122 



IRRIGATION ROUND TABLE 



COST OF WATER 



Question: I would like to ask about cost. 



Mr. Work: I have come across a number of instances where 

 water can be pumped at three, four, five, or six cents a thousand 

 gallons. Mr. Bonney, what did you give as your cost? 



Mr. Bonney: I have said thirty to thirty -five cents an hour, 

 four thousand gallons a minute. 



A Member: Mr. Ritterskamp of Princeton, Indiana, gets 

 water for from twenty -five cents down to six cents a thousand gal- 

 lons according to the quantity he uses. He can well afford to waste 

 water sometimes to get his rat*^. We have a good pumping system ^ 

 and it does not cost very much to handle water. 



Mr. Strahan: In irrigation experiments carried on in the 

 summer, we pumped an acre inch of water for forty-nine cents. 

 That includes depreciation on plant and all incidental expenses. 



Mr. Work: Those were experiments in the Departments of 

 Farm Mechanics and Pomology. Would it cost more to put it 

 under pressure? 



Mr. Strahan: That was thirteen feet actual head, and twenty- 

 two feet through loss of head in pipes. That is thirty -five feet 

 head. We delivered one hundred seventy gallons a minute. 



Mr. Work: That is less than two cents a thousand gallons. 



jMr. Bonney: We are using too much power for the water we 

 have handled. In the spring w^e are going to install an elevator 

 instead of a pump. 



Question: Has anyone had experience applying water with 

 furrows? 



Mr. Parcell: I used second-hand fire hose and pumped through 

 the hose directly on the ground, compressing the hose to make a 

 spray. It works all right on strawberries, mulching with straw. 

 With a cultivated piece, it will puddle at the surface. 



watering with hose 



Mr. W^ork: Can Mr. Wilkinson tell us of the Boston method 

 of using hose? 



Mr. W^ilkinson: The Boston scheme is going out of date. 

 The men there have gardens arranged so they are a great deal like 



