332 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



next one until the soaking finally takes it all. In a 

 head of several times that amount it would irrigate 

 the same area in far less time by day. But under 

 almost any system you will have night water to waste, 

 even where you use night water in heads, which you 

 may have to use when your turn comes, or go with- 

 out. And if on a canal with many other consumers, 



rigid economy at first, even if he has a good bank 

 account. 



But some soils are so mushy under the least 

 pressure of water against them that some kind of 

 hard material to control the flow is needed from the- 

 start, because a break will wash a lot of soil away, 

 cut a big hole somewhere, and then you will have to> 



Rio Grande Project, New Mexico Elephant Butte Dam Site. 



as in a prosperous settlement, if you lose your turn 

 at the water you may have to go without for several 

 days or even weeks. So when your turn comes you 

 must be very careful not to lose either water or time 

 with bad levees or poor gates. You may lose both be- 

 fore you know it. 



Much of your success will depend on the gates 

 you use to let the water into the checks or keep it out 

 when not needed. Their size and form as well as 

 the material and the amount you can afford to in- 

 vest in them vary so much with the nature of your 

 soil, the size of the check, the size of your irrigat- 

 ing head, the length of time you can have such a 

 head running, the nature and value of the crop, and 

 the number of times you irrigate, that a whole 

 chapter could not cover half the points to be consid- 

 ered. In the first place you may not need any. On 

 gravelly soils easily handled, wet or dry, with the 

 shovel and not apt to wash much, you can make and 

 break the banks with a shovel if you do not have to irri- 

 gate too often and find material for gates too ex- 

 pensive. Grapes, for instance, if the ground is 

 thoroughly wet in winter and spring, will rarely need 

 water more than once in summer and seldom more 

 than twice. There is little danger of water enough 

 from a broken bank or from a washed out opening 

 hurting them. Therefore the same openings may be 

 left that were used for the winter irrigation, pro- 

 vided, you have plenty of water to waste. Corn, 

 potatoes and many other things that need little water 

 if the ground is well wet in spring and well culti- 

 vated afterward, are raised in this war. There is 

 nothing dreadful about making new dams and 

 breaking old ones, and garden truck is raised that 

 way on thousands of places. I have done plenty of 

 it with my own hands on both a large and small 

 scale, generally while waiting to find out the best 

 form and size of gate consistent with reasonable 

 economy. There is some loss of time and water but 

 the pioneer, especially on the desert, has to practice 



lose a day or two perhaps to get the soil dry enough 

 to repair damages. One of the cheapest ways of 

 avoiding this difficulty is using a sheet of iron like 

 a half moon, to shove in the ground across the stream 

 when you wish to turn it into an opening. This is 

 called a "tapoon" in some places and will do well 

 enough for a short time with a small amount of water. 

 Its great advantage is that it can be put in place or 

 taken out and carried to another place very quickly. 



Home of Hopi Indian, New Mexico. 



For such small streams as are used in small gardens 

 it is about as good as anything on most soils. But on 

 many soils water cuts under or around it under very 

 slight pressure, and on no soil can it be trusted long 

 iinder much pressure. For this reason it connot be 

 used to advantage at the openings of checks to keep 

 them closed when the water is running on to othor 

 checks. 



