Irrigation 177 



practiced in irrigated regions and which differ somewhat 

 from eastern conditions, but in general the above differ- 

 ences define quite clearly 'the characteristics of the two 

 types of orcharding. 



CHOOSING AN IRRIGATED DISTRICT 



Certain points are important to remember when selecting 

 an irrigated district. When the great orchard irrigation 

 projects of the West were widely advertised, men from 

 middle west and eastern farms and cities flocked to the 

 West and bought orchard land indiscriminately. They 

 paid, at first, too much attention to scenery and the adver- 

 tising pamphlets of the promoters. It did not seem to 

 enter their minds that such things as liability to frost 

 damage, air drainage, priority of water right and the loca- 

 tion of the land, as to whether it could be economically 

 irrigated or not, were of great importance. One of the 

 greatest mistakes which early investors made was in locat- 

 ing on land liable to seepage, that is, land on which alkali 

 showed up after a few years of irrigation, caused either by 

 direct irrigation of that particular plot of land or some- 

 times by the water seeping down from the tracts of land 

 higher up. 



The definite points to consider when locating in the irri- 

 gated regions are : 



1. The history of the region as regards frosts should be 

 studied. Frosts have been the limiting factor in success- 

 ful production in many parts of Colorado, New Mexico, 

 Utah, and Idaho. More orchardists have failed through 

 frost damage in successive years than from any other single 

 factor affecting production. Certain parts of western 

 Colorado are so liable to frost damage as to render profit- 



