Laying out the Land 13 



suppose that irrigation experience will, at a no dis- 

 tant future, devise an inexpensive and efficient sys- 

 tem of overhead watering that will to a great extent 

 supersede our present methods of orchard irri- 

 gation, j . 



On the "check system" a piece of land is graded 

 perfectly level and is then surrounded by a check 

 bank. Water is let in at one end and the whole 

 piece flooded, the check bank confining the water to 

 the enclosed piece of land. Owing to the cost of 

 grading, the check system of irrigation is chiefly 

 confined to fairly level country; but where this 

 method of watering is used on sloping ground, the 

 land is graded into terraces, each with an encircling 

 check bank. Watering by flooding the land with an 

 even sheet of water was the favourite method of 

 irrigation practised by the ancients, and is also the 

 system adopted on a great many of the modern 

 irrigation areas. 



For the growing of cereals, such as rice, barley, 

 wheat, as well as for such classes of fodder as 

 lucerne and clovers, flooding is the best method of 

 watering. Theoretically, the check system of water- 

 ing is a good system of irrigation, as all the land 

 obtains the same amount of water. In practical 

 application, however, the flooding of land has its 

 drawbacks, as it consolidates the surface of the 

 ground. Where this system of irrigation is practised 

 in orchards, the land has to be thoroughly cultivated 

 after each irrigation to prevent it from setting into a 

 hard mass. 



The "furrow" system of irrigation is the one 

 usually practised in orchards, .and often also for the 

 more vigorous growing varieties of fodders, such as 

 sorghum or maize. A furrow is ploughed along each 

 side of the rows of the plants to be watered, and the 

 water is allowed to run along them until the end 



