THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



251 



There are great opportunities in the arid region on account of 

 our market facilities, our favorable climate and the natural 

 richness of our stock foods in protein, for the building up of 

 profitable stock feeding industries. The feeding of lambs is 

 already of much importance, and there is hardly a location 

 in which the raising and feeding of hogs, principally of the 

 bacon type, cannot be made highly profitable. Poultry properly 

 managed always give good returns. Many dry farmers also 

 will have the use of more or less adjoining range for the 

 pasturage and partial support of their stock. 



Not all soils are suitable for dry farming. Unless a soil 

 is sufficiently deep and sufficiently retentive of moisture, or 

 can be made so, to store the water that falls on it from one 

 season to the next, it will not be a good soil for this system 

 of farming. The soil must be looked upon as a reservoir for 

 ivater. If the reservoir is too shallow or too hard the storm 

 vater will not soak into it. If it leaks at the bottom or can- 

 ot be so protected that too much of the moisture will not 

 be lost by evaporation from the 'top, attempts to reclaim it 

 will meet with failure. Many of our soils are hard or com- 

 pact at the surface in their natural state, but may be made 

 to absorb all the moisture that comes by a single plowing. 

 Heavy, compact clay absorbs water slowly, and loses it rap- 

 idly by evaporation. Such a soil, especially if underlaid with 

 a shallow hardpan, should be avoided. Sandy loams are the 

 best soils, and the more sandy they are, as a rule, the more 

 retentive they are. They will hold water better if they con- 

 tain a supply of well decomposed vegetable mold. Such soils 

 two or more feet deep can usually be successfully worked, 

 other conditions being favorable. We believe it no detriment 

 if the soil is underlaid with pure sand or small gravel, unless 

 such sand or gravel contains cement which makes it hardpan. 



Sandy soils are kindly soils. They are easy and pleasant 

 to work. They give the farmer time to get around to his 

 necessary tillage operations. There is little danger of work- 

 ing such soils too wet and practically none of injuring them 

 by puddling when too dry. Heavier soils may do if they 

 contain enough lime so the soil particles are well "floccu- 

 lated." Lime is usually abundant in western soils. Heavy 

 soils may be all right if they contain a sufficient amount of 

 vegetable matter. Dry soils are usually deficient in humus and 

 decomposed vegetable substances. 



Flocculation is the collecting together of the very fine 

 particles of soils into bunches or little flocks. An ounce of 

 fine soil may contain over 500 billion particles and if each 

 particle remained by itself, plant roots could not feed in the 

 soil. Lime seems to bring the fine particles together and 

 makes the soil sufficiently granular to be worked. Vegetable 

 mold serves the same purpose, by keeping the soil particles 

 farther apart. 



A new farmer who is in doubt about selecting his soil, or 

 what to do for it, should get the advice of some reliable man 

 who has had experience. 



There are three great personal elements of character not 

 possessed by the unsuccessful farmer. They are, first, the 

 know-how. Second, the do-it-now. Third, the do-things-well. 

 So many let their work crowd them. They do not do so well 

 as they know. There is often unavoidable neglect to do im- 

 portant things at the right time. More is generally attempted 

 than can be done. The results arising from lack of these 

 traits in the man, are often laid at the door of natural con- 

 ditions that are in no wise responsible. 



There are exceptions to all rules. Our story of the meth- 

 ods for dry farming practice will need to be modified in detail 

 to meet the particular conditions of each farm. The farmer's 

 ultimate success depends on knowing the principles and then 

 intelligently applying them to his individual problems. 

 (To be continued in May number.) 



It is reported that W. C. Green and associates have ap- 

 propriated the waters of the Gila river at Florence, Ariz., 

 and will construct a canal for irrigating lands in the Casa 

 Grande Valley. The ditch, proposed for construction by Mr. 

 Green, will parallel that of the Casa Grande Canal Company. 

 A dam will be constructed at point of division. 



Why Deserts Bloom 



BY DON FARNSWORTH 



~:-:~:~^^ 



t 



Send $2.50 for the Irrigation Age 1 year, and X 



cloth bound copy of the Primer of Irrigation 



II. 

 LOCATION AND EXTENT OF ARID AREA. 



Between the 100th and 122d meridians lie 1,250,000 

 square miles of territory, embracing fourteen states and 

 two territories, nearly one-half of the entire area of the 

 United States. Within this expanse is the arid region. 

 Here and there are oases, but the major part of this whole 

 region of 800,000,000 acres depends upon irrigation for its 

 products of agriculture. About one-half of this land still 

 belongs to the Federal Government. 



Climate. Climatic conditions in such a vast expanse 

 of territory are essentially varied. The characteristic 

 common to all localities within the arid limits, necessi- 

 tating a radical departure from the methods employed in 

 agriculture in the humid states is the aridity of the cli- 

 mate, the lack of rain-fall. 



Precipitation varies in the arid region from two inches 

 to twenty-four inches per year, and in most of the states 

 the rain comes in winter, a time of year when it is least 

 needed. In sections of Arizona the average rain-fall is 

 not more than two inches annually. In the farming sec- 

 tions of Idaho, it is from twelve inches to fifteen inches; 

 Southern Utah has an average of six inches; Central Cal- 

 ifornia, the section included within the arid region, the 

 rain-fall varies from ten inches to fifteen inches; Colorado 

 has from ten inches to fourteen inches. 



The Soil. Chemical analyses show that the soil 

 throughout the arid region is of exceptional productivity. 

 Many tests show it to be superior to that of our eastern 

 valleys. With rich soil and swollen mountain streams and 

 rivers within reach, all that remains to be done to con- 

 vert the arid lands into "green pastures" is to bring the 

 soil and water together. 



Methods of Reclamation. Three principal methods of 

 reclamation now in use in the west are irrigation by: (1) 

 artesian wells, (2) power pumps, and (3) canal system. 



Artesian Wells. Artesian wells are utilized wherever 

 found. Their discovery greatly enhances the value of the 

 property, for the cost of irrigation is reduced to a mini- 

 mum when nature pumps the water onto the land. 



California, Colorado, and Utah are the great artesian 

 well states of the arid region. The first two named have 

 6,000 wells each, while the Mormon state possesses nearly 

 5,000. Texas and Nebraska have between 4,000 and 6,000. 

 In the whole arid region there are about 40,000 wells. 



Some of the artesian wells are of enormous capacity, 

 yielding from five to six million gallons of water a day, 

 capable of irrigating over a section of land. The outflow 

 from the greater number, however, is limited and prob- 

 ably not capable of irrigating more than five or ten acres. 

 Two million acres is approximately the limit of irrigating 

 capacity of the present wells, though no one can foretell 

 the extent of nature's treasured blessings which may be 

 poured out in the future. Recently several wells have 

 been discovered in Montana, and experts predict that 

 full development will prove it to be one of the greatest 

 artesian well states in the ar^d region. 



Pump Irrigation. About one-half of the arid area is 

 level prairie or table-land, and the other half is mountain- 

 ous. For such irrigable land near the mountains, where 

 access may be had to the mountain streams, canals can be 

 operated to the best advantage. On the prairie where the 

 mountain reservoirs are beyond practical reach, the water 

 must be obtained from below the surface. 



Underlying the arid areas at various depths are bodies 

 and streams of water and seepage threading their way 

 slowly through the porous sandstone and gravel to the 

 sea. Where the impervious strata from synclinal basins 

 near enough the surface, drillings will liberate the im- 

 prisoned waters through artesian wells, but where the 

 geological formations do not so favor the agriculturist, 

 other facilities must be devised to bring the precious water 

 to the land. 



/To meet this demand every conceivable type of pump- 



