332 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



continuous growth. Delicate plants may be set out at any 

 time and made to grow by frequent light irrigations. 



In Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota there are many 

 localities' where irrigation will ultimately be used for truck 

 crops, fruits, sugar beets, etc. In this region there are 

 numerous lakes and streams from which water may be 

 brought to 

 the fields by 

 the use of 

 small pump- 

 ing plants. 

 The short 

 g r o w i n g 

 season in 

 these north- 

 ern latitudes 

 makes it 

 very impor- 

 tant that the 

 crops have a 

 cont i n uous 

 growth, es- 

 pecially such 

 as are easily 

 damaged by 

 frost. The 

 weather 

 records at 

 O s h k o s h, 

 \Vis., show- 

 that twen- 

 ty- seven 

 drouths of 

 from fifteen 

 to fifty-nine 

 days oc- 

 curred in 

 ten years, 

 and more 

 than half of 

 these came 

 in the 

 spring and 



and early summer. In the spring of 1910 

 market gardeners and fruit growers in Wis- 

 consin suffered severe losses from prolonged 

 drouth. When the rain came late in the sea- 

 son, plantings were made at the same time 

 over large areas, with the result that many 

 crops matured together and an overstocked 

 market reduced prices to an unprofitable level. 

 A later drouth the same season ruined a 

 celery crop valued at $1,000 per acre which 

 was growing on peat lands near Waupaca, 

 Wis. In that locality there is plenty of water 

 within a few feet of the surface. The profits 

 from a single year's crop would more than 

 pay for a pumping plant and the cost of 

 irrigation. 



At Neenah, Wis., one and one-half acres 

 of strawberries yielded fruit valued at $200 

 after the non-irrigated vines in the same field 

 stopped bearing for the season. An onion 

 crop grown under irrigation at the same 

 place yielded bulbs at the rate of nearly 500 

 bushels per acre, which took first premium 

 for quality at the 1911 Winnebago County fair 

 in Wisconsin. This crop was irrigated six 

 times during June and July, and received 3 

 inches of water by irrigation and about 6 

 inches by rainfall. The rain, however, came in 

 one large storm and eleven small showers,- 

 none of which moistened the soil to a sufficient 

 depth. Irrigation is already used to a con- 

 siderable extent in Wisconsin in connection 

 with the growing of cranberries. 



Further south in the great agricultural states of the 

 Mississippi valley the possibilities of irrigation are relatively 

 small. In Iowa, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana the rainfall is 



Irrigating an Orange Grove by 



Open Ditches, at Orlando, Fla. 



quite evenly distributed over the growing season, and the 

 soils, when thoroughly cultivated, retain moisture in rela- 

 tively large measure. Grain growing and animal husbandry 

 are the great agricultural industries of this region. Grain 

 and forage crops suffer relatively little from short drouths 

 and it would not pay to irrigate them. At Ames, Iowa, for 



example, 

 during ten 

 g r o w i n g 

 seasons 

 there were 

 twenty- 

 three 

 drouths 



f fifteen 

 days or 

 over, with 

 less than 1 

 inch of rain- 

 fall. But 

 even in 



1 h e s e dry 

 periods 

 small 

 s h o w e r s 

 fr e q u ently 

 occurre d 

 w h i c h 

 helped to 

 keep the air 

 humid and 

 also to 

 check 

 evap oration 

 from the 

 soil. 



In the 

 eastern part 

 of the great 

 plains, 

 where the 

 rainfall is 

 not large. 



but ordinarily sufficient to mature crops, 

 there are many localities where irrigation 

 could be profitably used to raise the yield 

 of field crops or to promote the growth of 

 trees, vegetables, fruits and ornamental 

 plants in orchards and gardens and about 

 the homestead. As the farmers in this region 

 accumulate capital they will undoubtedly re- 

 sort more and more to irrigation as a means 

 of increasing their income, securing more of 

 the comforts of life and making their home 

 surroundings more attractive. 



The same thing is true of the Pacific 

 Coast. In the beautiful and fertile Willam- 

 ette valley in Oregon, for example, while the 

 annual rainfall is abundant, there is a long 

 dry period in the summer. Many crops which 

 would grow best at this season are greatly 

 hindered by drouth. The agricultural experi- 

 ment station at Corvallis has been studying 

 this problem in co-operation with the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and has already demon- 

 strated the usefulness of irrigation for alfalfa, 

 clover, potatoes and other crops. Business 

 men in Portland, Ore., have become so well 

 convinced that irrigation in Western Oregon 

 is profitable that they are now developing a 

 large irrigation project near Salem. Vast areas 

 in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys in 

 California were for many years farmed with- 

 out irrigation. But after long hesitation and 

 much active opposition the great wheat farm- 

 ers adopted irrigation as a profitable insurance against drouth 

 and. once convinced of its benefit, spent millions of dollars 

 in developing and managing irrigation systems. 





kiiiK Water from Hydrant 

 Into Furrows. An Easy 

 Means of Regulat- 

 ing Flow. 



