THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



49 



annual meeting of the International Congress of 

 Farm Women. It was one of the strongest and best 

 organized women's gatherings the country has ever 

 seen. It was in session five days and many women 

 of national note were present and addressed the 

 delegates on matters of especial interest to the 

 housewives on the farm. The keynote of this 

 event was contained in an address by Mrs. Belle 

 v'D Harbert, Manzanola, Colorado, who presented 

 the life's duties of the home-building mother in a 

 brilliant speech characterized by one of her auditors 

 as "almost pathetic in its challenge and almost 

 challenging in its pathos." She said : 



"The International Congress of Farm Women 

 organized at Colorado Springs in October, 1911, is 

 a woman's movement toward the goal of social 

 justice. 



"The world has absolutely failed to appreciate 

 the economic value of the farmer's wife, and she 

 has now stepped upon the stage of social progress 

 and offered to help in the solution of the world's 

 great problems. Her experience as the keeper of 

 the rural home from which so many great men 

 of all nations have come, her knowledge of the bur- 

 dens and care which have driven so many thou- 

 sands of her sisters from the farm to take refuge 

 in the cities, and her unselfish desire to be of real 

 service to humanity, have prompted this organiza- 

 tion. Results most important to the future of all 

 nations are sure to follow. 



"It is the beginning of a new era in country life. 

 There is no doubt as to the responsibility for the 

 wholesale movement toward the city during the 

 past decade. Women become tired of the drudgery 

 caused by lack of convenience in the rural homes, 

 but which are furnished in the cities. In the city 

 she has water in the house, fuel for cooking, lights, 

 and often heat. The sewerage problem is solved 

 and there are a thousand other conveniences which 

 she could not have under present existing circum- 

 stances in the rural communities. She becomes 

 tired of the monotony and isolation she has to 

 endure and naturally turns to the city as a means 

 of relief. 



"Farm women have hitherto labored and died 

 as individuals. They have never been recognized as 

 a class or factor in the world's work. Other great 

 industries have always had ample consideration at 

 the hands of the government, the state and by the 

 student of social problems ; so have the wage 

 earners, but she who has given to the world it's 

 recruits of brain and brawn has had no fitting rec- 

 ognition. 



"Much has been said of late about the popu- 

 larity of the 'Back to the Farm' movement on ac- 

 count of modern methods of soil tillage, up-to-date 

 machinery and a better knowledge of farm manage- 

 ment; but practically nothing has been said in re- 

 gard to power for household use. best methods of 

 securing a plentiful water supply for the house, 

 the most sanitary methods of disposing of sewerage, 

 and up-to-date methods of furnishing light and heat 

 for the farm home. 



"These household problems must be solved be- 

 fore the 'Back to the Farm' movement will ever be 

 popular. 



TO DETERMINE THE WATER REQUIRED 

 BY VARIOUS STANDARD CROPS. 



Practical Results of Cooperative Experiments in 

 Irrigation at California University. 



The office of experiment stations has been co- 

 operating with the department of engineering of 

 the State of California and the University of Cali- 

 fornia for several years in irrigation investigations 

 to determine the water required by various stand- 

 ard crops. Some of the practical results of this 

 work are published in bulletin No. 10 of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, which shows at 

 what stage of growth alfalfa should be irrigated, 

 when irrigation of barley should pay, how Indian 

 and Egyptian corn responded to irrigation, and the 

 effect of irrigation on grain (wheat and oats) in 

 rotation with alfalfa. The experiments were made 

 at Davis in the Sacramento Valley, where the nor- 

 mal annual rainfall is about 16.5 inches, occurring 

 mainly from December to March. 



The results of the experiments with alfalfa 

 point to the following facts : 



(1) In the open, well-drained soil, typical 

 of that found in the floor of the Sacramento 

 Valley, the general tendency is toward an in- 

 crease in yield of alfalfa with the increased 

 amounts of water applied up to at least 48 

 inches. 



(2) There is a limit beyond which the in- 

 crease in yield will not pay for increased cost 

 of applying the .water, and for such conditions 

 as are found on the University farm this limit 

 is in the neighborhood of 30 inches applied as 

 a total for the season. 



In applying these conclusions to other 

 localities, it is well to remember that local con- 

 ditions are always the controlling factors. The 

 character and condition of the soil, the climate, 

 the rainfall, the length of the growing season, 

 and the age of the alfalfa, all have their effect 

 upon the yield, and each general locality will 

 show different results and a different economic 

 duty of water. 



In the experiments with the small grains there 

 was not one instance where the increase due to irri- 

 gation did not more than pay for the cost of the 

 water that produced it, the yield increasing with the 

 increased amounts of water applied. With sugar 

 beets "in general the sugar percentage decreased 

 with the increased amounts of water added, although 

 in every case this decrease was overbalanced by the 

 increase in yield." The results obtained, however, 

 must not be interpreted as justifying an indefinite 

 increase in the use of water in the case of small 

 grains and sugar beets. 



Regarding corn, one of the main conclusions 

 reached was that the time of applying water is of 

 as great importance as the quantity of water ap- 

 plied. These factors will always vary with the 

 season, and the intelligence of the irrigator along 

 these lines has much to do with his profit or loss, 

 which is also true regarding the other crops experi- 

 mented with. 



