132 The Sugar-Beet in America 
rainfall, type of soil, and a number of other factors. It 
is impossible, therefore, to say that any given amount of 
water should be applied. 
Widtsoe! and his associates working at the Utah Sta- 
tion found that on a gravelly loam from twenty to twenty- 
seven inches of water gave higher yields than either more 
or less. On a deep fertile soil there was an increase in 
yield with increased application of water up to fifty inches. 
There was a gain of nearly five tons to the acre when the 
amount of water was increased from five to ten inches, 
but when more than ten inches were given, the increase 
in tonnage was slight. One acre of land with thirty 
inches of water applied produced 20.28 tons, but when this 
amount of water was spread over six acres of land it gave 
a total yield of 82.68 tons. 
Investigations carried out in Colorado by Mead? and 
his co-workers, covering twenty fields irrigated in the 
usual way, showed that the average amount of water 
applied during the season was 15.6 inches. Most farmers 
irrigated from one to four times with about 5.8 inches to 
the application. The same investigations showed that 
for Montana and Arizona the irrigation season lasted 
from July 13 to August 17, during which time an average 
of 25.8 inches of water was applied. 
Roeding,? from experiments in Colorado, concluded 
that a higher yield to the acre was produced from about 
11.3 inches of water applied in two irrigations than from 
1 Widtsoe, J. A., et al., Utah Exp. Sta., Buls. Nos. 80, 116, 117, 
118, 119, and 120. 
2U. 8. Dept. of Agr., Off. Exp. Sta., Bul. No. 158. 
3 Roeding, F. W., U. S. Dept. of Agr., Farmers’ Bul. No. 392. 
