4i8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
June 30 
A TEXAS IRRIGATING PLANT. 
GIVING THE PT.ANT8 A DRINK. 
Advantages of Irrlgfatlon. 
There are thousands of chances, on as 
many farms in our different States, 
where bountiful supplies of water exist, 
that by judicious management and a 
small outlay in cash, may be easily 
transformed into a great source of pleas¬ 
ure, as well as revenue. I will describe 
my own system of irrigation, such a one 
as may be had on any farm that has on 
it any spare water, no matter where 
located—in ponds, springs, rivers, creeks 
or wells. Water from open ponds is 
probably the best for this purpose. Yet 
any kind will do, excepting some kinds 
of artesian that contain mineral sub¬ 
stances injurious to plant growth. There 
are three main points to be considered : 
first, the supply of water, second, the 
motive power—that is, to elevate the 
water—and third, the reservoir which is 
to receive and hold it until wanted for 
distribution among the crops. Land to 
be irrigated should have a gentle slope, 
say from one to two feet fall in 100, so 
that whenever water is started on at 
the upper end it will run down grad¬ 
ually, soaking the soil right and left 
without washing the surface. Since 
water, of its own accord, will never run 
any other way than down hill, an ele¬ 
vated point must be selected for the 
reservoir. 
Building the Reservoir. 
If a place can be had from which the 
water will naturally run in several direc¬ 
tions, all the better, because more land 
may then be reached at less cost. Where 
there is a good clay subsoil, not porous, 
and the soil above has in it a considerable 
admixture of clay, a first-class reservoir 
may be constructed out of the soil. To 
do this well, a ditch must first be dug or 
plowed out wherever the dam is to stand, 
down into the clay. This ditch is then 
filled from two to three feet above the 
surface with either clay or good clay 
soil. Then it may be finished out with 
any kind of soil handy. If the bed of the 
reservoir bo dug out several feet deep, a 
good chance is afforded to raise fish in it. 
While the dam is being built, the outlet 
pipe must be put in position. The one 
we h“ve here is 10 feet long, four inches 
in diameter, and has a closed perforated 
joint on the water side, with a valve on 
the outside, which, when opened, per¬ 
mits the water to fiow into the main 
distributing ditch. We had a tinner make 
it for us out of galvanized iron. It should 
have at least two fianges soldered around 
it, so as to prevent the water from forc¬ 
ing a passage alor g outside of it. This is 
very important, since without this pre¬ 
caution, the dam would leak forever 
along the pipe. Oar reservoir is 50 x 100 
feet. The dam is five feet high on the 
outside, and four feet wide on the top; 
when full, the water is seven feet deep. 
AVhile the dam is yet new, the first year 
there will be more or less seepage, but 
this is easily tapped off at about four 
feet from the base of the dam, with an 
underdrain which in dry weather will 
furnish subirrigation. The ground on 
which is located the distributing ditch, 
must be somewhat elevated, carefully 
graded up. In most cases it need not be 
more than one foot deep and about as 
wide. This ditch carries the water to 
where it is wanted, into the rows of vege¬ 
tables, etc., diverging right and left from 
it, as the case may be. 
Raising the Water. 
If the water be taken from an open 
pond as we do here, all that is necessary 
is to lift it up to, say, three or four feet 
higher, than the level of the top of the 
reservoir dam. A common “ Union Top ” 
force pump will do this admirably. The 
motive power may be a gasoline engine, a 
hot-air pumping engine, a horse-ijpwer, 
regular steam engine, or, in an open 
country where there is a sufficiency of 
wind, a good steel windmill. If the lat¬ 
ter be used, and it no doubt will prove the 
paost satisfactory in a majority of cases, 
a small sized tank, holding a barrel or 
more, may be adjusted on the windmill 
tower, the bottom a foot or two higher 
than the level of the reservoir dam. Into 
this tank, the water is to be pumped, 
and to the bottom of it is connected the 
down pipe that will conduct it into the 
reservoir. This pipe is best brought 
right down into the ground and under¬ 
ground up to and against the dam, when 
two elbows and short pieces of piping 
will bring it over the top. It is best to 
use on the down pipe where it reaches 
the ground, a T with a plug, instead of 
elbow. Drawing the plug, gives a chance 
to clear the pipe of sediment, also of 
water, at the approach of cold weather 
in winter. It is also well to use along 
the pipe line occasionally, a “ Union ” in 
place of ordinary couplings. Then, when¬ 
ever anything gets wrong with the 
pipes, instead of having to take all up, 
one has only to go to the next Union and 
what would.otherwise be a big job, may 
be adjusted in a few minutes. 
