250 SOILS 



chain to a 3J-inch centrifugal pump, which lifts 

 1,000 gallons per minute to a height of ten feet. 

 It irrigates 200 acres at the rate of 2 inches every 

 10 days, and costs $1,200. 



Hydraulic Rams. Large hydraulic rams are 

 often serviceable for irrigating small areas. They 

 are cheap and they work for many years with 

 practically no attention. A large modified ram 

 known as a siphon elevator, is said to be capable 

 of lifting 6 acre-inches under a head of 10 feet to 

 25 feet high in 24 hours, or enough to irrigate 24 

 acres 2| inches deep every ten days. This can be 

 used only when there is a reservoir, and costs about 

 $500. 



In Europe and Asia various crude devices for 

 using horse, mule and man power are often used 

 to lift water for irrigation. These are for the most 

 part entirely unnecessary and impracticable in the 

 United States, being too slow and laborious; but 

 from these humble beginnings many prosperous 

 irrigated farms have been developed in the and and 

 semi-arid regions of our own country. 



DISTRIBUTING THE WATER 



Water is diverted from the main canal into the 

 farm laterals, and from these into smaller supply 

 ditches, through a sluice-gate made of boards or 

 planks. These are of many styles, but the essen- 

 tial principle in most of them is a rectangular 

 flume or sluiceway with a wooden shutter, mortised 

 into the upper end, which can be raised and lowered 

 in its groove. In diverting water from a ditch the 

 covered sluiceway is carried through the bank 

 nearly on a level with the bottom of the ditch and 

 the gate is placed at the ditch end. The joints of 



