274 



THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



tion between the first and second cuttings ; and in some 

 cases a third, or even a fourth crop can be cut. During 

 the cutting season, the best time to apply water is a few 

 days previous to mowing. By this method, the new 

 growth starts promptly after each crop is removed. 



Alfalfa is especially adapted to a region with a 

 fluctuating water supply, such as we have. When once 

 established, the crop produced varies with the water 

 applied, within certain limits. Water may be applied 

 freely during the winter when it is abundant, and with- 

 held entirely during the summer. In fact, it will live 

 during several average years without the application of 

 any irrigating water. One field that has been under 

 the observation of the writer has not been irrigated for 

 over four years, yet many of the plants are still alive, a 

 crop having been cut each spring the first two of the 

 four years. Up to a limit of about six crops of two tons 

 each, the -amount that a field of alfalfa will yield in- 

 creases with the quantity of water applied. A total of 

 four to six feet can be applied to advantage during the 

 year. It is not easily killed by drought, but it thrives 

 under and responds to irrigation as satisfactorily as 

 does any crop grown. 



(To Be Continued.) 



METHODS OF PREPARING LAND FOR IRRIGATION. 



The Office of Experiment Stations, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, will soon issue a bulletin 

 describing methods of preparing land for irrigation and 

 applying water to crops in different sections of the 

 arid region of the United States. In this bulletin the 

 methods of getting rid of sagebrush, smoothing the 

 ground, building laterals, and distributing water over 

 fields as developed by the experience of farmers in 

 irrigated districts are brought together and described. 

 The tools and implements used are illustrated and the 

 cost of the work, based upon actual examples in dif- 

 ferent States, is given. The purpose is to afford begin- 

 ners a reliable guide both as to the cost of bringing 

 wild land under cultivation and methods best suited to 

 different soils, climates and crops. The facts included 

 in this bulletin have been gathered by the irrigation 

 investigations of this office, acting in co-operation with 

 the State Experiment Stations and State Engineer's 

 offices. 



This bulletin brings out the fact, not well under- 

 stood, that the cost of preparing land for irrigation is 

 in many instances greater than the cost of building 

 ing canals and reservoirs. Detailed figures of the cost 

 of checking land show that it varies in certain districts 

 in California from $9.96 to $18.08 per acre. This is 

 more than twice the cost of the canal systems in the 

 San Joaquin valley, California, which is given in the 

 report of the Census Bureau for 1902 as $4.99 per 

 irrigated acre. Where the preparing of land is con- 

 tracted for the cost of checking varies from $7.50 to 

 $20 per acre. The price of preparing land for flooding 

 is much less but is $5 per acre in Wyoming. The 

 need of a better understanding of this particular branch 

 of irrigation practice is becoming more and more im- 

 portant. Eeservoirs and canals are but means to ac- 

 complish a purpose. That purpose is to increase the 

 products of the soil. The value of the ditch or reser- 

 voir depends upon the acreage of land which it will 

 serve and the increase in the value of the products which 

 the use of water will bring about. The time is com- 

 ing when the most important problems connected with 



irrigation will be the best means of applying water, 

 and not, as at present, those of canal and reservoir 

 building. 



About thirty different methods of applying water 

 are now in use. This does not mean that there are 

 thirty distinct systems, but includes the different ways 

 of preparing land by checking, compartments, deep 

 and shallow furrows, flooding, sprinkling, and sub- 

 irrigation. The bulletin gives some of the results of 

 a series of tests of different methods of applying water 

 and the difference in loss of water by evaporation in 

 deep and shallow furrows and in flooding. About one 

 and one-half times as much water was needed to irri- 

 gate an acre of land by flooding as was required in fur- 

 rows twelve inches deep. About one and one-third times 

 as much water was needed to irrigate in furrows three 

 inches deep as in furrows one foot deep. A saving 

 of one-third of the water by the adoption of a better 

 system would mean not only increased profits to farmers 

 but a large increase in the acreage which could be irri- 

 gated from canals or reservoirs. 



PRINTERS' INK 



EDWIN F. ABELL, head of the 

 company that publishes the Balti- 

 more Sun, died in that city Febru- 

 ary 28, aged sixty-three years. His 

 father, A. S. AbeH. was the found- 

 er of the Sun, which dates from 

 1837, and the deceased was the last 

 surviving son, having had the man- 

 agement of the paper for ten years 

 past. His death was, in a measure, 

 brought on by grief and shock fol- 

 lowing the Baltimore fire 



THE Irrigation Age, published 

 monthly in Chicago by the D. H. 

 Anderson Publishing Co.. has ab- 

 sorbed Modern Irrigation, Denver. 

 There are five publications in the 

 United States devoted to the sub- 

 ject of irrigation, and the Irriga- 

 tion Age leads them in point of 

 circulation, being credited with a 

 monthly average of 22,100 copies 

 for 1903 in the Roll of Honor. The 

 consolidation gives a further in- 

 crease. The Denver publication 

 made no statement of circulation, 

 and was credited with H exceed- 

 ing 2.250 copies. The Irrigation 

 Age is nineteen years old. and is 

 said to have readers, in all parts of 

 the world among individual irriga- 

 tors and irrigation corporations. 



THE cir 

 edition of I 

 increased ti 

 past year, i 

 no change 

 advertisint 



A BILL 

 legislatur 

 compel p 

 facturers' 

 on all1>9' 

 for sale 

 ure orj 

 medical ; 

 This is i 

 Mansfiej 

 sentd i' 

 a law i 

 do not 

 druggisi 

 the fact 

 their bu 

 medicines 

 popularity 

 who are s 

 patent medi 

 to use them 

 to ask^the 

 ties, of othf 

 proprietor 

 in thp 

 th.> ; 



V 

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A 



THE Hackstaff * * 

 Temnlo f- 



We are reproducing herewith notice which 

 appeared in the columns of PRINTER'S INK, the 

 leading authority in the advertising field, for 

 which we wish to thank the publishers of that 

 journal and at the same time call attention to 

 the fact that the combined circulation of the 

 two journals is considerably more than the 

 figure named. 



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