IRRIGATIOX ROUXD TABLE 111 



ing 4,000 gallons a minute. We were pumping continuously for ten 

 days. We had about sixty acres under water last spring. There 

 were about ten rods between laterals. 



Me. Work: What does it cost you while you are pumping? 



Mr. Boxxey: In the neighborhood of thirty-five cents an 

 hour for the two machines. I think we can do that much more 

 cheaply. We are going to use natural gas. After the water is once 

 off. that is practically all the pumping we have to do in the season. 

 The evaporation and the water taken up by the plants take care of the 

 water ordinarily. 



Mr. White: How low do you reduce that water level.^ 



^Ie. Boxx'Ey: I don't like to keep the water level more than 

 two feet below the surface. 



Me. White: The reason I ask is that some of the owners of 

 muck lands drain so that they are going to get things too dry. The 

 question arose how far we could reduce the water level without 

 making it too dry. The muck to which I refer is older than yours. 



Me. Box'X'ey: I don't believe it would do any harm to drain it 

 down to three feet. 



Me. Work: I think I am right in saying that it is better not 

 to have your water level too high, because you will inhibit the develop- 

 ment of the root systems, vdih the results that when you have en- 

 forced drouth you are more likely to suffer. 



QuESTiox: Would you have to put your laterals close together 

 under dry conditions? 



^Ir. Boxxey: We expect eventually to make the spacing about 

 rods. 



Mr. Work: That would give you much quicker distribution. 



Mr. Boxx'Ey: A man can divide up the distance as many times 

 as he likes if he doesn't increase the cost too much, but when the 

 system is once installed, there is not much more cost. In our main 

 tile we have a wire extending the whole length, united to a brush, 

 so if one of the sections becomes clogged, we draw it through. 



