IRRIGATION 137 



In Europe, irrigation has been practiced for ages in 

 regions having rather large rainfall. Meadows and pastures, 

 especially, are irrigated very successfully, and this is com- 

 monly practiced in Great Britain, Holland, Germany, 

 Switzerland, Italy, and France. 



In some countries where there is much sunshine, phe- 

 nomenal crops are grown through irrigation. It is reported 

 that in Italy, marcite, a meadow crop made up of a mixture 

 of clover and Italian rye grass, will yield from ten to fifteen 

 tons per acre of a cutting, for eight to ten cuttings per year. 



There are many small irrigation plants through the humid 

 portions of the United States. Data collected by the irriga- 

 tion investigations of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture indicate that about 800 acres of meadow land 

 are irrigated in the humid regions of the United States. 

 Most of the water used is obtained from springs and through 

 the diversion of streams by small canals or dams. This 

 water is let over the meadows in small ditches or laterals, and 

 is spread over the same in a manner similar to the check 

 method of irrigation. Irrigation is also generally practiced 

 in the growing of small fruits, which are seriously injured 

 by drouths that come at the time when the fruit is forming. 



The truck farmers have also found irrigation a profitable 

 insurance against loss through drouth. Professor F. H. 

 King, of the Wisconsin experiment station, conducted some 

 very interesting experiments in irrigation at Madison, Wis- 

 consin. Over a rather long term of years, the average 

 increase in the yields of grain was 26.93 bushels per acre. 

 The increase in the yield of clover hay was 2% tons per acre; 

 and of potatoes, 83.09 bushels per acre. The cost of irrigat- 

 ing the land was $6.80 per acre, which cost did not include 

 the interest on the first investment for the plant. These 

 gains are made up from the average yield for the State of 



