THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1903, BY D. H. ANDERSON. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



HOW PLANT FOOD IS TRANSFORMED INTO PLANTS. 



The growth of plants from the seed to the harvest, 

 or fall of the leaf, may be divided into four periods, 

 during each of which they live on different foods and 

 expend their energies in the production of different 

 substances. 



This is important to be well understood, for plants 

 can not be dieted like animals, they need certain provi- 

 sions at certain periods of their growth, and if not 

 supplied with them the result is failure, or a sparse 

 crop. A farmer feeds his chickens egg-producing food, 

 his cows milk-generating fodder and mash, and his 

 cattle fat-making provender. He might as well deprive 

 his animals of their necessary stimulating food and 

 expect them to go on laying eggs, furnishing milk and 

 growing fat, as to expect his crops to succeed without 

 providing them with the requisite material to arrive at 

 perfection. But, to proceed. 



These four periods in the life of plants are : 



First The period of germination, that is, from 

 the sprouting of the seed to the formation of the first 

 perfect leaf and root. 



Second From the unfolding of the first true 

 leaves to the flower. 



Third From the flower to the ripening of the 

 fruit or seed. 



Fourth From the ripening of the fruit, or seed, 

 to the fall of the leaf and the return of the following 

 spring. 



Of course, in anuual plants, when the seed or fruit 

 is ripe or harvested, there are no more duties or func- 

 tions to perform, hence the plants die, having accom- 

 plished the object of their existence. But in the case 

 of perennial plants, there are important things to be 

 done in order to prepare them for the new growth of 

 the ensuing spring. 



PERIOD OF GERMINATION. 



1. To sprout at all, a seed must be placed in a 

 sufficiently moist situation. No circulation can take 

 place, no motion among the particles of the matter 

 composing the seed, until it has been amply supplied 

 with water. Indeed, food can not be conveyed through 

 its growing organs unless a constant supply of fluid be 

 furnished the infant plant and its first tender rootlets. 

 This does not mean drenching the immature plant with 

 water, but supplying it with moisture. A child needs 

 feeding just as much as an adult, but not to the same 

 extent, and over-feeding kills the young plant as quickly 

 as the young animal. The reason is plain, if the reader 

 remembers what was sajd in the last chapter, in which 

 it was specified that water is a chemical compound of 

 oxygen and hydrogen. In this state it is too strong a 

 food for the young plant, and "drowns" it out, as the 

 saying is. But in a state of moisture, the chemical 

 nature of the water is altered somewhat and becomes 

 available to the juices in -the seed, whereby the germ 

 is enabled to grow and fulfill its mission without meet- 

 ing with a premature death. It is water that is the 

 parent of moisture and without water, of course, there 

 can be no moisture. Nevertheless, throughout this en- 

 tire book, it is moisture that will be insisted upon ; 



when plants have that, the whole object of irrigation 

 will be accomplished, unless it be the intention to grow 

 aquatic plants. 



Now, this moisture must be constant during the 

 entire life of the plant, not liberal one day with the 

 next day dry, and so on, alternately, as some say may 

 happen in the case of pork for the purpose of making 

 alternate layers of fat and lean in the bacon, but not in 

 the case of vegetation. 



2. A certain degree of warmth is necessary to 

 germination. This warmth varies with the seed, some 

 seeds, those containing much starch, for instance, re- 

 quiring more, and slow germinating seeds less. What is 

 needed is not too early a planting and protection against 

 any inclemency of the weather from frost or cold rains, 

 and not too late a planting in locations where there are 

 no winter or spring frosts, to avoid too great a heat 

 from the sun, which is as dangerous to tender plants 

 as frost. "Warmth" is a sufficiently descriptive word 

 to make the meaning clear. 



3. Seeds refuse to germinate if entirely excluded 

 from the air, even where there is plenty of moisture. 

 Hence, in a damp soil, seeds will not show any signs 

 of life for a long time, and yet when turned up near 

 the surface within reach of the air, they speedily sprout. 

 The starch in the grain intended to feed the germ will 

 not dissolve in water, so it happens that the farmer, 

 sometimes, in ditching or digging a well, throws up 

 earth that has lain many feet below the surface for 

 years, perhaps ages, the length of time makes no differ- 

 ence, from which sprout plants of unknown varieties. 

 They have never lost their vitality. The "oat hills" in 

 the southern part of California are familiar examples. 

 Year after year a good crop of oats springs up without 

 planting, cultivating the surface being sufficient to 

 bring the buried grain within reach of the air. It is 

 said that the old Padres originally sowed this grain 

 broadcast wherever they went, taking a sack of it on 

 their horses, and as they traveled along cast handfuls 

 of it in the most favorable spots. This grain grew to 

 maturity year after year, going back to the soil unhar- 

 vested, there being nobody to gather it. The civil and 

 criminal records of the southern California courts are 

 full of lawsuits and murders growing out of struggles 

 to obtain and retain possession of these "oat hills." 



A friend for whose accuracy there is abundant evi- 

 dence, cites a case that happened to him personally in a 

 small valley in the semi-arid region. Wanting water 

 he began sinking a well and went down one hundred 

 feet before reaching moist ground. That ground was 

 a soft black loam, and desiring to keep it for a top 

 dressing, he laid it aside for future use. Not long 

 afterward seeds began sprouting all over it and, helping 

 the sprouts with a little water to keep the soil moist, 

 he raised a thick crop of fine sweet clover. The seeds 

 had never been planted by the hand of man, for the 

 formation of the soil indicated that it might have been 

 in the same condition since the Deluge. 



4. Generally speaking, light is injurious to ger- 

 mination, wherefore, the seeds must be covered with 

 soil, and yet not so deep as to be beyond the reach of 

 air. Sowing grain broadcast leaves much of it exposed 

 to the light, and even after harrowing, it does not ger- 

 minate, being food for birds and drying up or burning 

 up in the sun. In light, porous soils, it is common, 

 however, to sow broadcast and then plow under, after- 

 ward harrowing lightly. It is also common in the arid 



