187 



CHAPTER XXV. 



PRACTICAI, IRRIGATION. 



S. M. Woodbridge, Ph. D. 



Irrigation is the artificial watering of tlie soil for tlie production 

 of crops. 



Although irrigation is loolied upon b3' many as a new proposition, 

 it is, in fact, the most primitive method of producing crops; that is, 

 it is the oldest method, for according to written history, "A river weni 

 out of Eden to water the garden." Furthermore, it was the only 

 method of producing crops for the first third of human existence; for, 

 from the same authority above quoted, we read: "The Lord God had 

 not caused it to rain upon the earth." As it appears that water was 

 only distributed through irrigating ditches for the nrst third of the 

 world's written history, it is not improbable that when Abel took 

 his sheep down to Cain's irrigating ditch to water them, that he made 

 this water business a pretext for "doing up" Abel. The precedent 

 of making trouble over water thus established, has been pretty well 

 followed down to the present time. 



The first rain that we have any record of was in the year B. C. 

 2349, and there has been nothing equal to it since; that rain is com- 

 monly known as Tne Flood. Agnostics think that they have scored 

 a point when they state that the properties of light must have been 

 just the same before the flood as since, and claim that the bow must 

 have existed from the beginning; but they overlook the fact that the 

 whole agricultural business was run on an irrigation plan and that 

 there was no rain previous to the flood. 



Water for irrigation purposes is derived from three sources in 

 California. 



1. Mountain and other streams. 



2. Wells — flowing or pumped. 



3. Reservoirs. 



Of the above named sources, it would seem that the reservoir is the 

 most important, for every available foot of land can be made a res- 

 ervoir. In the technical sense a reservoir is "a basin, either natural 

 or artificial, for collecting and retaining water or other liquids." 



There are two essentials to make a reservoir a success: First, 



