32 
BULLETIN 917, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
heavy vine growth and cause uneven ripening. Beets should not 
have water on their crowns. To irrigate before the crop is large 
enough to shade the ground causes crusting of the soil. Potatoes 
should be deeply ditched, so that the water will flow between the 
rows, the surface of the stream being lower than the location of the 
potatoes in the hill. Care must be taken to avoid an excess of water 
in the soil and to prevent heavy crusting or packing. Good subsoil 
drainage is necessary for the successful irrigation of all the crops 
studied. At Rocky Ford the climate is somewhat different from that 
of northern Colorado, and the crops need different care in the practice 
of irrigation. 
Fig. 25. —The cook wagon. This is the boarding house for the thrashing crew. 
Alfalfa was irrigated on an average of 3.5 times; oats, 2.6 times; 
wheat, 2.7 times; beans, 3.3 times; beets, 4.1 times: cantaloupes, 6.6 
times; and cucumbers, 4.7 times. A man irrigating alfalfa but three 
times would turn on the water the first time May 1 to 15; next, June 
1 to 10; and lastly, June 25 to July 5. If a fourth irrigation is given 
it usually comes in September, or after the last crop is harvested. 
Some farmers irrigate as of ten. as six times for alfalfa. Grain, beets, 
and beans are usually irrigated at planting time, so as to furnish 
moisture for the germination of the seed. Cantaloupe and cucumber 
crops are irrigated to germinate the seed. Water to germinate the 
seed is applied to row crops by making furrows at the time of plant- 
ing by attaching ditching shovels to the planter. Other irrigations 
are applied by methods similar to those explained for the northern 
Colorado regions. In the latter part of May cucumbers are given an 
irrigation to bring up the seed. The other waterings follow at 
regular intervals up to about August 25. 
