IREIGATION FROM SAN JOAQUIN RIVER. 253 



and also that the non,stockholders have been given better terms than they. The non- 

 stockholders complain of a continued deficiency in the water supply. 



The James Canal Company leases much of its land to farmers who divide the 

 water among themselves, according to their needs, and pay for the use of the land 

 and water with one-fourth of the crop which they produce. The water sold is not 

 measured in anj' way. 



The form of contract which seems most satisfactory to irrigators in the section 

 of the State visited by the writer is the one which stipulates that, upon notice being 

 given to the canal company, the latter will furnish the required amount of water 

 upon being paid therefor at so much per acre. Other forms of contract more 

 stringent in their exactions on the part of the canal companies are decidedly unpopu- 

 lar, and in some cases have the effect of preventing irrigation. / 



METHODS OF IBRIGATINO. 



The lands watered by means of the canals described in this report are remarkably 

 well adapted to irrigation, usually being quite flat, with a unifomi slope of 6 to 10 

 feet to the mUe toward the bed of the river. From the main canals in the different 

 S5^stems the water is conducted through branches and laterals to small irrigation 

 ditches upon the fai"m, where it is received by the irrigators, and applied to the lands 

 under their direct supervision. 



In the first dajs of irrigation in this region, large, high, rectangular check levees 

 were used, but these were found to be not only expensive and verj- inconvenient for 

 the passage of farm vehicles from one section to another, but also to require much 

 time and a large amount of water to fill them. More recently the universal practice 

 is to use low contour check levees, not more than a foot to eighteen inches in height, 

 and from 10 to 20 feet on the base, enclosing an area of only 5 or 10 acres. These 

 tracts are quickly and easily flooded. The levees do not interfere with the passage of 

 wagons and mowing machines, and may even be plowed over and ctdtivated. The prac- 

 tice is to introduce the water upon the highest level, flood the area, keep the water 

 moving along, and when a sufficient quantity in a check has been absorbed, to pass 

 the remaining water on to the next and lowei check. It is believed to be the best 

 pi-actice to keep the water flowing down and not allow it to stand long in any one 

 area, as then it is more likelj' to bring alkali to the surface, and also to scald the 

 grain. It is claimed that moving the water tends to leach the alkali from the soU. 



In the case of the James Canal, the method of irrigation adopted is to flood with 

 low contour checks, and, in some cases, when wetting pasture fields and wild grasses, 

 to flood without the use of checks. The lands in this locality have a slight and uniform 

 slope. 



The Madera Canal and Irrigation Companj' applies water hj the same method 

 employed in the cases previously mentioned — that is, by means of low contour check 

 levees and flooding for grain and alfalfa, and with small rectangular checks for 

 orchards and vineyards, with occasionally the furrow system for the latter. 



The Sierra Vista Vineyard Company applies its water to the lands b}^ flooding 

 in an older set of high rectangular check levees, and also in a later set of low small 

 contour checks, this latter system having been adopted in place of the first, upon 



