THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



71 



(Continued from page 58.) 



Alfalfa is an exception, and it nearly always pays to sup- 

 ply its bacteria artificially. This may be done very inex- 

 pensively. Obtain soil from some near-by alfalfa field 

 and apply it at the rate of one hundred pounds per acre, 

 sowing it late in the afternoon and harrowing it in imme- 

 diately before allowing the sun to strike it. This is the 

 best way to inoculate. Soil from around the sweet clover 

 or melilotus roots answers equally well. The government 

 will furnish inoculation of another sort free; this usually 

 succeeds, but not always. Another excellent way is to sow 

 a few pounds of alfalfa seed with your red clover. After 

 the clover is plowed up, sow to alfalfa, and you will prob- 

 ably have the field inoculated. 



Alfalfa thrives best on soils that are most abundantly 

 supplied with lime. It absolutely fails where lime is 

 deficient. Nothing will take the place of lime, and we be- 

 lieve that there have been more failures throughout the 

 eastern states owing to this deficiency than from any 

 other cause. 



Ground limestone is now manufactured in many 

 places in the United States, and sold usually, where made, 

 for about $1.25 per ton. The finer it is ground, the more 

 quickly is it available. It should be applied at the rate 

 of about one hundred pounds per square rod, which is at 

 the rate of eight tons per acre; although where it is in- 

 accessible, and therefore costly, much lighter applications 

 are used with good results, although not so lasting. Some- 

 times one can get crushed limestone screenings, much of 

 it as fine as sand. This stuff is used for concrete work, 

 walks, and ballast, and often may be bought as low as 

 fifty cents per ton or less. When the ground limestone 

 is not available, and this coarser material is, we advise 

 its use. Put on more of it, and eventually every bit of it 

 will become available. It will last for many years in the 

 soil, giving out its beneficial influence constantly. Many 

 farmers having ledges of limestone upon their land can 

 well afford to grind their own limestone at home; and a 

 machine capable of grinding a little more than a ton an 

 hour and taking in stones 11x13 inches in size costs about 

 $600. These machines are very durable and the expense 

 of operating them quite light. 



When limestone rock is burned, the carbon is driven 

 off, and caustic lime remains. Burned lime has lost about 

 one-half its weight, so that a ton of burned lime has as 

 much power to sweeten soils as two tons of unburned or 

 carbonate of lime. The one difficulty with burned lime is 

 that it has this caustic nature, and is said to destroy part 

 of the humus of the soil. Burned lime is more easily 

 secured, and the freight rates on it are often less than with 

 the ground limestone. From one to two tons per acre of 

 the caustic lime are used. It may be ground very easily 

 after being burned, and then drilled into the soil; or it may 

 be slaked with a little water so that it falls into a white 

 powder, and then distributed. "Agricultural lime," often 

 sold at absurdly high prices, is simply burned lime slaked 

 and ground, and is in no way better than the lump that 

 any farmer can slake at home. 



The question is often asked : "Will alfalfa stop tile 

 tinder-drains?" On Woodland Farm with probably eight- 

 een miles of tile under-drains, only a few hundred yards 

 have given trouble from being stopped with alfalfa roots. 

 These places where trouble has ocurred are where running 

 water flows through the tile continuously from perennial 

 springs. In no instance has the alfalfa given trouble to 

 ordinary farm drains where the tiles become dry in 

 summer. 



(To be continued.) 



RECONSTRUCTION OF IRRIGATION SYSTEM. 



A grant to a canal company of a right of way or ease- 

 ment for its ditches in the streets of a city is subject to the 

 right of the city to thereafter regulate the manner of the 

 exercise of such easement, or to change the grade of the 

 streets in such a way as to require a corresponding change 

 in the conduit for the delivery of water; and in exercising 

 its right to grade its streets, the city may, if it ecomes neces- 

 sary so to do, remove such ditches and require the reconstruc- 

 tion of the company's system by a pipe line beneath the sur- 

 face. City of Nampa v. Nampa & Meridian Irr. Dist. 

 Supreme Court of Idaho. 115 Pacific 979. 



AMERICAN 



RECLAMATION 



FEDERATION 



(Incorporated Not for Profit) 



WITH WHICH IS MERGED 



The Chicago Irrigation Association 



AND 



The American Irrigation Federation 



This Federation is organized for the pro- 

 motion and encouragement of the irrigation, re- 

 clamation, colonization and development of 

 land within the United States of America. It 

 maintains an office at 1110 First National Bank 

 Building, 38 South Dearborn Street, where there 

 is open to the public, free of charge, maps and 

 publications relating to the lands of the United 

 States. Questions relating to irrigation matters 

 will be answered by the officers of the Federation 

 and information given. 



THE OFFICERS OF THE FEDERATION ARE: 



EDMUND T. PERKINS, President 

 HENRY C. WOOD, Vice-President 

 D. H. ANDERSON, Secretary 

 WILLIAM W. VERNON, Treasurer 



THE DIRECTORS ARE: 



EDMUND T. PERKINS, President Edmund T. Perkins 

 Engineering Co. 



HENRY C. WOOD, Wood & Lounsbury, Attorneys-at- 

 Law. 



WILLIAM W. VERNON, Secretary American Life 

 Insurance Co. 



D. H. ANDERSON, Publisher "Irrigation Age" 



PARKE WEST, Journalist 



W. F. VAN BUSKIRK, Vice-President, Standard Trust 

 & Savings Bank 



CHARLES F. FISHBACK, President, Porter, Fishback 

 &Co. 



JOHN D. HIBBARD, President, North American Secur- 

 ities Co. 



ISHAM RANDOLPH, Consulting Engineer 



JAMES A. McLANE, James A. McLane & Co. 



RICHARD S. THAIN. Lewiston Land & Water Co. 



Organizations and individuals interested in 

 reclamation are invited to become members. 

 Detailed information concerning initiation fees 

 and dues will be furnished upon application to the 

 secretary. Address 



D. H. Anderson, Secretary 



30 North Dearborn St., 



Chicago, 111. 



When writing to advertisers please mention The Irrigation Age. 



