246 



IRRIGATION SESSION 



reason it is identified chiefly with the trucking interests. 

 There are certain limitations to irrigation in the eastern 

 states which do not apply in the West where the rainfall is 

 very small. In New York, in common with all of the eastern 

 country, it is especially important that the land have good 

 natural or artificial drainage as there is always the possibility 

 that a rain will follow an application of water. Further, the 

 function of irrigation is not to meet the full requirement of 

 crops but merely to supplement the natural rainfall at times 

 when the natural storage capacity of the soil fails or is in- 

 adequate. Consequently, very much less water will be handled 

 than in western irrigation. Due to the extent of intensive 

 farming in the state, and to the considerable areas of light 

 sandy and gravelly soils, irrigation may well have a much 

 larger place in our practice than it now has. Our normal 

 rainfall is from thirty-five to forty inches. This is our 

 source of water w^hich in connection with the uneven topo- 

 graphy of the land produces springs, reservoirs and streams 

 from which irrigation may often be practiced at small cost. 

 Many farmers will begin to find it practicable to irrigate 

 their meadows and grain crops from small streams adjacent 

 to their land. Up to the present time, the more expensive 

 methods of spraying have been employed in putting the water 

 on the soil. Attention should be called to the fact that all 

 of the methods employed in the West involving small equip- 

 ment are practicable under our conditions, namely, the vari- 

 ous furrow methods and flooding. Probably for most pur- 

 poses, however, some phase of spraying is most desirable, as 

 the amount of water handled is small and the supply of water 

 is generally adequate for all needs. 



The practice of irrigation concerns a number of depart- 

 ments in agriculture. First of all, there is the engineering 

 problem of providing and transmitting water to the crop 

 area. Frequently, this involves extensive pumping systems 

 and reservoirs, all of which is concerned essentially with 

 engineering problems. When the water has been brought 

 to the field, there develop the agricultural questions of the 

 method of application and the amount of water for particular 

 crops. In this way we have brought into this conference the 



