310 



THE IRBIGATION AGE. 



THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION. 



COPYRIGHTED, 1803, BY D. H. ANDERSON. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



SUPPLEMENTAL IRRIGATION. 



When the subject of irrigation is broached one 

 immediately thinks of an arid region or one in which 

 the ordinary rainfall is inadequate to raise a crop to 

 maturity or to raise one sufficiently profitable. In such 

 regions irrigation is practiced all the time, from the 

 planting of the seed to the maturity of the plant, and 

 even afterward it is necessary to again irrigate for the 

 purpose of fitting the soil for cultivation for the plant- 

 ing of another crop. The rainfall is totally disregarded. 

 Irrigation is a necessity. 



But in the humid regions where there is an ade- 

 quate rainfall, or at least from thirty to forty inches 

 of rain precipitated upon the soil during the year, irri- 

 gation has until quite recently in this country been 

 looked upon very much in the light of an unnecessary 

 luxury, a refinement of agriculture suitable for gentle- 

 man farming and not to be encouraged when it comes 

 to general farming. The idea of irrigating in the 

 humid regions is growing stronger, however, and it 

 will not be long before irrigation will be as common in 

 Massachusetts and New York as in Arizona. Indeed, 

 it must come to that or the humid States will be com- 

 pelled to go entirely out of the business of crop rais- 

 ing, for the productions of the soil in the irrigated 

 regions are so enormous that the humid or rain farmer 

 will not be able to compete. This irrigating in the 

 humid regions where there is an abundant annual rain- 

 fall is what is termed "supplemental irrigation," in- 

 asmuch as it supplements the rainfall or makes good its 

 deficiencies and uneven distribution during the periods 

 of the year of the growing season. 



. Supplemental irrigation, though quite recent in 

 the United States and even now looked upon with dis- 

 favor, has been practiced in Europe for centuries 

 where the rainfall is sufficient to raise crops without 

 irrigation, as in our humid regions. Germany, France, 

 Italy and the British Isles have practiced it with profit 

 and success, and to fail to irrigate is to be guilty of 

 bad husbandry and careless of profits. 



To state the proposition of supplemental irrigation 

 broadly, it removes the element of chance in all farm- 

 ing that depends solely upon the water precipitated 

 from the clouds naturally. No farmer guesses at his 

 seed, but selects the best variety with the greatest care, 

 even experimenting with a small quantity before trust- 

 ing his entire harvest to the probability of failure.' So 

 also does he choose his implements, his stock, and he 

 prepares his soil in the most approved and certain 

 manner, but when he considers the probabilities of the 

 element favoring him with bountiful returns he shuts 

 his eyes and draws for trumps when he might have the 

 winning cards in his own hands by the exercise of his 

 common sense. 



There are times when the skies are as brass and 

 the earth like a burning furnace, then his hopes are 

 blasted and he grieves. There are also times when the 

 rain comes just right and the earth laughs with a har- 

 vest. Then the farmer rejoices and says : "We have 

 had a good crop." But if he will stop to consider and 

 look hack a few years, go over his ledger of balances, 



he will discover that in the space of five years, for in- 

 stance, he has had three bad crops and only two good 

 ones. Why ? The only answer is : There was not rain 

 enough to mature the crops; there were several dry 

 spells right in the growing season when the plants 

 were seriously injured and no amount of after rainfall 

 nay, a deluge could restore them their lost vitality. 



It is not the desire of the author to argue in favor 

 of supplementary irrigation in the humid regions, for 

 that is bound to come to the wise farmers, but there 

 are many who may not yet be assured of the neces- 

 sity of it, or to whom the knowledge of it has not yet 

 come, and to whom he will only say : How much better 

 it would be if a farmer could plant with the certainty 

 that every crop would be uniformly abundant, and 

 that, too, year after year without a single break. 



He can accomplish this by simply utilizing the 

 surplus water which he watches go to waste without 

 raising a hand to stop it or to store it up against the 

 time of dire need. It rains, says the rain farmer, there- 

 fore why pour more water on the soil ? True, but there 

 is a story to tell which will illustrate that sort of argu- 

 ment better than pages of theory. It is an old one to 

 the middle-aged, perhaps threadbare, but new in this 

 connection, for which reason it will bear repeating. 

 Thk is the story, or, rather, anecdote: 



A stranger once traveling through Arkansas one 

 fine day came across a rain farmer sitting in the 

 sunshine at the door of his cabin fiddling awiay for dear 

 life on a cracked fiddle. Dismounting, the traveler 

 passed the compliments of the season and looked 

 around to take in the situation. It happened that a 

 large hole in the roof of the cabin caught his eye. 



"Why do you not mend the hole in your roof?" 

 inquired the stranger. 



" 'Tain't wuth while, stranger ; 'tain't a-rainin'." 



"Well, when it rains you will have to mend it," 

 said the stranger, sarcastically. 



"Dunno about thet, mister ; it mought be too wet to 

 fix when it are a-rainin'." 



It seems strange to unaccustomed eyes to see an 

 irrigation farmer of the far west pouring water on his 

 soil with the rain falling in torrents. 



A Bostonian who was passing through the Sacra- 

 mento valley in California in a comfortable Pullman 

 car during a heavy rain noticed a farmer busily en- 

 gaged in irrigating his land without noticing the down- 

 pour. 



"Just look at that fool watering his land when it 

 is raining so hard." 



"He's no fool," said his companion, who happened 

 to know something about irrigation, "but a wise man. 

 He knows that the effects of the rain will last about 

 three days, but that the irrigation water is good for 

 two weeks." 



IRRIGATING IN A HDMID EEGION. 



The experience of Dr. Clarke Gapen, at one time 

 superintendent of the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the 

 Insane, may do much toward clearing away any doubts 

 the reader may entertain as to the wisdom of irrigating 

 in a humid region. Says the doctor: 



"For two years the garden crops on about ninety 

 acres of larid were almost a total failure, the loss not 

 only depriving the inmates of the institution of fresh 

 vegetables, but it was a financial loss. In the spring 

 of the third year I suggested to the Board of Trustees 

 the extension of our water mains into the garden and 



