THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



297 



SOME REVALUATION REPORTS WORTHLESS 



STAR chamber sessions have characterized a ma- 

 jority of the recent meetings of the revaluation 

 boards on the various projects. Reports by nearly 

 all of the local boards have been completed and are 

 ready for review by Secretary of the Interior Lane's 

 "Supreme Court on. Revaluation." 



Several of the reports turned in are valueless to 

 the settlers, who must pay the cost ,of the hearings. 

 The reports represent merely some more waste of 

 the water users' money. 



Of the hearing on the Minidoka (Idaho) project, 

 the Rupert Democrat says: 



"Commissioner DeMary favored us with a brief 

 resume of the actions taken, and from it can be 

 gleaned the fact that nothing of any value to the 

 settlers was accomplished. The whole thing reads 

 like a pretty good brief for the defendant, if the Ser- 

 vice can be placed in that position. 



"One of the principal things that the committee 

 was to ascertain was whether or not the original 

 contract, or supposed contract, at a price for con- 

 struction of $26 an acre, should be binding on the 

 government. On this point the committee returned 

 a Scotch verdict and left the whole matter where it 



was before. They defend this action, or rather lack 

 of action, by the statement that the committee felt 

 that this was a matter of law. Granting that this is 

 a fact, it had been hoped that the board would have 

 made some pertinent report upon a question so vital 

 to the settlers. 



"The board admits that it found a general agree- 

 ment among the settlers that some eleven thousand 

 dollars' worth of work done was worthless, and goes 

 on to say that proportioned to the whole, this was too 

 small to be considered, so they "hesitated in recom- 

 mending that it be thrown out." It seems to a man 

 up a tree that if the Minidoka Irrigation District, for 

 instance, should be able to save to the settlers eleven 

 thousand dollars, the latter would certainly feel that 

 something had been accomplished. 



"The only recommendation of value so far ap- 

 parent is in regard to the drainage costs, and that 

 recommendation will probably have not the slightest 

 effect upon the Department of the Interior. 



, "Summing the matter up so far as the informa- 

 tion at hand is competent evidence, the work of the 

 commission is of little postive value, either to the 

 Service or to the settlers." 



HOW TO FIGURE A WELL'S IRRIGATION CAPACITY 



By GEORGE W. KABLE 



Assistant Irrigation Engineer of New Mexico Agricultural College 



WHERE water is pumped for irrigation the 

 question of how many acres can be irri- 

 gated with a given size of pump continually arises. 

 The answer to this question depends on a great 

 many factors, but by making a few assumptions re- 

 sults which are very close approximations may be 

 easily determined. 



Investigations in this state and elsewhere indi- 

 cate that the average amount of water used in irri- 

 gating orchards is about 2 l / 2 acre-feet per acre per 

 season. Alfalfa is usually irrigated twice for each 

 cutting, making ten irrigations or about 36 inches 

 of water during the season. We will assume these 

 figures to be correct for our New Mexico conditions. 



Since the interest and depreciation on a pump- 

 ing plant amount to^ about two-thirds of the total 

 pumping cost, the pump should be idle very little 

 during the irrigation season in order that its size 

 and cost may be as small as possible. Let us as- 

 sume that the pump will be run 18 hours per day. 

 This will necessitate the use of a surface reservoir 

 large enough to hold the water of about a twelve- 

 hour run. The irrigation season in localities where 

 water is pumped is about 180 days in length. 



By computing the quantity of water in acre- 

 feet that will be pumped during the season and di- 

 viding by the duty of water assumed in acre-feet 

 per acre, we get the following simple rule : To find 

 the number of acres of alfalfa a pump will irrigate, 

 divide the capacity of the pump in gallons per min- 



ute by 5 ; to find the number of acres of orchard a 

 pump will irrigate, divide the capacity of the pump 

 in gallons per minute by 4. 



MEAD VISITS U. S. PROJECTS 



"Do not prepare any banquets. I want to see 

 the project and talk with the water users." 



Elwood Mead, chairman of Secretary of the 

 Interior Lane's supreme board of review on costs 

 of the federal irrigation projects, sent this message 

 to the various projects, which he is visiting. 



Mr. Mead is seeking first hand information to 

 aid him in passing upon the reports of the various 

 local boards. 



IRRIGATES MISSOURI FARM 



C. C. Bush, of Reed's Spring, Mo., has con- 

 structed an irrigation system to water his corn and 

 other crops. 



Next season Mr. Bush expects to perfect the 

 system and engage an experienced gardner for truck 

 farming. Being sure of the produce, he can secure 

 a market to a good advantage. 



There are thousands of acres of excellent land 

 in South Missouri that can be irrigated from the 

 springs along the hillsides. While in general there 

 is plenty of rainfall most seasons to insure abundant 

 crops on the hills as well as in the valleys, yet irri- 

 gation would make a crop certain. With fruit farm- 

 ing and grazing for the hills, and all the crops of an 

 irrigated country for the valleys, South Missouri 

 could be made one of the most prosperous regions 

 of the world. 