Where water is to be carried but a 
short distance and the incline is slight, 
the tank on the tower may be dispensed 
with and the pumping done directly into 
the reservoir. Where as much as four to 
five acres or more of land are to be regu¬ 
larly irrigated, nothing less than a 12- 
foot windmill, a 4xl8-inch cylincer pump 
and two-inch piping should be thought 
of. For private gardens and the like, 
smaller outfits may answer. On lands 
too sandy to permit of constructing a 
reservoir out of soil, a large wooden or 
galvanized iron tank may be used instead, 
with a faucet at the base for an outlet. 
A wooden tank holding 15 or 20 barrels 
of water may also be put up at the high¬ 
est point in gardens which are to be 
irrigated, and the water from these con¬ 
ducted wherever needed. I have given a 
great deal of thought and study to the 
subject of irrigation, for a number of 
years. My system is mostly the result 
of my individual efforts and study. 
The Work of a Windmill. 
As to how much water a windmill will 
lift into a tank during an average of 
eight hours per day, much depends 
entirely on condition'; there is no theory 
about it. If a mill of a given capacity 
has to lift the water from a considerable 
depth, it cannot raise as much as though 
the water is lifted only a few feet. For 
this reason, in the latter case a larger 
sized pump may be operated by the same 
force exerted on a smaller size when the 
water i 3 taken from a considerable depth. 
Wind power at best, is very uncertain as 
regards performing a certain amount of 
work in any given time. With the wind 
blowing at the rate of 18 miles per hour, 
our own mill—a 14-foot diameter wheel, 
4xl8-inch pump cylinder and two-inch 
pipe connections—will pump a barrel of 
water per minute, or over 1,400 barrels 
in 24 hours. Then, again, it may, owing 
to condition of the wind, not pump such 
an amount the next five or six days to¬ 
gether. Quite generally, in our driest 
times, we have, as a rule, the least wind. 
The month of August is usually very 
calm. For this very reason a storage 
receptacle, that will receive the water 
delivered by the pump and hold it till 
wanted, is at least in our case indispen¬ 
sable. If we had to depend on our mill 
to pump the water the day we need it, 
we would often get left. As it is, with 
the reservoir we have, we let the mill 
pump whenever it wants to, and we 
draw off the water as we need it. Our 
plant furnishes sufficient to successfully 
irrigate six acres of garden ground. As 
to how much water may be required for 
irrigating an acre, depends principally 
on the condition of the soil. The Jersey 
sand banks would swallow up ten times 
more than would a good loamy soil. 
Watering, as a.general thing, unless the 
weather be cloudy, should be done only 
in the evening; this is another reason 
why a storage reservoir must be pro¬ 
vided. Doing the work at the right 
time, and in the proper way, is of great¬ 
est importance. J. w. stubenrauch. 
From away up in British North America 
comes the following greeting to Dr. R. V. 
Bierce, Chief Consulting Physician to the 
Invalids’ Hotel and Surgical Institute, at 
Buffalo, N. Y. Mrs. Allen Sharrard, of 
llartney, Selkirk Co., Manitoba, v.-hoso 
)ortrait, with that of her little l)oy, 
loads this article, writes as follows; 
“ I take great pleasure in recommending Dr. 
