THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



239 



face water of the water shed above and is utilized on the 

 farm as desired. 



At the Cheyenne station the water is pumped from 

 a creek into a dirt reservoir 1,000 feet away and twenty- 

 five feet above by means of specially constructed wind- 

 mills of large capacity. Experiences in the past have 

 shown that windmills for irrigation purposes have not 

 been able to supply sufficient water to irrigate more than 

 one or two acres. The reason for this is that the wind 

 velocity is very variable and is oftener eight miles per 

 hour than twenty. Irrigation pumps are designed for 

 large capacity and considerable power and consequently 

 they do not begin to work until the wind velocity is 

 ten or twelve miles per hour, and when the wind in- 

 creases to twenty-five miles per hour very little more 

 water is pumped than at twelve miles. 



Prof. C. J. Zintheo, in charge of Farm Machinery 

 Investigations of the Office of Experiment Stations, has 



consists in pumping water from a dug well by means 

 of a gasoline engine and storing it in a reservoir for use 

 on garden truck and such crops as are needed for home 

 consumption. In each case a careful record is kept 

 of the cost of establishing and maintaining the dif- 

 ferent kinds of irrigation plants, the efficiency of the 

 plant and the increased yield of crops due to the irri- 

 gation. Thus the farmer may learn the value of th-2 

 investment in such plants. 



It is believed that when the cost of irrigation water 

 rights, together with the construction and maintenance 

 of ditches is compared with the individual irrigation 

 plant, the latter will have some points in its favor. 



It is not expected that the farmer will be able to 

 irrigate all of his land by this method, so the second 

 point of these experiments consists in determining how 

 the farmer may produce the largest crops on the balance 

 of his farm without irrigation. 



A Flume Across River in Montana. 



had designed an attachment for windmills which will 

 automatically regulate the length of the stroke of the 

 pump with the velocity of the wind so that at a wind 

 velocity of five miles per hour the stroke of the pump 

 is but two inches in length and a small amount of water 

 is pumped, while at thirty miles per hour the stroke is 

 increased to 'twenty-four inches and a great volume of 

 water is pumped. Thus all the available power of the 

 wind is utilized and the efficiency of windmills for irri- 

 gation purposes greatly increased. Experiments with 

 two wheeled windmills compared with single wheeled 

 mills and the automatic pumping attachment are now 

 being conducted at the Cheyenne Experiment Station 

 which promise to be of great value to the individual 

 irrigator. Experiments are also being conducted with 

 winter irrigation compared with summer irrigation. By 

 this means a double irrigation period can be established 

 as the water which runs away in winter can be conserved 

 and stored in the soil and the spring freshets can be 

 utilized for summer irrigation on another piece of land. 

 At the Nebraska station the irrigation experiment 



For this purpose Professor Zintheo is having spe- 

 cial grain drills made which will plant the small grain 

 in deep furrows something like the corn lister plants the 

 corn, leaving the soil between the drill rows in ridges. 

 This plan has the advantage of putting the grain down 

 deep in the soil where there is sufficient moisture to 

 germinate it and at the same time not cover it too 

 deeply. It also has the advantage of protecting the young 

 plants from the wind, to prevent the soil from blowing 

 and drifting, and to catch all of the moisture which 

 falls in these furrows and to convey it to the plant roots 

 instead of allowing it to run off the land as it does 

 when the top surface is smooth. Different depths of 

 plowing and subsoiling are also practiced. Special cul- 

 tivators have been made for intertillage of small grain 

 during the growing season to provide a soil mulch and 

 to prevent the evaporation of the soil moisture. 



The experiments are planned to determine what 

 distance apart in drill rows will give the best yield; 

 what is the effect of different methods of intertillage 

 compared with no tillage during the growing season ; 



