WHAT WATER DOES FOR COLORADO. 
THE DESERT “TAKES A SMILE,” 
And Proceeds to Laugh With the Harvest. 
After having presented to the readers of The R. 
N.-Y., something of the suffering condition of the 
settlers of the “ Rainbelt country,” it is a pleasure to 
show them a scene in the irrigated section of Colorado, 
Fig. 26. This beautiful home is a fair sample of the 
many throughout the country, where thrift and in¬ 
dustry, under favorable conditions, have secured the 
comforts and even elegancies of life. The picture also 
gives a clear illustration of the way in which grain 
and Alfalfa are irrigated. The check that dams the 
water back in the ditch, is made by securely fastening 
a piece of canvass to a slim pole. When the ditch be¬ 
comes full, it overflows, as the shovel of the irrigator 
may direct. It re¬ 
quires a good deal 
of skill to flood a 
crop well. The 
irrigator must 
direct the water to 
the high spots of 
ground; it will 
find the low ones 
readily enough it¬ 
self. If the work¬ 
man fails to do his 
duty, as the season 
advances, what a 
tell-tale that same 
crop becomes! If 
it be Alfalfa, the 
slighted portions 
will begin to 
bloom when only 
a few inches tall, 
while that which 
has been faith¬ 
fully irrigated, 
will grow two and 
three feet high 
before-blossoming. 
Too much water is 
as injurious to 
young plants as 
too little. It causes 
them to look sick¬ 
ly and turn yel¬ 
low, and retards 
their growth. 
As wheat ma¬ 
tures early in the 
season, it is a good 
crop to put in 
where there is any 
danger of a scar¬ 
city of water later 
on, as was often the case on certain ditches before 
reservoirs became as numerous as now. Of the rowed 
crops, perhaps there is nothing that will thrive with a 
scant supply of water better than corn. Potatoes 
must have water late in the season. Our immense 
crop last year was probably largely owing to the fact 
that the new reservoirs supplied the late water. 
While it increases the quantity of tubers raised, it is 
by no means certain that it improves the quality. The 
crops that are grown in rows are irrigated by running 
the water down the furrows, allowing it to leap up to 
the roots, but avoiding flooding the plants if possible. 
With irrigation at hand, the farmer owes the suc¬ 
cess or failure of his crops greatly to his own industry 
and skill ; but it forces upon him a great amount of 
hard labor that the farmer in a rainy country knows 
nothing of. The making of the ditches is an immense 
work. The canal is made, taking the water from the 
river so far towards its source as will give it a good 
fall, and admit of its covering great tracts of land 
when it empties its contents upon the surface. From 
this canal start laterals which divide and subdivide, 
until every farm has its ditch, and every acre of level 
land under it can be irrigated. The canal is under 
the supervision of a “ ditch rider.” lie must travel 
the section under his care every day during the irri¬ 
gating season. A box is fastened to the flume of each 
lateral. There the farmer who wishes a change made 
with his water, may deposit a note to that effect, and 
it is the duty of the rider to see that the lateral re¬ 
ceives its proper share of the coveted fluid. Should 
an owner allow his water to run to waste, and flood 
tne roads, or any other equally troublesome state of 
affairs to occur, the ditch rider may deprive him of 
water altogether should it come to his knowledge. 
HOW THEY IRRIGATE. USE OF WATER IN A COLORADO FIELD. Fig. 26. 
The owners of laterals (as well as the canal owners) 
form corporations, and they have a man appointed to 
apportion water in case of dispute. Every spring 
these ditches must be cleaned, as the water will carry 
weed seeds to every inch of ground which it covers. 
Great, indeed, is the work of the mountain stream. 
The stream down rocky canyons leaps, 
And in its channel onward sweeps, 
Till held and barred, it turns its way 
Where man’s own power and skill may say; 
And unto gardens, farms and fields, 
The treasure of its own self yields. 
And now it sings through countless ditches; 
Upspring bright flowers like winsome witches, 
And nod at their own mirrored ranks, 
Reflected from the verdant banks; 
Its busy way, where’er it goes, 
The gladdened face of Nature shows. 
Like hosts drawn up in war’s array, 
The cacti long had held the way; 
Their thorns like bayonets pierced the air, 
Till water came and conquered there, 
And changed the desert lone and drear, 
To homes and gardens full of cheer. s. E. u. 
THE WASTED WATERS OF A BROOK 
TURNED TO ACCOUNT IN MICHIGAN. 
A Private Irrigation Plant that Pays. 
On account of the drought the last two years, the 
question of irrigation is attracting considerable atten¬ 
tion. A few tell what they have done, but many are 
suggesting what might be done, and there seems to be 
a general awakening to the importance of utilizing 
water that has heretofore run to waste. On the farm 
carried on by myself and son, is a small spring brook 
which has its source on the farm, and furnishes water 
the year around sufficient nearly to fill a five-inch 
pipe. The land about the springs which furnish the 
water, is hilly, but 60 rods below is comparatively 
level or table land. For many years, in seasons of 
drought, the brook was diverted from its natural 
place by plowing 
furrows out on the 
land in pasture, 
and green fields 
were made out of 
parched pastures 
and meadows. It 
made the fields 
in August as 
green as in June. 
A few years ago, 
we came to the 
conclusion that 
this stream or 
brook which had 
been running to 
waste for thou¬ 
sands of years, 
was designed for 
man’s benefit, the 
same as was the 
land through 
which it runs. 
In a small ra- 
v i n e where the 
brook reached the 
tableland, we built 
a dam about eight 
rods long and six 
feet high, and 
broad enough on 
top to drive across 
with a team, di¬ 
verted the water 
from the brook, 
and filled the pond 
which covers 
about three-quart¬ 
ers of an acre. In 
the winter, we get 
our ice from this 
pond, and when 
needed in the summer, we use the water for irrigat¬ 
ing. With this small stream and pond, by properly 
husbanding and handling the water, we can relieve 
from drought from 50 to 80 acres, and raise the maxi¬ 
mum of crops every time. We transferred part of our 
market garden business fronqthe upland to this lower 
tableland, and so have made sure, in a dry time, of 
good garden crops as well as oLfield crops. 
Some Results From Irrigation. 
In 1893, the drought caught us on sweet corn. We 
had about 1% acre on upland, and about the same on 
land we could irrigate—all planted the same day and 
on land equally rich. From that not watered, we 
sold less than 5510 worth ; on that watered, over $93 
worth, and had an immense lot of fodder and corn 
left for soiling. 
We had similar results on plots set to strawberries. 
