CHAPTER XXV. 19^ 



solutely necessary, and then the head ditches should be very near 

 together and the furrows small and numerous. This method is very- 

 easy, popular and cheap, and what is more the pity, many people 

 are in the habit of so Irrigating. 



The different methods seem to be persistently followed in different 

 localities in the state. 



Where surface irrigation Is practiced and where the ground is kept 

 cultivated to the depth of six Inches, it follows from the premises, 

 that from one-half to two-thirds of the water (allowing one miner's 

 inch continuous flow to ten acres of ground) is wasted — for the por- 

 tion of the water which is soaked up by the cultivated ground is. lost 

 tn the tree, for in the cultivation the moisture in the cultivated soil 

 goes off in the air. To save this immense proportion of water, it fol- 

 lows then as a natural sequence that the water must be placed below 

 the cultivated ground, i. e., sub-irrigation must be resorted to. 



SUB-IRRIGATION 

 Has always given satisfactory results as to a proper distribution of 

 water, but no system heretofore has been satisfactory from a prac- 

 tical and economic standpoint, owing to the fact that the pipes have 

 become broken or filled with roots and clogged; no underground 

 valve having been invented that was economical and at the same time 

 tight and impervious to roots. We have tried and can recommend as 

 an absolute and almost perfect system of sub-irrigation, that an 

 orchard be piped between each row, with one inch iron pipe at the 

 depth of about 18 inches from the surface, and that in the center of 

 the square formed by four trees, a hydrant be placed, as appears In 

 the cut herewith. This is a very cheap and simple device. It con- 

 sists of nothing but a short piece of pipe with an extra number of 

 threads on one end, say seven or eight; there are two slots cut down 

 through a portion of the threads; this pipe is screwed down into a 

 tee in the main pipe. To start the flow of water, this pipe with slots 

 in it Is partially unscrewed, which permits the water to run out 

 through the slots. Anything that would grow through the slots is ef- 

 fectively cut when the water is turned off by screwing down the pipe. 

 A depression about four inches deep and three inches in diameter is 

 left around each hydrant and the water is turned on sufficiently when 

 it appears at the bottom of this depression. Rev. C. F. Loop has 

 such a system of sub-irrigation at Claremont, except that the valves 

 are much more expensive, costing about 35 cents each. Dr. Loop says 

 J, that the system has given him perfect satisfaction, and he Is of the 



