300 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



on several times over in water and work. Later on I 

 saw near Jimenez, Mexico, on about the same soil and 

 with same climate some five thousand acres in checks 

 about twenty feet square. It was all in wheat about 

 three inches high and looking as well as winter wheat 

 ever looks. The head available was small and probably 

 was not used over twice during the whole winter and 

 spring. Between these two extremes a great variety of 

 sizes from 200 acres down to half or quarter of an 

 acre are in use in California and other states, but 

 the tendency is toward smaller ones. 



The large ones are of all shapes according to the 

 contour of the land for it would not pay to grade them 

 flat or make them square. Perfect levels are run for 

 the lower levee which makes many checks vary from 

 a sharp crescent to a half moon. In some the water 

 will be a foot deep at the lower side and about an inch 

 or so at the upper side. Few have the water less than 

 six inches deep at the lower levee. It is plain that if 

 the crop is good enough on the upper part where the 



buildings, corrals, haystacks, etc., but force the water 

 to run as you want it instead of laying out the land to 

 accommodate the water. This again is a question of 

 the value of your crop, but be careful how you decide 

 that it is too expensive. I find one-third of an acre 

 about the best size for checks because water is more 

 valuable for new land than to throw away on the old. 

 I make them flat, although the slope of the land is only 

 three inches in a hundred feet. As these checks are 

 about one hundred and twenty feet square the difference 

 between the upper and lower side is less than four 

 inches. But that wastes too much water on the lower 

 side and where it is necessary to leach out alkali there 

 is not pressure enough on the upper side to get quick 

 and uniform results. I make them level even for 

 alfalfa and if I can get it in early enough in the fall 

 the next year's crop, with oats for hay the first winter, 

 repays the entire cost of the finest work. After that 

 there is a constant saving of considerable labor in 

 waiting and watching the filling besides the saving of 



No. *. Cedar Canyon, one of the many beautiful spots easily accessible from towns in the North Platte Valley. 



water is shallow that the lower half had at least twice 

 as much as was needed. This enormous waste is allowed 

 because water is so plenty that it is cheaper than labor 

 and so no grading or very little is done. But I have 

 seen alfalfa fields where the scalding of the crop at the 

 lower side on a hot day caused by the water standing too 

 long would offset the cost of grading in three or four 

 years beside saving half the water. 



In such cases the ditches also follow the contour 

 of the land. This means ditches cheaper by the foot, 

 but also longer, with more loss of water from seepage 

 and more expense of cleaning. But it also means much 

 less expense at first and, as there is so much expense 

 in irrigation that you cannot avoid, it is justifiable in 

 most cases. I wish only to show that they are not good 

 models except in the line of economy at the outset. 

 It is a question of finance rather than of irrigation. 

 If you have your own teams and feed and can do your 

 own work it will probably pay you to make small 

 checks and grade them perfectly flat on the bottom and 

 also square and make the ditches straight and parallel. 

 If knolls of any size are too high save them dry for 



one-half of the water. If the head should be short in 

 quantity or time of running you can cover the whole 

 when flat, where it would leave a big dry strip on the 

 upper side and one below it only half wet if it were not 

 level. 



THE BOSTROM BRADY LEVEL. 



We are reproducing herewith copy of a letter con- 

 cerning the well-known Bostrom Brady improved levels. 

 This firm has been very successful in the sale of its 

 levels throughout the entire irrigated district. 



Caldwell, Idaho, April 18, 190S. 

 Bostrom Brady Mnfg. Co., 



Atlanta, Ga. 

 GENTLEMEN : 



Yours of the 14th inst. received today. Your reply is 

 very gratifying and I will send you another order soon for 

 several Bostrom Improved Levels as I know what your levels 

 are and have found the manufacturers of them to be very sat- 

 isfactory people to deal with. 



Yours very truly, 



L. D. COWAN, 

 Caldwell, Idaho. 



