BETTER FRUIT 



April 



BEST METHODS OF APPLYING WATER TO CROPS 



BY SAMUEL FORTIER, CHIEF OF IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS, EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



SIXTY years ago the practice of irri- 

 gation was new to the people oi 

 this country. In the gradual devel- 

 opment since then many methods and 

 devices have been tried, but compara- 

 tively few have been successful. Costly 

 experiments in irrigation have been made, 

 but in only a few cases have the results 

 justified the expense. 



Out of these trials and failures there 

 have been evolved, however, certain 

 well established ways of doing things, 

 which under given conditions are con- 

 sidered superior to any otlier methods 

 yet devised. The purpose of the writer 

 in preparing this article is to present 

 some of the features of irrigation prac- 

 tice which have successfullj' stood the 

 test of repeated trials under widely 

 diflferent conditions. It is not claimed 

 that the methods herein described repre- 

 sent the highest achievement of Western 

 people in this direction. They but mark 

 a step in a rapid development in which 

 that which is considered best this year 

 may be superseded by something better 

 next year. 



The agricultural wealth of that vast 

 region lying west of the Missouri River 

 was first made known by men who were 

 poor in worldly goods but rich in those 

 physical and mental endowments which, 

 go to make up the best type of citizen- 

 ship. Their poverty, unfortunately, com- 

 pelled them to make use of the cheapest 

 methods in rendering the arid lands pro- 

 ductive. Water was led from the nearest 

 stream in a plow furrow, and the irri- 

 gator, in wet feet, tried to spread it over 

 the field by the use of a shovel. The 

 small and cheap equipment, consisting of 

 a walking plow and shovel, has given 

 place to a large number of implements, 

 and the simple, laborious manner of 

 applying water has been broadened out 

 into more than a half dozen standard 

 methods, yet in studying the latest 

 improvements it is evident that many of 

 them are mere makeshifts and that much 

 remains to be done before the water of 

 Western streams is efficiently and eco- 

 nomically applied to arid lands. To aid 

 in remedying this defect the irrigation 

 investigations of the Department of Agri- 

 culture were instituted nearly a dozen 

 years ago, to be carried on wherever 

 practicable in conjunction with the 

 Western experiment stations. One of 

 the results of these investigations has 

 been to show that a large part of the 

 water annually diverted from natural 

 streams is wasted by reason of the crude 

 and defective means employed in its 

 transporation, delivery and use. While 

 it is true that the waste in irrigation 

 waters is diminishing, land now being 

 irrigated in many parts of the West with 

 one-third of the water formerly applied, 

 yet there is still much to be done before 

 the highest duty is reached. 



Tlie far-reaching importance of better 

 methods of using water is readily seen 

 when one considers that the extent of 

 land now irrigated, based on the esti- 

 mates of Western state engineers and 

 others, is approximately K!, 000. 000 acres. 



According to the results of measure- 

 ments made by the office of experiment 

 stations the quantity of water which is 

 diverted annually from streams and other 

 sources of supply to water this extent of 

 land approximates over 50,000,000 acre 

 feet. It is believed that only about one- 

 third of this volume of water is utilized 

 in nourishing plant growth, the balance 

 being wasted. As the writer has fre- 

 quently pointed out, all of this waste 

 of water cannot be prevented, but it is 

 thought that enough might be saved 

 to irrigate, under careful use, about 

 7.000,000 acres. 



An irrigated farm resembles a city in 

 that it should be skillfully laid out before 

 many permanent improvements are made. 

 In such preparatorj' work perhaps the 

 most important feature consists of the 

 location and construction of the network 

 of ditches required to carry and distrib- 

 ute water to all parts of the farm and 

 the head gates, turn-outs, pipes, flumes 

 and road crossings which these ditches 

 make necessary. Farm ditches are of 

 two kinds, temporary and permanent. 

 The former is intended to last through 

 but one season, or for but one crop, and 

 its location is not important. The latter 

 should be as definitely fixed as any other 

 permanent improvement on the farm. 

 The location of all permanent ditches 

 should precede the division of the farm 

 into fields, the building of fences and the 

 laying out of farm roads and lanes. The 

 chief reason for this course is that there 

 may be but one direction in which water 

 will flow at the proper rate of speed. 

 Too often the mistake is made of build- 

 ing ditches for only a part of the farm. 

 This is pretty certain to cause, it may be 

 years later, a complete change in most 

 of the existing improvements or else a 

 faulty arrangement of most of the essen- 

 tials of an irrigated farm. 



The head gate at the upper end of the 

 supply ditch marks the point where the 

 control of the canal company ceases and 



that of the water user begins. Some- 

 times the water is measured out to the 

 user. A concrete hydrant having a weir 

 and portions of two distributing flumes 

 are shown in Figure 1. 



Formerly all water channels pertain- 

 ing to the irrigated farm were formed 

 in porous earth, which wasted a large 

 part of the water through seepage. 

 Wooden flumes were substituted later 

 for part of the channels in earth, and 

 pipes, concrete lined ditches and con- 

 crete flumes are now gradually taking 

 the place of both earth and wood. The 

 larger of the farm ditches in earth are 

 made by first plowing a few furrows 

 and afterwards removing the loose dirt 

 by means of a wooden implement formed 

 like the letter A. The smaller ditches 

 can best be made by a lister plow 

 attached to a sulky frame. Figure 7. 



The location and construction of the 

 principal water channels for the farm 

 is followed by the preparation of the 

 surface of the fields for irrigation. Four 

 more or less distinct kinds of land under 

 ditch are undergoing this change. There 

 is the land which has been devoted to 

 grain growing under the natural rainfall. 

 The second class consists of low land 

 covered by native grasses, cacti or low 

 bushes. The third comprises the heavy 

 sagebrush land of the Mountain States, 

 while the fourth contains more or less 

 shrubbery and small trees interspersed 

 among smaller desert plants. In the first 

 two kinds deep plowing is all that is 

 necessary before beginning the work of 

 grading and leveling, but when heav3' 

 desert growths are encountered special 

 contrivances must be used. A covering 

 of sagebrush is most easily removed by 

 dragging a rail or heavy timber over the 

 field. Figure 3. The stumps which 

 remain are either grubbed out by hand 

 or are plowed out. The mesquite of the 

 Southwest and pine and juniper trees of 

 the Northwest are grubbed out by hand 



Figure 1— CONCRETE HYDRANT FOR MEASURING AND DISTRIBUTING WATER 

 ARLTXGTOX TTF.rGHTS. RIVERSIDE. CALIFORNIA 



