CHAPTER VII. 



Methods of Iekigatio^t. 



When it comes to onr irrigation practice we are yet 

 in the cnt-and-try perioa of learning how. 



(tBowth in The easiest and crudest methods were 



METHODS 



adopted in the earlier days of irrigation. In 

 sections of India and Egypt, which are thought 

 to be the oldest among irrigated countries, the 

 practice of irrigation has remained almost the 

 same for centuries. Primitive appliances are 

 still in use, such as buckets on sweeps, and other 

 simple animal-power machines for lifting water 

 from the streams or wells to the height of the 

 crop land. In contrast with this is the rapid 

 development of irrigation practice in the West- 

 ern States. The beginning of irrigation in this 

 country was in 1847, when the Mormons made 

 the great experiment at Salt Lake City little 

 more than a half century ago. Since then de- 

 velopment and improvement have been rapid, 

 though many reverses were met with by the 

 pioneers. Now, new methods are proving so 

 superior to the old, that the farmer who would 

 make the most of his land must keep abreast of 

 the times and adopt the more progressive ideas. 



i^ocAi^ Many localities are characterized by some 



general method of irrigation. Sometimes this 



