27 
Reports of very high duties in far off countries are common, 
and are frequently used to show that the practice in Colorado is 
wasteful in the extreme, or sometimes to make glowing estimates 
of the possibilities of a given water supply. Most of these reports, 
often given on what ought to be good authority, are based on a mis¬ 
understanding of the facts. And it is worth while to examine the 
most persistent reports which are often given, as of a thousand acres 
per cubic foot per second at Elche in Spain, and of over 2,001) at 
Lorca. 
At Elche some 30,000 acres form the huerta, or irrigated plain, 
which is irrigated from a small stream, the Vinalopo. But of this 
area the greater portion, some 23,000 acres, consists of crops like the 
cereals which can prosper without irrigation and rarely receive irri¬ 
gation. The only portion which absolutely needs irrigation are the 
plantations of palms, amounting to about 300 acres. The stream 
carries 600 litres per second in the lowest period, or 21 cubic feet per 
second, and 1,000 litres per second at ordinary times. There is a 
reservoir, the reservoir of Puentes, so that the water used during the 
season generally exceeds 1,500 litres per second. If all the huerta 
were cultivated and irrigated, the resulting duty would be about 560 
acres per second foot, but as the summer irrigation is confined to 
less than 7,500 acres, the duty is between 140 and 150 acres per sec¬ 
ond foot, instead of the 1,000 which is often said. 
At Lorca the reports of high dutes are still greater, making it 
over 2,000 acres per second-foot. This is under similar circumstances 
to the huerta of Elche, and the basis for high duty is the same. The 
area of the huerta is, according to Aymard, 27,500 acres, and the flow 
340 litres, or 12 cubic feet per second ; whence if all is irrigated, the 
duty would be 2,300 acres per second-foot. But Aymard also says that 
the large proportion is of cereals which require but one or two irriga¬ 
tions per year, ordinarily, and the irrigations may be entirely omitted. 
Zoppi and Torricelli, two Italians w’ho visited Spain for the Ital¬ 
ian government in 1886, in Irrigazioni e Laghi Artificiali della 
Spagna, give the mean winter flow of the stream as 1,000 litres, or 
35 cubic feet per second, which gives a duty for the winter season of 
780 acres per second-foot. Much of the huerta is devoted to winter 
crops, which require no more than two irrigations per year. In sum¬ 
mer there are small crops and the stream carries 340 litres, or 12 
cubic feet per second in low water. But at this time the number of 
acres irrigated falls short of 2,500, whence the duty is only about 200 
acres per second-foot, instead of the 2,000 reported. 
THE LARIMER WELD CANAL. 
The Larimer & Weld Canal is the largest of the canals drawing 
water from the Poudre river. The farmers drawing water from it 
have the reputation of using water to great advantage. Daily gauge 
heights are taken of this canal by the Company, under the direc- 
