IRRIGATION. 39? 



puted rights are to be considered or feared, such as con- 

 tinually harass users of water in the arid States. 



As an illustration of the possibilities of reservoir irri- 

 gation, the plant of Mueller Brothers, near St. Joseph, 

 Missouri, may be mentioned. The water is pumped from 

 a well on a lower level by a gasoline-engine to a large 

 reservoir on the bluff, nearly one hundred feet above the 

 land to be irrigated. This gives a force to the water con- 

 venient for washing vegetables, and certain home uses at 

 the house and barn, whence it is carried to quite an exten- 

 sive vegetable garden and small fruit plantations. During 

 the dry season of 1901 grocers and hotel-keepers sought 

 the Mueller vegetables and fruits at advanced prices. 



The cost of running the pump at this quite extensive plant 

 averages about thirty-five cents per day, but the water is 

 elevated to an unusual height. An elevation of the bottom 

 of the reservoir of ten feet above the land to be irrigated 

 answers the purpose about as well, as the water will run 

 freely to all parts below that level. In the arid States the 

 surfaces to be watered are levelled often at great expense, 

 but this is usually quite impracticable in the prairie States 

 or east or south of the lakes, and it is not needed, as the 

 water is taken from point to point in wooden troughs or 

 in iron pipes and is distributed by hose. 



401. Reservoirs with Puddled Bottoms. Many conclude 

 that wooden or iron reservoirs, or those that are walled 

 and cemented, can alone be depended upon. But over 

 the world the fact has been long known that on quite firm 

 soil the banks and bottom, if well puddled, will hold water 

 quite as well as the cemented reservoirs and give less 

 trouble, as the frosts of winter do not injure the earth 

 banks, but often do much damage to cement-work. In 

 Kansas and Nebraska they have had the most favorable 



