194 



SOILS. 



S. Fortier has made several series of tests to determine the 

 actual yield of grain crops under field conditions when sup- 

 plied with different amounts of water. Two of these were 

 made at the Montana experiment station in 1902 and 1903, 

 (see reports of these years), in large tanks placed in a field, 

 level with the ground. The results of the last year's experi- 

 ments are shown graphically in the figure below, from which 



it will be seen that the 

 yield increased quite regu- 

 larly with the amount of 

 water supplied, up to the 

 depth of 36 inches of 

 water. 



It should be noted that 

 in this case (and as usual) 

 not only the quantity but 

 the quality of the grain 

 was greatly improved as 

 the water-supply in- 

 creased, it becoming 

 larger and more uniform 

 in size. 



Of similar experiments 

 made in the San Joaquin 

 Valley, California, in 

 1904, Fortier says: 1 



"In e x p e r i m enting 

 with barley last winter 



FIG. 37. Experiments on Cereal production with , '. _.,..- 



various amounts of water (Fortier, Report Mont. 1 rainiail, 



Ex P t. sta., 1903). which amounted to 4^2 



inches during the period of growth, produced at the rate of 

 nine bushels per acre, while the application of sixteen inches 

 of water increased the yield to twenty-two bushels per acre. 

 In the same case; of wheat, the rainfall, alone, produced straw, 

 but no grain ; four inches of additional irrigation water pro- 

 duced a yield at the rate of ten bushels, and sixteen inches of 

 water increased the yield to thirty-eight bushels per acre." 



" Water and Forest," January, 1905. " The Use of Water," by S. Fortier. 



