170 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[November, 



GARDEN CULTURE 

 IN COLORADO BY IRRIGATION. 



(With an illustration.) 

 BY W. E. PABOR, 

 Author of "Colorado as an Agricultural State," 

 " Fruit Culture in Colorado," etc. 



Garden work and fruit culture in Colorado 

 must be planned to meet the requirements 

 and conditions of its peculiar climate ; and 

 as these include irrigation, it is desirable 

 that the land selected for the garden or for a 

 fruit plantation should be as level 

 as possible, as it involves more or 

 less expense and added labor on 

 irregular or sloping ground. 



Shadyside, the residence of the 

 writer, located about two miles 

 from the city of Denver, is a block 

 of four acres, having the good for- 

 tune to lie close to the main irrigat- 

 ing canal that waters a strip of 

 country about ten miles long and 

 from one to three miles wide. 

 Trees — Cottonwood or Linn — 

 border the south, west, and north, 

 making a complete shelter-belt, 

 leaving the eastern side with a 

 full exposure to the sun. The 

 house is set in a grove of trees 

 of ten years' growth. Over the 

 eastern half of the land there is a 

 gentle slope to the west, while the 

 western half is fairly level. 



The main canal, passing within 

 two rods of the south-east corner 

 of the land, is tapped by a flume 

 of wood, laid level with the bottom 

 of the canal, and passing through 

 the^erme on the lower side of the 

 canal ; at the end entering the 

 canal there is a wooden head-gate, 

 made to lift, to allow the number 

 of inches required to pass under 

 it and through the flume ; this 

 head-gate can be dropped down 

 when water is not being used, 

 shutting it entirely off. Five 



to fully saturate the ground, say for half an 

 hour, in which time it will sink several 

 inches in the sandy loam of which the soil 

 is composed. Then the temporary dam is 

 removed, the cut in the bank filled up, and 

 the water allowed to flow along until it 

 reaches the patch of Grape-vines, where the 

 same process is repeated ; then to the bed of 

 Asparagus; this, being larger, will require 

 two or three openings, so the dam is built at 

 the farther corner of the bed, and three 

 openings made for the water to flow through 

 into the rows. Plots 7, 8, and 9 have young 

 fruit trees growing in them — Apple, Pear, 

 Cherry, etc. The water from this bed that 

 does not soak into the ground is allowed to 



Explanations.— 1. House; 2. Flower garden; 3. Chicken run 

 5. Chk-ken house; «. Cow corral; 7. Rhubarb bed ; 8. Grape-vines ; 

 ague bed; Id. Experimental garden ; 11. Uay-sfack; 12. Water-melon patch 



Bean row border ; 13. Mu«U-uielon patch-Bean row border ; 14. Kitchen gar- of -Keel Dutch Currants, twenty- 

 den— variety Of vegetables; 15. Tomato patch; 1C. Cucumber patch; 17. fi„„ ;„ „ rriw . "NTumhpr oi iq a hed 

 Rows of pole Beans; 18. Turban Squash bed ; VJ. Strawberries ; 'JO. Currants; UVe ' ^ umuBI ~ L 16 * ueu 



21. Straw*beri-ies; '2'2. Raspberries; 23. Blackberries; 21. Cauliflower and of Wilson Strawberries. All these 

 winter Cabbage ; 25. Onion patch ; 26. Currant and Gooseberry plantation ; nria „™ wrl m rows and their irri 



27. Alfalfa strip. 



inches of water is used during the iShaty$ute,Arg>jlcPark, near Waiter, Cote, Residence of WFJ'abon 

 season at Shadyside ; by this we 

 mean the amount that would pass 

 through an orifice one inch deep 

 and five inches wide, or two inches 

 deep and two and a half inches 

 wide, as the ease may be. One 

 inch is usually considered suffi- 

 cient to water one acre. 



