8 
Colorado Experiment Station 
are real, serious questions pertaining to the agriculture of the San 
Luis Valley besides the question of seepage. 
There are still other salts whose occurrence is most remark¬ 
able, but they need not be so much as mentioned in this place. 
HIGH WATER-PLANE NOT THE CAUSE OF CROP 
TROUBLES 
The people of this valley themselves are not all satisfied that 
the benefits claimed for drainage have been realized or are attain¬ 
able. That the presence of a high water-plane alone has, in fact, 
done the harm to the 400,000 or 500,000 acres of land included in 
the Moffat-Hooper-Mosca section is claimed by some. The view 
that I take is that this is not so. The water-plane is certainly too 
high in many places in this section, but in others, it is low enough 
for the production, under other conditions, of good crops, whereas 
this land produces nothing. In the practice of sub-irrigation, the 
water-plane is intentionally raised to within 22 inches, and even 
as near as 12 inches, of the surface, with no detrimental results; 
at least, this is the information that -I have received. Doubting 
some of the information, I have made inquiry concerning the 
parties giving it, and concerning the facts; they seem to be re¬ 
liable. 
Agronomists may doubt that good crops of alfalfa may be 
grown year after year on land in which the water-plane is held 
within 12 inches of the surface throughout the growing season. 
It seemed to me remarkable but, after what I have seen and learned 
from some of these people, I feel compelled to accept their state¬ 
ments. I have presented these facts of farm practice because of 
their suggestiveness in connection with the claims made—that it 
is because of the waterlogged condition of the Hooper-Mosca 
section that it will not only not produce as in former years, but 
almost not at all. I have refrained from writing of these facts for 
ten years or more, but the bad condition of this section is now so 
well known to everyone that there is no good reason why one 
should not write frankly about it. 
There is no question but that water has been used unwisely 
and that sub-irrigation is not the best practice for this valley, nor 
is there any question but that there should be drainage enough to 
take the water off the surface of the ground. There is, further, no 
question but that some bad results would be experienced in chang¬ 
ing from the system of sub-irrigation to irrigating by furrows and 
flooding, but we have the following facts: 
Good crops, even excellent crops, are raised by sub-irrigating, 
whereby a higher water-plane is maintained than exists in parts 
of the valley which are now practically wholly unproductive. If 
