1 6 Fruitgrowing under Irrigation 



of course, much channeling, which greatly adds to 

 the first cost of the place, but it will pay in the long 

 run in the ease with which the land can be watered, 

 and in the satisfactory growth of the trees. 



Another matter in which care has to be exercised 

 is to see that the channels are so situated that the 

 grade of watering is not too steep or too level. On 

 sandy rises a fall of one foot to the chain is sufficient, 

 while anything under four inches to the chain is too 

 little. It is a mistake to water straight down steep 

 slopes, as the force of the water washes deep gutters 

 in the land at the top. The washed-out soil carried 

 down by the water silts up the furrows further down 

 the slope, causing the water to spread over the land 

 at that place, so that very little water reaches the 

 end of the rows. 



Where the land is hard, as on most of the flats, 

 the grade along which to irrigate may be consider- 

 ably less than upon sandy rises, as the soil absorbs 

 the water far more slowly than is -the case with the 

 looser land. The danger of watering along an 

 almost level grade on loose, sandy land is that, 

 through the porous nature of the soil, the water 

 sinks in so rapidly that the top ends of the rows get 

 too much water before the bottom ends have had 

 sufficient. Unless the drainage of the land is excel- 

 lent, such a system of watering will, sooner or later, 

 cause seepage to appear lower down the slopes. 

 Thus it is not safe to water with a fall of less than 

 four inches to the chain on sandy rises, from six 

 inches to nine inches being the most convenient 

 grades, while on hard flats a considerably smaller 

 grade, of even an inch to the chain, may be used 

 with safety. 



Where the contour of the ground is such that the 

 only way to water is to irrigate down a steep slope, 

 then the rows should be very short. Rows that 



