26 BULLETIN 760, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
A few growers have their own water systems and pump the water 
from wells on the farm. In these cases also the land is flooded, but — 
no surface pipe is used. 
CHECKING LAND. 
Where winter irrigation is practiced, considerable labor is re- 
quired in preparing the land for the water. The land is checked— 
that is, a network of small levees is thrown up which serves to hold 
the water on the land until it has time to soak in. A strip several 
furrows wide is plowed across the field where each levee is to be 
made and the loose earth is ridged by a special implement called a 
“Vv.” (See fig. 14.) When a “V” is not available a Fresno, or a 
small scraper, is used to ridge the earth. 
Fig. 14—A “V.” This implement is used to check the land for winter irrigation. 
~ About 62 per cent of the growers at Salinas checked the land for 
irrigation. There were only two instances where the land was re- 
checked. This was done to irrigate for replanting. This operation 
occurred from September to June. An average crew of 1.5 men and 
7.2 horses was used and 0.93 man hours and 3.96 horse hours were 
required per acre at an average cost of 40 cents per acre. 
_ Frequently these levees are permanent and require only a small 
amount of labor each year to keep them in repair. Sometimes, how- 
ever, the levees are harrowed down after the irrigation and new 
ones are constructed annually. 
About 30 per cent of the growers who checked the land for irrigat- 
ing made it the practice to break up or level the levees before the 
beets were planted. A plow, harrow, and roller were used in this 
