IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE 



45 



orchard four times each season with 14 miner's inches (.35 cubic 

 foot per second). He makes three furrows, 40 rods long, between 

 the rows. The total supply is applied to half the orchard (10 acres) 

 at a time and is kept on for a period of forty-eight hours. 



— On the clayey loams 



of the apple orchards on 

 the east branch of the 

 Bitter Root River, Mon- 

 tana, Professor R. W. 

 Fisher 1 has found that 

 it requires from twelve 

 to eighteen hours to 

 moisten the soil in fur- 

 row irrigation 4 feet 

 deep and 3 feet wide. 

 A man in Hood River, Oregon, irrigated 3 acres of apple trees 

 in furrows 350 feet long, spaced 3 feet apart. About a miner's inch 

 of water was turned into alternate furrows from a wooden head 

 flume and kept on for about forty-eight hours. After the soil had 

 become sufficiently dry, it was cultivated, and in eight or ten days 

 the water was turned into the remaining rows. 



For the most part the furrows are made parallel to the rows 

 of trees. An arrangement of this kind is satisfactory in young 

 orchards, but as the 



Fig. 67. Furrow irrigation, showing dry spaces 



-Jt 



; 



ILJi 



1 



trees reach maturity 



their branches occupy 



more of the open 



space between the 



rows and prevent the 



making of furrows 



near the trees. This 



is shown in Fig. 67, 



where a space of 



from 6 to 12 feet 



square, according to the size of the trees, is not furrowed. This 



space usually becomes so dry that it is worthless as a feeding 



ground for roots. In order to moisten these dry spots a larger 



1 Formerly horticulturist in Montana Experiment Station. 



Donoio 



Fig. 68. Cross furrowing the dry spaces 



