IRRIGATION WORK IN CALIFORNIA. XCIII. 
cut a number of times, when at least from 4 to 6 inches 
should usually be given to each crop. Successive years of 
deficient rainfall in California from 1897 to 1900 served to 
prove that with careful cultivation, crops, orchards and 
vineyards could be maintained ona very small amount of 
water. In some cases an amount not exceeding 6 inches 
in depth of irrigating water, was applied during the year, 
this being conducted directly to the plants, and the ground 
kept carefully tilled and free from weeds. 
In Colorado, measurements -have been made for several 
years to determine the duty of water in different localities, 
and under different conditions. Average made from the 
records shows that when the water is measured at the 
margin of the fields to be irrigated, the amount required 
varies even when care is exercised in its distribution 
from 1°25 to 2°> acre feet per acre irrigated. The 
average dutyof selected examples having little loss in 
transit compiled from measurements made in the years 
1899, 1900 and 1901, is given as 1°63 acre feet, 19°56 inches. 
The average of low duties is given as 5°7 acre feet, the 
average of all is 3°98. The variation in all examples is 
from 1°2 to 15°44. The average depth of water applied to 
some of the different crops is given as follows :— 
Alfalfa ... noo 4) SSL Potatoes we O94 feet 
Barley «.. erga li 3 nee Sug Beers...) 2p lous. 
Gorm. .:. beset ol Anges Wheat ... eel 2c OS amen 
Oats x feta tlio ae —— 
Orchard seats Oe Oye Average ... 2°31 feet 
eas —%s: SOrre sd Lae caer es 
The character of the soil, the temperature, and the wind 
movement, the cost of labour, introduce so many conditions 
that no fixed rule can be laid down. As regards charges 
for water, at Corona, or South Riverside, in Riverside 
County, the charge in 1900 was £3 per acre foot of water. 
