THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



509 



Irrigation of Orchards 



BY SAMUEL FORTIER 



Chief of Irrigation Investigations, Office of Experiment 

 Stations, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



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500 A 



Selection of Lands for Orchards. 



/""ARE and good judgment should be exercised in the selec- 

 {-J tion of an orchard tract. If it turns out well the profits 

 are high, but if it fails the losses are heavy. It involves the 

 setting aside of ood land, the use of irrigation water, and 

 somewhat heavy expenses in purchasing trees, setting them out 

 and caring for them until they begin to bear. 



Assuming that the climate and soil of the district selected 

 are adapted to the kind of trees to be grown, the next most 

 important things to consider are good drainage and freedom 

 from early and late frosts. Low-lying lands under a new irri- 

 gation system should be regarded with suspicion, even if the 

 subsoil be quite dry at the time of planting. The results of a 

 few years of heavy and careless irrigation on the higher lands 

 adjacent may render the lowlands unfit for orchards. On the 

 other hand, the higher lands are not always well drained 

 naturally. A bank of clay extending 

 across a slope may intercept percolating 

 water and raise it near the surface. Fa- 

 vored locations for orchards in the 

 mountain States are often found in the 

 narrow river valleys at the mouths of 

 canyons. The coarse soil of these deltas, 

 the steep slopes, and the daily occur- 

 rence of winds which blow first out of 

 the canyons and then back into them, 

 afford excellent conditions for the pro- 

 duction of highly flavored fruits at the 

 minimum risk of being injured by frost. 



Proper exposure is another impor- 

 tant factor. In the warmer regie J of 

 the West and Southwest a northern 

 exposure is sometimes best, but as a 

 rule the orchards of the West require 

 warmth and sunshine, and a southerly 

 exposure is usually most desirable. Nat- 

 ural barriers frequently intercept the 

 sweep of cold, destructive winds, and 

 when these are lacking, wind-breaks may 

 be planted to serve the same purpose. 

 Depressions or sheltered coves should 

 be avoided if the cold air has a tendency 

 to collect in them, a free circulation of 

 air being necessary to drive away frost. 

 The low-lying lands seem to be the 

 most subject to cold, stagnant air. 



While experience has shown that 

 orchard trees of nearly all kinds can be 

 successfully grown on soils that differ 

 widely in their mechanical and chemical 

 composition, it has also shown that cer- 

 tain types of soils are best adapted to 

 particular kinds of trees. Thus the 

 best peach, almond, apricot and olive 

 orchards of the West are found on the _______ 



lighter or sandier loams ; the best apple, T f~ 



cherry, and pear orchards on heavier 

 loams ; while walnut, prune and orange 



orchards do best on medium grades of soil. The require- 

 ments of all, however, are a deep, rich and well-drained 

 soil. 



Typical Water Supplies for Orchards. 



Formerly most western orchards were supplied with water 

 through earthen ditches. These leaky, unsightly channels, by 

 reason of their cheapness, would have been quite generally 

 retained had it not teen for the increasing value and scarcity 

 of water. The value of water for irrigation purposes has in- 

 creased beyond the average of that given by the census report 

 of 1902 over 300 per cent. In many localities there is likewise 



great scarcity at certain times. These rapidly changing con- 

 ditions have induced many water companies to save some of 

 their heavy losses in conveying water supplies by substituting 

 pipes for open ditches in earth, or else by making the ditches 

 watertight by an impervious lining. 



The high value and scarcity of the water in natural 

 streams have likewise induced orchardists to install pumping 

 plants to raise water from underground sources. It was esti- 

 mated that in 1909 20,000 of these plants were in operation in 

 California alone. In other parts of the West reservoirs are 

 being built to supplement the late summer flow of streams 

 which fail to provide enough water for all. 



The few typical examples which follow may not only give 

 the reader an idea of how orchards are supplied with water, 

 but indicate also the cutsomary division into tracts to serve 

 this and other purposes. 



The Lewiston Basin is located where Clearwater River 

 flows into the Snake River in western Idaho, and varies 

 from 700 to 1,900 feet above sea level. A few years ago water 

 was brought from neighboring creeks and stored in a reser- 

 voir. The water required for orchard irrigation is conducted 

 from this reservoir under pressure in two lines of redwood 

 stave pipes over the rolling hills which separate the reservoir 

 from the orchard lands. On these lands contour lines were 

 first established, and each quarter section was afterwards di- 

 vided into 40-acre tracts by 60- foot streets. These were fur- 

 ther subdivided into eight 5-acre tracts, with a 20-foot alley 



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BURRELL AYE. 



Figure I. 



through the center. Figure 1, showing block 28 of the sur- 

 vey, indicates the general arrangement. The large conduits 

 from the reservoir are connected to smaller lateral pipes laid 

 in the alleys, and these in turn are tapped by 3-inch pipes, 

 which furnish water to the 5-acre tracts. 



The town of Corona, Cal.. is hemmed in on all sides by- 

 lemon and orange orchards. The chief water supply for these 

 groves comes from Ferris Basin, 40 miles distant. The Temes- 

 cal Water Company owns 3,600 acres of water-bearing lands 

 in this basin, and at favorable points pumping plants have been 

 installed. These plants are operated by motors supplied with 

 current from a central generating station located at Ethenac. 



