2. The ground should be underlain with drain tile. We fully appre- 

 ciate the fact that the farmer who is just beginning in a new country- 

 will hesitate on account of the expense, still tile are so important 

 that he cannot afford to ignore them if he expects his soil to continue to 

 produce as it should. Drain tile not only carry away surplus water, 

 but they furnish an escape for water holding in solution alkali salts. 

 In most of our irrigated sections the water contains more or less of 

 some of the alkalis. It is estimated that fully a million acres 

 of irrigated lands which at one time were productive, are worthless 

 today because of the presence of these deleterious salts. Again, 

 drain tile admit atmospheric oxygen. Free atmospheric oxygen 

 is just as essential to irrigated soils as it is to other soils, in fact, 

 where alfalfa is raised it is even more necessary. Oxygen supports 

 soil bacteria of various kinds which are necessary to absorb nitrogen 

 from the atmosphere, to nitrify organic nitrogen and to make plant 

 food compounds. 



3. Water should be supplied in such a way that it will not inter- 

 fere with the growth of the plant, but be utilized by the plant roots 

 according to nature's process. The air spaces between the particles 

 of soil are for the purpose of permitting water to percolate into the 

 deeper soils to permit plant roots to pass down and to the particles of 

 soil in their efforts to secure plant food and for the purpose of permitting 

 the circulation of atmospheric oxygen. When the water is turned on 

 the land and it is percolating to the deeper soils, the air spaces are neces- 

 sarily filled, the oxygen is driven out and the plant for the time does not 

 grow. If this condition continues for a protracted period, the plant 

 necessarily smothers; therefore, before the crop is planted, water should 

 be turned on in sufficient quantities to make the crop if possible. If the 

 ground is tiled, the water percolates very freely into the deeper subsoils 

 and is brought to the surface seed-bed by capillary attraction, just as 

 hydrostatic water or rain water is utilized. In extremely dry sections, 

 it may be necessary to irrigate more than once, but, as a rule, frequent 

 irrigations hinder rather than benefit the crop. The irrigating farmer 

 should use the same methods adopted by the dry-land farmer. He 

 should store his water and then practice intensive cultivation methods, 

 pulverizing, packing and maintaining a mulch to prevent the escape of 

 moisture. The writer has seen many splendid prospects practically 

 ruined by using too much water and not adopting dry-land methods for 

 the purpose of conserving moisture. 



After the farmer has prepared his land so that no ridges or depressions 

 exist, all subsequent plowing should be done with a two-way plow. By 

 using this implement, there will be no dead furrows or back furrows or 

 depressions. Farmers who have used this implement unhesitatingly 

 testify that it makes a saving of from five to ten dollars an acre each year 

 by leaving the land as level and regular as it was before it was plowed. 



