THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



G03 



method has some important advantages over the check. 

 Ground sloping from four to ten feet to the mile can be 

 easily irrigated by the check method, while ground slop- 

 ing from ten to thirty feet to the mile is usually adapted 

 to the furrow method. 



IRRIGATION APPLIANCES. 



The Effect of Aridity Is to Stimulate the Thinking Machine 



He is Most Fortunate Who Can Readily Adapt 



Himself to His Environment. 



Home-Made Appliances. 



The farmer on irrigated land has, in many cases, either 

 to adapt implements made for use in humid regions, to 

 his own needs, or make new ones himself. He may have 

 to invent implements for special purposes. More home- 

 made appliances are found on the western irrigated farms 

 than anywhere else. Many of these can be made quite 

 cheaply and will serve the purpose as well as expensive 

 tools bought from the manufacturers. 



Sage Brush Grubbers. 



The first work of the irrigator who has just settled on 

 raw land is to get rid of the sage brush, grease-wood, or 

 other bushes found on the land. Sage brush is not a deep 

 or strong-rooted plant. The roots of grease-wood are 

 large and very hard, but brittle. When the brush is small 

 it is easy to get rid of it by plowing, perhaps putting 

 on extra horses to pull the breaking plow, and following 

 to pull out the uprooted brush by hand. Where the brush 

 is larger this method may not do and one has to buy a 

 sage brush grubber, made especially for the purpose, or 

 find a substitute. There are two types of sage brush 

 grubbers on the market. One of these has a horizontal 

 blade so fitted on the frame that it can be held some two 

 or three inches below the surface of the ground, thus 

 cutting off the sage brush at its weakest point. A com- 

 mon road grader does good work where the brush is 

 small, by merely scraping it off the surface. The other 

 type of grubber has teeth which catches the brush as the 

 machine is drawn along and pulls it out. This is a modi- 

 fication of the old revolving rake and the brush is dumped 

 by tipping the machine over. This leaves strips of un- 

 pulled brush so the work must be done both ways. 



For moderate-sized brush an expensive implement is 

 not necessary, as a good grubber can be made of a dis- 

 carded railroad iron. A straight rail may be used, but 

 it is better to bend the rail in the center, so when horses 

 arc hitched to each end it will drag right side up, the 

 front flange catching, breaking off, or pulling out the 

 sage brush. From two to six horses on each end of the 

 rail will be found necessary. It is usually best to make 

 a platform back of the rail and weight it to keep the 

 rail from riding over the brush or prevent a straight one 

 from rolling. The flat bottom of the rail must be kept 

 down to do the work. Where the brush is not too heavy 

 a large area can be covered in a day. by the use of this 

 device. For heavy sage brush, where the rail cannot be 

 used, the only recourse is to use the mattock or grub- 

 hoe and hand labor. With scattered or thin brush many 

 think that hand labor is the cheapest way of clearing the 

 land. 



Brush Plows. 



A heavy breaking plow is used with four to eight 

 horses for the first plowing of sage brush or grease-wood 

 land. W r here many roots are encountered and the soil 

 is hard and compact, the draft is heavy and plenty of 

 pulling power is important. Three to five inches in depth 

 is usually found best for breaking such ground the first 

 year. After the first breaking it should again be plowed 

 deeper. The mold-board plow is the best for sage brush 

 soils, but a good disc will tear out small brush. 



Ditch-Making Tools. 



Irrigation ditches are of all sizes, and many types 

 of implements are needed for different conditions. For 

 small laterals no implement is better, perhaps, than the 

 common lister. The ordinary mold board plow may be 

 used for this purpose, being run back and forth and throw- 



ing the earth away from the center of the ditch. For 

 a slightly larger lateral the plow should be followed by 

 an "A" or "Go-Devil." This may be home-made. By 

 putting hinges on one side and a brace on the inside, the 

 "A" may be adjusted to different widths of ditches. For 

 larger laterals and small canals, the "slip" or the tongue 

 scraper and the common grader are often used. For 

 still larger canals there is no implement that can com- 

 pare with the Fresno scraper. 



Leveling Implements. 



After having cleared the brush from the land and 

 plowed it, the next question is leveling the land, or rather 

 grading it so that it is of a uniform slope, suitable for 

 irrigation. For land that contains many small humps and 

 holes, some type of grade scraper is usually best for 

 leveling. Where the knolls are large and the hollows 

 deeper, a Fresno or "slip." or other scraper, may be used, 

 according to the distance the earth must be hauled to 

 level it off. The finishing touches should be made by the 

 home-made leveler. This is a large frame made of 2x6 

 or 2x8 timbers, edges down, thoroughly braced, so that 

 they will drag along the earth from the higher places and 

 will deposit it in the lower places. The central cross- 

 piece should be made adjustable by means of a lever, so 

 that it may be lowered or raised. This, as well as the 

 other cross-pieces, should be shod with iron. The ad- 

 justable scraper can be made to take off quite a slice 

 from a high place, as the whole weight of the machine 

 may be made to rest on its sharp edge. These levelers 

 may be made 16 feet long and 5 feet wide for four horses, 

 or 24 feet long and 5 or 6 feet wide, where eight horses 

 are used. 



Small Irrigation Tools. 



The great implement used in the flooding method of 

 irrigation is the common shovel, but there is a difference 

 between shovels. The best irrigation shovel is one made 



Sybille Valley and Wheatland Canal, Wyoming. 



strong at the waist, with a sharp point, and with the top 

 of the blade bent over so that a rubber boot will not be 

 cut when used to shove it in. In flooding from field 

 ditches some kind of a lateral dam must be used. The 

 practice of damming these laterals by means of earth 

 thrown into them from the sides of the ditches, is not 

 to be recommended, as it is apt to weaken the ditch banks 

 and soon make holes in the farm. The canvas dam is 

 easily made and is thoroughly reliable. A piece of canvas 

 as wide, at least, as the ditch on which it is to be used, 

 and some three or four feet long, should be tacked to a 

 2x4 scantling, or small pole, so that when rested across 

 the top of the ditch, the canvas will lie in the bottom of 

 the ditch up-stream. A little earth then thrown on the 

 lower edge to hold it down, will make a strong dam. 

 Perhaps no appliance is more essential than the canvas 

 dam. Ten or twelve ounce canvas is the best weight to 

 use. Semi-circular sheets of metal attached to a wooden 



