THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



117 



reason, and that reason is that they must have food in 

 sufficient quantities, so he gives it to them and makes 

 up for lack of space by supplying food. This is why 

 the Chinaman can be seen always dosing his plants 

 with liquid fertilizers. He never rests, but is always 

 at work "forcing" his vegetables to grow. Anyone can 

 do the same, but the average American farmer, with 

 his acres of land to the Celestial's square feet, does not 

 deem it necessary to crowd his plants. Moreover, to 

 speak truly, forced plants are never as substantial as 

 those grown naturally, and this ought to be a sufficient 

 reason for so planting that every individual plant may 

 be surrounded by its own storehouse without encroach- 

 ing upon the preserves of its neighbors. 



The following table will assist the farmer in 

 planting seed, bearing in mind always that the plant 

 is as large under ground as above it, whether it be a 

 tree or a cabbage. The distances are in feet, basing 

 the calculation as 43,560 square feet to the acre: 



Distances No. of 



Apart. Plants. 



1 xl 43,560 



1^2Xl}4 19,360 



x 1 21,780 



x2 10,890 



iTiV/2. 6,969 



xl 14,520 



x2 7,260 



x3 4,840 



3,555 



xl 10,890 



x2 5,445 



x3 3,630 



x4 2,722 



2,151 



xl 8,712 



x2 4,356 



x3 2,904 



X4 2,178 



x5 1,742 



1,417 



x6 1,210 



2 x6Y 2 1,031 



Distances 



Apart. 



7x 8.. . 



8x 8. .. 



9x 9.. . 



No. of 

 Plants. 



888 



680 



537 



10x10 435 



11x11 360 



12x12 302 



13x13 357 



14x14 222 



15x15 193 



16x16 170 



17x17 150 



. 18x18 134 



19x19 120 



20x20 308 



24x24 75 



25x25 69 



27x27 59 



30x30 48 



40x40 27 



50x50 17 



60x60 12 



66x66.. 10 



To round out the above calculation, the following 

 table of the quantity of seeds required in planting is 

 added : 



The quantity of seed for the space specified in the 

 second column of the latter table is much too great, 

 but it is the conventional quantity and is given as the 

 maximum. In our garden culture all of the common 

 plants mentioned are susceptible to transplanting with 

 good results, even the onion; but, of course, in field 

 culture chopping out with a hoe is the most advisable 

 method to pursue in thinning. 



IRRIGATION IN JAMES RIVER VALLEY. __ 

 Farmers of that Section are Working out Many Plans for Good. 



BY A. B. CRAKE, M. S. 



[Professor of Civil and Agricultural Engineering, South Dakota Agricultural 

 College.] 



(For The Irrigation Age.) 



The James River Valley is a land of magnificent 

 prospects. With a soil of great fertility, a genial cli- 

 mate, nearly enough moisture to mature all ordinary 

 crops and an ideal topography, about the only questions 

 which confront the farmer are: "How to supplement 

 the natural rainfall" and "how to bring moisture to 

 the crop at the time it is needed." These two ques- 

 tions are happily answered by the development of the 

 artesian wells, an apparently unfailing source of sup- 

 ply directly at hand and only awaiting the invitation 

 of the driller's tool to arise and do our bidding. 



This district lies just at the edge of what is consid- 

 ered by irrigationists as the humid regions, its eastern 

 limit being about twenty miles east of the James River 

 and approximately parallel to it, following down be- 

 tween the 97th and 98th degrees of longitude. Its 

 extent westward embraces the entire James River 

 Valley and is limited only by the consideration of 

 the relative values of stock raising as against agri- 

 culture, a consideration which changes with the in- 

 crease of population and which has the effect of hold- 

 ing in reserve large tracts which later on become a 

 source of supply for future occupancy. 



Artesian irrigation in this region is not a mere 

 theory; it is a fact, demonstrated by many instances 

 and in many different localities. Farmers are conduct- 

 ing irrigation enterprises ranging from the home gar- 

 den, the market garden and fruit patch to field irriga- 

 tion of grain crops, and in nearly every case with 

 marked success. The few failures can always be traced 

 to, not the fault of the system, but the method or, 

 rather, lack of method. Many who have half tried it 

 disparage the project, but those who have worked it 

 the longest and most systematically speak in most glow- 

 ing terms of its success. 



The problems which confront the irrigationist here 

 are slightly different in detail from those of the arid 

 region, and upon the recognition of this fact and the 

 proper solution of these problems depends the success 

 of the operator. He must remember that irrigation in 

 any locality is an experiment in which results depend 

 upon the local conditions, the individual and the mar- 

 ket. A set of cut-and-dried rules laid down for use in 

 Colorado or Nevada may not be at all applicable here. 

 One man with his methods may attain entirely different 

 results from another with the same soil and water but 

 different way of handling things, and he who observes, 

 experiments and holds closest to nature's laws in fact, 

 applies common sense to his efforts is the man who 

 attains success. 



To illustrate: The climate in the arid region is 

 dry, the land lies in such a manner and the water has 

 such a value that supersaturation is very rare. Here 

 in this semi-humid climate we are apt to have several 

 inches of rain at any time, possibly just after a good, 

 thorough irrigation. Common sense would dictate, 

 then, that some method of quickly removing a surplus 

 of moisture is necessary ; therefore a system of drainage 



