984 



THE IREIGATION AGE. 



An English C 



Supplied with Electricity by Wind Turbine. 



Pelton Wheel Mounted on Wood Frame. An Iron 

 Casing Is More Usual for Electric Work. 



Typical Low- Voltage Lighting Outfit for Small Farm 

 Includes Gas Engine, Dynamo and Storage 

 Battery. 



Interior of Main Power Station, Ryan Estate The Gas Engine Is Operated by Producer Gas. 



a whole. Electric motors 

 are ideal for pumping wa- 

 ter from low lying irriga- 

 tion ditches, and, in Cali- 

 fornia, many orange groves 

 and plantations on hill- 

 sides are made possible 

 by electric pumping. It 

 has been estimated that 

 an acre of land can be 

 covered with water to a 

 depth of a foot by the ex- 

 penditurei of 2 kw. -hours 

 of current for each foot 

 of lift of the water. The 

 average cost for this power 

 is 10 cents. 



With regard to the 

 financial considerations in- 

 volved, it may be men- 

 tioned that the U. S. 

 Government irrigation 

 projects cost approxi- 

 mately $30 per acre of 

 land reclaimed. The value 

 of the irrigated land is on 

 an average about $100 an 

 acre. An alfalfa ranch in 

 the State of Washington 

 cost $600 a few years ago 

 when the land was princi- 

 pally covered with sage- 

 brush. When irrigated, it 

 was sold for $3,000, and, 

 after $1,500 had been put 

 into it in improvements, 

 chiefly electrical, the 

 owner refused an offer of 

 $7,800 for the property. 



When this country be- 

 gins to abandon extensive 

 for intensive farming 

 that is, when the farms 

 are made to produce their 

 maximum output elec- 

 tricity will not only be ad- 

 visable, but indispensable. 

 Then, perhaps, the crop 

 output will be forced by 

 the direct application of 

 high-tension electric dis- 

 charges from wire "net- 

 works" on the fields, as is 

 being done even now in 

 isolated cases in Ger- 

 many, England and Amer- 

 ica. And perhaps also the 

 farmer who cannot buy 

 his current cheaply wilt 

 produce his own alcohoU 

 for operating his engines, 

 from the waste products 

 of his crops. 



SOME DATA ON IRRI- 

 GATION PUMPING. 



Stephen O. Jayne, Unit- 

 ed States irrigation ex- 

 pert, stationed at Spokane, 

 Wash., in a lengthy paper 

 on pumping for irrigation, 

 makes the following ob- 

 servations: 



Water power by tur- 

 bine wheels is first choice. 



Electric power, when it 

 can be obtained reasona- 

 bly, is second choice. 



