5 6 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



require it, now seeks the public acequia. 

 He raises the water-gate, and lets the stream 

 flow into the private ditches of the ranch, 

 following it up, making dams with his hoe, 

 and directing it into the special ditch re- 

 quiring to be filled. From this acequia, by 

 cutting small water-ways in the borders, he 

 runs the water into one square after another 

 until all are covered in turn with from one 

 to two inches of water, according to the 

 supply and to the condition of the land. 

 This is the simple and effective flooding 

 system. Sub-irrigation, practised with suc- 

 cess in portions of California, has been found 

 to be on the whole a failure here. It seems 

 as though the fine seed of the alfalfa, and 

 especially as it is never covered deep, must 

 inevitably be swept away and drowned by 

 the waves of such a flood ; but somehow or 

 other it survives, and soon greets our wait- 

 ing eyes with a show of tender green. It is 

 usually sown here in March or April, and 

 with a nurse-crop of oats or barley, for the 

 double purpose of keeping down the weeds 

 and sheltering the young alfalfa from the 

 burning rays of the sun. It is ready for its 