The heavy black lines represent 

 the shallow laterals running alongside the 

 various beds in which the water taken from 

 the main canal flows, and which is tapped at 

 various points to meet the requirements of 

 the occasion. For instance : Water is let 

 into the garden at the south-east corner, 

 allowed to flow down the fence line until it 

 reaches Plot 7, which is a bed of Ehubarb, 

 or Pie-plant ; here, at a central point, a tem- 

 porary check to the water is made by dam- 

 ming the channel; two or three shovelfuls 

 of dirt are generally sufficient for this pur- 

 pose. By making an opening in the west 

 bank of the lateral, at the point indicated 

 by A, the water, thus diverted, flows into 

 the rows of Rhubarb, until enough is let in 



Melon patches, in hills, with a border of 

 Wax Beans banked up on the outer side, so 

 that the water can completely cover the 

 space allotted for Melons. The Plots 15 and 

 16 are Tomato and Cucumber beds, also in 

 hills. The rest of the plot is planted and 

 cultivated in rows. This last summer we 

 had Corn, Parsnips, Carrots, Beets, Lettuce 

 Radishes, Peas, Beans, Nasturtiums, Melons 

 — Musk and Water, — Turnips, Red Cabbage 

 Savoy, Kohl Rabi, Summer Cabbage, Onions 

 Chufas, Peanuts, Tomatoes, and Cucumbers, 

 growing in this plot of ground, in abundant 

 supply. 



In irrigating this ground, a cheek, by dam- 

 ming, is made about every rod, and eight or 

 ten rows of water can be seen run- 

 ning down the furrows at the same 

 time. The furrow is run as close 

 as possible on one side of the row 

 of vegetables, in order to allow 

 the water to seep down close to 

 the roots of the growing plants. 

 It takes but a short time to fill 

 these channels, and the shining 

 currents of water, glistening under 

 a summer sun, are a beautiful sight 

 to see, aside from the usefulness of 

 the mission upon which they jour- 

 ney. 



When the water has passed the 

 rows and reached the Tomato and 

 Cucumber patches, it flows into 

 zig-zag furrows run by the "Fire- 

 fly," so as to circle around each 

 hill. The water easily flows in them 

 all, seeping and spreading on each 

 side, and penetrating the ground 

 several inches, until the beds are 

 thoroughly saturated. 



When this pleasant work is com- 

 pleted, the lateral running west is 

 shut off and the water allowed to 

 flow north again, until it reaches 

 the plot marked 17, where three 

 rows of bean-poles, about thirty in 

 a row, show the Cranberry and the 

 Lima growing luxuriantly. Down 

 these rows it runs, flowing over 

 into Plot 18, where a patch of 

 Turban Squashes are growing. 

 From this it falls into the lateral 

 running along the east line of 

 plots marked 19, 20, and 21. The 

 first-named is a bed of Crescent 

 Barn- Seedling and Jueunda Strawber- 

 Aspar- r ies ; Number 20 has eight rows 



flow through a couple of small, wooden 

 flumes set in the walk, into the plot num- 

 bered 10, which is a sort of Experimental 

 Garden, where new and choice varieties of 

 seeds are tested. The ground here being 

 perfectly level, the water will run down a 

 row and then run back in another row, until 

 several are filled. A furrow is run in each 

 row ; we generally use the Firefly plow and 

 find it answers the purpose very well. 



When these beds are fully watered, the 

 dam is removed and the water allowed to 

 turn to the west, along the plot numbered 

 14. This is the kitchen garden, where all 

 kinds of vegetables are grown for home use, 

 mainly in rows. The Plots 12 and 13 are 



are grown 



gation is an easy task. 

 Now, as will be seen, the entire east half 

 of the garden has been well watered, spend- 

 ing about half a day in the work. 



We now come to the west half. The water 

 is turned from flowing into the channel on 

 the east side of the garden, and allowed to 

 run down a lateral outside of the south fence 

 fronting the house, until it reaches the far- 

 ther side of the drive-way and the corner of 

 the flower garden, where it flows into and 

 out of one bed into another, as shown in the 

 map. These five beds have raised walks 

 about and between them, so that they are 

 lower than the surrounding surface, and a 

 system of flooding is followed. A better 

 plan, however, and one that will probably be 



