DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



G8 



Such reservoirs may vary in size from the small one on the farm 

 supplying water for one or two acres to the large co-operative reservoir 

 supplying water to small portions of a score or more of dry farms. As 

 sources of supply, there are the spring, the small creek, the dry stream 

 at flood times, and the river. The cost of storing water depends principally 

 on the site selected and the size. A small reservoir costs much more per 

 acre irrigated. In the larger class of reservoirs water is usually stored 

 for less than $25 per acre foot. Under careful use one and one-half acre feet 

 will irrigate an acre of orchards or vegetables. The cost per acre for this 

 class would thus vary from $20 to $40; in the smaller reservoirs it would 

 be more. This, however, seems small in comparison to the net profits per 

 acre that can be had from such crops as strawberries, tomatoes and de- 

 ciduous fruits. 



Windmills. 



On dry farms where no water is available for either winter irrigation 

 or storage reservoirs a small supply can often be obtained by means of 

 windmills. These wind motors may be used to pump water from canals, 

 reservoirs, lakes or wells for the irrigation of a small orchard and garden, 

 as well as for domestic and stock purposes. The extent of land which a 

 windmill is capable of supplying water for depends on a large variety of 

 conditions. The chief of these are the lift, or head, the kind and size of 

 mill, the velocity and uniformity of the wind, the economy practiced in 

 using the water and such like conditions. 



The United States government, about a year and a half ago, erected 

 some seven wind mills in connection with their dry farm at Cheyenne. 

 Some of you from Wyoming may be able to tell more about it than I can. 

 I visited the station last fall and Mr. Blair was determining what these 

 different makes of windmills would do. He had, in connection with 

 these, a series of reservoirs and he was determining the loss from these 

 reservoirs by percolation and seepage, and the best method of preventing 

 that loss. He intends to get out a publication, not very large, but some- 

 thing that will give you men an idea of what a windmill will do under 

 proper conditions. That publication ought to be r^ady by the time we meet 

 again. 



One of the best types of windmills operating under an average w^ind 

 movement of ten miles per hour should pump sufficient water in a season 

 through a lift of 20 feet to irrigate 5 acres. I think here is a chance for 

 some of the inter-mountain states. I have -spoken of the irrigation canal 

 and the fact that the best land under that canal is the arid land that is 

 not under it at all, but is above it. I believe installing windmills and 

 pumping water above that canal twenty or thirty feet would prove to be 

 a pajnng investment. The cost of a twelve-foot windmill would be about 

 $230. Then one should have as a necessary adjunct to a mill a tank or 

 small reservoir to store the water until it was needed for irrigation, and 

 that might possibly bring the cost up to $500. But the interest on $500 

 at six per cent is only $30, and if this will irrigate four or five acres it 

 seems to me to be a paying investment. 



