THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



779 



SUB-IRRIGATION 



Important to Drain Tile Manufacturers 

 Address by D. H. Anderson Before the Convention of Clay Manu- 

 facturers Recently Held in Chicago 



The subject of drain tile, as associated with sub- 

 irrigation, is an exceedingly important one to manufac- 

 turers of that product. I am not desirous of posing as 

 an expert along this particular branch of industry, but 

 at the request of the secretary of your association, have 

 attempted to briefly outline the possibilities of the exten- 

 sion of the tile manufacturing business in connection with 

 the development of our great western country under irri- 

 gation. 



In order to show the possible benefits to be derived 

 from this system it will do no harm to tell about a novel 

 sub-irrigation scheme that came to my notice some years 

 ago near San Diego, Cal. This system was discovered by 

 Captain Porter of that city and he explained it as fol- 

 lows : 



"I have always cussed the gopher," remarked the cap- 

 tain, "but I don't do it any more; the gopher is my friend, 

 and I am in hopes of training him to do systematic work 

 in a way in which I have discovered him to 'be useful. 

 He beats the band. 



"That the gopher is a most indefatigable pest I have 

 had reason to know, for what that, rat left undone to my 

 young fig and orange trees, likewise to my pet beet patch, 

 was not worth mentioning. 



"There was a particular one that multiplied itself into 

 a regiment of sappers and miners, so it seemed to me, and 

 every morning an investigation disclosed a fine tree lying 



be noticed. However, the waste energies of nature are 

 being utilized to so great an extent that 1 expect soon 

 to hear of 'trained gophers' for tunnel work in sub- 

 irrigation schemes." 



As our country is becoming more thickly populated 

 from year to year the demand for arid land increases; 

 as a result the demand for water increases also. 



There are said to be something like 250,000,000 acres 

 of arid land that cannot be irrigated by the flooding or 

 furrow system. 



The whole problem of irrigation is to get the best 

 results from the least amount of water, labor and expense, 

 and in the estimation of those who have given it study, 

 there is only one way to fulfill these requirements in 

 certain sections of the country, and that is by sub-irriga- 

 tion. 



It is well known that a tremendous loss of water 

 occurs in irigation by evaporation and seepage, and this 

 has resulted in an effort to feed the plant roots instead 

 of the atmosphere. 



Roots of whatever nature will always grow toward 

 moisture; this being true in surface irrigation as well as 

 in what is known as infiltration or sub-irrigation, whicli 

 is usually carried on by means of drain tile located below 

 the surface of the ground. Water carried by this method 

 spreads out and seeps or soaks out from the conveyor, 

 fan-like, into the soil, from the sides and bottom of the 

 pipe and, following the law of gravity, decends, or ascends, 

 in accordance with the law of capillary attraction. 



A question has been raised among those who have 

 studied the matter as to how profitable this system may 

 eventually become owing to the fact that it oftentimes 



Upper Klamath Lake Klamath Project, Oregon. 



over on its side, or a choice beet pulled down to the top 

 of its leaves. 



"I studied the habits of the rascal, and finally hit upon 

 a plan to utilize his extensive underground operations. 1 

 saw him several times, but as he could easily dodge a 

 bullet or a load of shot, I could not exterminate him by 

 the weapons of war. Hence the idea that occurred to 

 me as the only way to get rid of him. By running a 

 ramrod into the ground here and there, I found that there 

 was not a spot of ground two feet square that was not 

 crossed by a branch of the net work of tunnels my gentle- 

 man had constructed for the purpose of reaching succu- 

 lent roots. 'So,' said I to myself, 'if I can find and stop 

 up the outlets I will have him sure.' They were found 

 and hermetically sealed with broken cobbles and earth. 

 Then I turned the hose into the upper end and emptied 

 a three thousand-gallon tank of water into the runways. 

 I persevered for several days, to the great benefit to the 

 young trees and beets by this novel method of sub-irriga- 

 tion. Mr. Gopher emigrated to a dry climate, I presume; 

 at least I have never had any more complaints to make 

 against him, but I hope he will come back and do some 

 more tunneling. This might not work on a large scale, 

 nor in a prairie dog village, for there are some runways 

 that would exhaust the Mississippi River and a few of its 

 branches before any appreciable diminution of rats would 



consumes a large quantity of water without supplying the 

 *#oil with uniform humidity. It is my impression that this 

 is being rapidly overcome by those who are making a 

 careful study of the subject and that eventually sub- 

 irrigation will be the standard method throughout the 

 extremely arid sections of the country. 



It has been generally understood that ten per cent is 

 the uniform ratio of .evaporation from water lying in 

 reservoirs, but there has never been any well defined 

 statement as to the amount lost by seepage. This has 

 been a serious handicap to many irrigators who are lim- 

 ited as to the supply of water which may be obtained for 

 their land. 



The advantages of underground, or sub-irrigation, are 

 too numerous to be ignored. By this system, land too 

 elevated to be reached uy water through other means, 

 may be transformed into fertile tracts. It lends invalu- 

 able aid to a series of cultures such as grapes, olives, 

 oranges and citrous fruits generally; likewise to gar- 

 dening. 



In addition to these advantages, the application of 

 underground water in arid or waste land covered by sand 

 or gravel permits the propagation and cultivation of prof- 

 itable, productive plants which would otherwise perish 

 through dryness of the sub-soil. 



