180 The Commercial Apple Industry 



tricts it is between 50 cents and $2.50 an acre; $1.50 is 

 about the average annual charge. Aside from this, how- 

 ever, the original water right usually costs around $75 an 

 acre under private irrigation projects. Therefore, it is 

 extremely important when purchasing land to see that it 

 can be irrigated economically and that the annual water 

 rent charge is not prohibitive, or if it is necessary to pump 

 the water one should carefully determine whether or not 

 this is feasible. There are of course artesian wells in some 

 of the more southern sections, but as they occur in so few 

 of the fruit districts they hardly enter the discussion here. 



4. It is important to consider the priority of water right. 

 It often happens that growers are located at the end of 

 the irrigating system or canal and in cases in which the 

 water supply is scarce they sometimes have insufficient 

 water for their orchards. This has happened sometimes 

 in the Wenatchee Valley of Washington, where growers in 

 the lower part of the valley were insufficiently supplied 

 with water at the critical time. In other valleys of the 

 Northwest, many instances might be cited where the 

 grower has been forced to use the waste water from the 

 orchard of his neighbor in order to secure sufficient to 

 supply his own land. The buyer unacquainted with irri- 

 gation and irrigating systems, therefore, should look care- 

 fully into the probability of having guaranteed water 

 rights. One year without irrigation in most sections will 

 usually mean the destruction of the trees. There are many 

 other points to be considered, such as the proper slope for 

 easy irrigation. 



It is impossible here to enter into the engineering fea- 

 tures of irrigation and one should have the advice of a 

 competent engineer in laying out the main laterals. 