Bierce’s Favorite Prescription for ‘ falling of 
the womb.’ I was troubled with bearing 
down pains and pains in my back whenever 
I would be on my feet any length of time. I 
was recommended to try Dr. Bierce’s Favorite 
I’rescription, which I did with happy results. 
I feel like a new person after taking three 
bottles of it.” 
As wo have just heard from the frigid 
North, we will now introduce a letter 
received from the Sunny South. The follow¬ 
ing is from Mrs. J. T. Smith, of Oakfuskee, 
Cleburne Co., Ala. She writes: “I was 
afflicted and suffered untold pains and 
misery, such as no pen can describe, for six 
years. I was confined to bed most of the 
time. I expected the cold hand of death 
every day. I was afflicted with leucorrhea— 
with excessive flowing—falling of the womb 
—bearing down sensation—pain in the small 
of my back—my bowels costive—smarting, 
itching and burning in the vagina, also pal¬ 
pitation of the heart. When I began taking 
your medicine I could not sit up, only a few 
minutes at a time, I was so w-eak. I took 
Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription three 
times per day, I also took his ‘ Golden Medical 
Discovery ’ three times per day and one of 
Dr. Pierce’s Pleasant Pellets every night. I 
liave taken seven bottles of the ‘ Discovery,’ 
seven bottles of the ‘ Prescription ’ and five 
bottles of the ‘ Pellets.’ I took these medi¬ 
cines seven months, regularly, never missed 
a day. These medicines cured me. I feel as 
well as I ever did in my life. Four of the 
best doctors in the land treated my case four 
years. They all gave me up as hopeless— 
they said I could not 1^ cured, and could not 
live. Through the will of God, and your 
medicines, I have been restored to the best 
of health.” Yours truly. 
Mrs. W. O. Gunekel, of No. 1461 South 
Seventh Street, Terre Haute, Indiana, writes: 
“ I had been suffering from womb trouble for 
eight years having doctored wit'n the most 
skillful physicians, but finding only tempo¬ 
rary relief from medicines prescribed by 
them. I was advised by a friend to take 
Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription, which I 
did, and found, in taking six bottles of the 
‘ Prescl'iption ’ and two of the ‘ Golden 
Medical Discovery,’ that it has effected a 
positive cure, for which words cannot ex¬ 
press my gratitude for the relief from the 
great suffering that I so long endured.” 
Yours truly, 
As a powerful, invigorating, restorative 
tonic “ Favorite Prescription ” improves 
digestion and nutrition thereby building up 
so/id, wholesome flesh, and increasing the 
strength of the whole system. As a soothing 
and strengthening nervine “Favorite Pre¬ 
scription ” is unequaled and is invaluable in 
allaying and subduing nervous excitability, 
irritability, nervous exhaustion, nervous 
prostration, neuralgia, hysteria, spasms. 
Chorea, or St. Vitu^s Dance, and other dis¬ 
tressing, nervous symptoms commonly atten¬ 
dant upon functional and organic disease of 
the womb. It induces refreshing sleep and 
relieves mental anxiety and despondency. 
Even insanity, when dependent upon womb 
disease, is cured by it. 
Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription is a 
scientific medicine, carefully compounded by 
an experienced and skillful physician, and 
adapted to woman’s delicate organization. It 
is purely vegetable in its composition and 
perfectly harmless in its effects in any condi¬ 
tion of the system. For morning sickne.ss, or 
nausea, duo to pregnancy, weak stomach, in¬ 
digestion, dyspepsia and kindred symptoms, 
its use will prove very beneficial. 
Dr. Pierce’s Book (168 pages, illustrated) 
on “Woman and Her Diseases,” giving suc¬ 
cessful means of Home Treatment, will be 
mailed in plain envelope, securely sealed 
from observation on receipt of ten cents 
to pay postage. See the Doctor’s address 
1 near tne bead of this article. 
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J 
I 
