroughly soaked. The nearer to the surface 

 of the ground the roots of the crop so much oftener will 

 the application be required. When we consider the cli- 

 mate of California with a temperature of over 100° in the 

 shade, sometimes 120°, we perceive that the evaporation 

 must be very rapid. 



Although the cool strata of air which comes down from 

 the snow clad mountains (always visible the year round, 

 requiring one or more blankets to sleep under), there is 

 very little dew after the first two months of the dry 

 season. Large streams which are navigable in the wet 

 season, have become- dried up and their beds used as car- 

 riage roads. 



These cold nights, we opine to be the cause of the lack 

 of sugar in the fruits of California as compared with those 

 grown where the range of temperature is less, and the 

 nights much warmer. The only kind of grass that has 

 been tried with any degree of success has been the Alfalfa? 

 a coarse species of clover which sends its roots sometimes 

 from six to ten feet to obtain water. A few years ago an 

 experiment was tried to see how much could be raised on 

 a measured acre of level land. An embankment was made 

 around the plot, so as to hold six inches of water, and was 

 filled after taking off each crop. The result was eight 

 crops of an average of two tons each. 



I saw myself more than two tons per acre being taken 

 from a field near Salt Lake City, in 1881, on the first day 

 of May. 



