GROWING BY IRRIGATION. ORT 
The second irrigation ix much more easily given 
than the first. More water may be used and there 
will be less danger of washing. The little alfalfa 
plants check the flow of the water and distribute it. 
The land soaks better too. When it needs the third 
irrigation usually a good deal more water may be 
turned in with no danger of wasting. Finally when 
the plants are strong and branched and the crop has 
been once mown off one may turn a young river over 
the field with no harm. 
The practice then is to turn out all in one place a 
strong stream, and let it flow till it has reached the 
cross ditch below, then shutting off the flow at that 
place to open it a little further along the ditch. It is 
allowed to flow in at this point till that strip is 
soaked, when it is again moved farther across the 
field, and so on till all the land is wet. 
. These heavy irrigations cause the furrows to level 
up a great deal, so that a field that seemed rough 
and ridged for mowing will be all right after being 
flooded a time or two and one will even wish that 
he had made his furrows deeper and the ridges more 
pronounced if he has not his land well leveled. This 
is the system in almost universal use in our western 
states. 
When to Irrigate—Alfalfa should never be al- 
lowed to get very dry in winter time. It is well to 
irrigate thoroughly late in the fall, when it will go 
through winter in good condition. Watering it in 
winter will not do any harm if the soil is pervious, 
and any excess of moisture can readily drain away. 
