\yOL. XLIX. NO. 2105 . 
NEW YORK, MAY 3i, i89o. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$ 2.00 PER YEAR. 
A CALIFORNIA RESERVOIR. 
I lately visited a large California ranch—that of Seiior 
Juan Gallegos, Mission San Jose, Alameda County. His 
house and a large winery are supplied with water from an 
ilmmense settling reservoir of concrete, situated in the foot- 
ihills, near a gulch. A brief description may encourage 
.others to utilize similar advantages. The water, which is 
somewhat muddy In winter, is brought to the reservoir 
from a constant stream in the ravine above. It falls into 
a large brick trough from which, in the summer it goes 
directly into the reservoir. In winter, or after showers, it 
goes into a series of three filtering reservoirs connected at 
the bottom and full of clean sand, from the last of which 
it rises, and flows into the main reservoir of concrete, 
which is the shape 
of a hollow, invert¬ 
ed cone, and when 
full contains 400,000 
gallons of water. 
A waste-pipe leads 
into the gulch from 
the lowest point of 
the large reservoir 
so that it can be 
thoroughly cleaned 
The sand in the 
filtering tanks can 
be washed clean in 
summer time when 
the stream is pure, 
.by shutting down 
, one gate, and open¬ 
ing a second waste- 
,pipe which leads 
,froin them to the 
; gulch. The filter¬ 
ing tanks are in use 
from the November 
rains to about 
April,and the water 
is of the best qual¬ 
ity. It Is drawn 
from a little below 
the surface. The 
photograph (see 
Fig. 106). was taken 
in winter and shows 
the leafless syca¬ 
mores along the 
stream. c. H. s. 
Note.—T he R. 
N.-Y. is sure that 
there are locations 
,in the hilly sections 
•of the Eastern 
States where sim¬ 
ilar reservoirs can 
be cheaply con¬ 
structed for use in 
irrigating valley 
farms which fre- 
quently suffer 
severely from 
drought. While the 
rainfall in many of 
these valleys would 
be ample on level 
ground, the steep 
hillsides permit the water to pass away so rapidly that 
their soil is never thoroughly soaked and in time of 
drought is too dry to sustain crops. The valley lands, 
alternately soaked and dried out, are first too wet and then 
too dry. The soil of many of these valley farms is of that 
light gravelly texture so easily worked and so readily 
responding to the application of manure w T hen abundantly 
watered. One can readily see that if the great volume of 
water which rushes down from the hills upon these valley 
farms could be applied to the soil when needed, many of 
the extremes of “wet” and “dry” which prove so dis¬ 
astrous to crops could be avoided. Again, there are many 
places where never-failing streams of spring water could 
by utilized for irrigation if stored in reservoirs or ponds on 
the higher parts of the farm and permitted to trickle down 
over the lower fields during dry weather. This is really 
the same principle that is employed on the plains where 
irrigation is more necessary than plowing. In Storer’s 
“ Agriculture,” considerable space is given to this matter 
of valley irrigation, and we are told that this “good 
practice” is “ shamefully neglected in the Atlantic States.” 
There are few people more ready than the New Englanders 
to undertake the management of water for manufacturing 
purposes and fewer still who seem so powerless to manage 
the water that flows past their own farms. If the moun¬ 
tain brooks of New England and the floods that rush down 
the hillsides after ever heavy rain could be regulated and 
held until the thin, leachy soil cries for moisture and then 
judiciously supplied, the “abandoned farms” would be 
able to hold their own against any farm-lands in the 
country. At present, as Professor Storer says: “ It seems 
hardly consonant with the fitness of things, when half- 
A CALIFORNIA RESERVOIR. Fig. 106. 
starved cattle are seen searching a brown hillside, in times 
of drought, for some scanty blades of grass, when ample 
supplies of water are close at hand that might readily be 
applied to make the hillside fertile.” 
Irrigation is valuable in various ways. It is known that 
water which has washed over soil or drained through it 
may act as manure. Large quantities of nitrates and 
other valuable ingredients run to waste in our brooks and 
rivers, washed out of the soil which is drained by these 
streams. Skillful irrigation prevents the loss of these sub¬ 
stances because the water is stored and applied to soils that 
will utilize them. Continued moisture enables manure to 
act throughout the entire season. On light soils, in a very 
dry time, one can readily see that manure is left in a dry, 
hard condition, which places it almost beyond reach of the 
plant roots. Apply abundant water at this time and the 
plant is not only sustained and nourished by the abundant 
moisture, but its roots are better able to make use of 
manure. The importance of supplying a growing plant 
with an abundance of moisture can hardly be over estim¬ 
ated when we remember that some of our most succulent 
fruits and vegetables contain over 90 per cent, of water. 
Is it possible for them to reach perfection when, on dry 
and naturally leachy soils they are left for weeks without 
any rainfall whatever ? And not only will a constant sup¬ 
ply of water tend to produce the most favorable size and 
shape of vegetables or fruits, but the quality too will be 
improved. This fact is particularly noticeable in the hay 
crop, and also with potatoes—the crops of the latter grown 
in Utah and Colorado under irrigation bringing the highest 
prices in Western markets. 
A mortgage-trust company in this city has of late been 
offering invest- 
___ ments in a Utah ir¬ 
rigation scheme. It 
was proposed to 
build a dam at the 
foot of a ravine 
through which a 
small river runs, 
thus forming a 
large reservoir 
which could be used 
to supply water to 
the towns and 
farms in the valley 
below. The plan 
was entirely prac¬ 
ticable and it is not 
surprising that 
shrewd people were 
ready to invest 
money in it. The 
astonishing part of 
it is that rich New 
England farmers 
were ready to send 
their money t o 
Utah to build an 
irrigating reservoir 
when there are op¬ 
portunities for irri¬ 
gating within 50 
miles of their 
homes that will pay 
double the interest 
possible to obtain 
in Utah. In fact, 
if the Government 
is to spend money 
in developing sys¬ 
tems of irrigation, 
there seems no good 
reason why a por¬ 
tion of it should 
not be spent in the 
hilly lands of the 
East, where people 
already live, and 
where small farms 
must be the rule, 
as well as in the 
desert wastes where 
extensive farming 
with imported la¬ 
borers will be neces. 
sary. Quite a considerable number of the R. N.-Y.’s read¬ 
ers are practicing irrigation on a small scale and with con¬ 
siderable success. Usually the plan is to throw a dam or 
a series of dams across a narrow valley through which a 
stream runs. The water is thus “ backed up ” upon suc¬ 
cessive fields of cranberries or grass, and at last poured 
upon the lowest field in which onions and other vegetables 
are grown. In some places along the ocean the salt 
is pumped upon the land, the action of the w 
ing the power. In parts of the Far West ^ 
from the rivers upon the bluffs wher*>; 
vail. Machines for this work 
force of the current works L 
genious devices for 
of a MassachusU 
across I 
tU’" 
