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Page 148,

AN ARTESIAN WELL-

‘yg e5eq—NALVM GANNON) AO ASP) OL ANG TIVAIY Ad GATTI GUVHOUC

THE.
PRIMER OF IRRIGATION

BY
D. H. ANDERSON
(Editor of “The Irrigation Age”)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U. S. A.

9

CHICAGO
THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING Co.
Publishers

LIBRARY of CONGRESS
Twe Copies Received

MAR 19 1906

_ Copyright Entry

YP lew 3 o,1 q0 3

CLASS CL XXc, No.
s68 20

COPY B.

O JOHN MCALPINE cf Duluth, Minnesota, a man who

has devoted years of his life to assisting the toiler and
wage-eamer, to better their condition, and who is now fight-
ng for a clean administration of The Irrigation Law, this
work is affectionately dedicated.

Copyright, 1903,
By D. H. ANDERSON
Published September, 1905

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Soil in General, Its Formation, Characteristics and Uses—Fertility and
Sterility.
CHAPTER II.

Particular Soils, and Their Adaptation to Varieties of Plants.

CHAPTER III.
Semi-Arid and Arid Lands—Their Origin and Peculiarities.

CHAPTER IV.
Alkali Soils: Their Nature, Treatment and Reclamation.

CHAPTER V.
Relations of Water to the Soil.

CHAPTER VI.
Plant Foods—Their Nature—Distribution and Effects in General.

<

CHAPTER VII.
Plant Foods—Cereals—Forage Plants—Fruits—Vegetables—Root Crops.

CHAPTER VIII.
How Plant Food is Transformed Into Plants.

CHAPTER IX.
Preparation of Soil for Planting.

CHAPTER X.
Laying Out of the Land—Method of Planting.

CHAPTER XI.
Laying Out Land for Irrigation.

CHAPTER XII.

The Use of Wells, Streams, Ditches and Reservoirs to Dispose of the
Tremendous Supply of Water.

CHAPTER XIII.
The Science and Art of Irrigation.

CHAPTER XIV.
The Science and Art of Irrigation—Infiltration or Seepage.

CHAPTER XV.

Sub-Irrigation—Drainage.

CHAPTER XVI.
Supplemental Irrigation.

CHAPTER XVII.
Quantity of Water to Raise Crops—The Duty of Water.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Measurement of Water.

CHAPTER XIX.
Pumps and Irrigation Machinery.

CHAPTER XX.
Irrigation of Profitable Crops.

CHAPTER XXI.
Irrigation of Profitable Plants.

CHAPTER XXII.
Orchards, Vineyards and Small Fruits—Appendix.

PREFACE

HE. author of this work has had in mind for many years
the outlines of a book which would lend aid to those
who are beginners in irrigation farming.

After work was commenced on this book it was realized
that much more than fifty or even one hundred pages would
be necessary to even half-way cover the subject, and before it
was completed nearly three hundred pages of type were used.

While much of value could be added, and no doubt a
lot could be taken away without serious loss, the author offers
it as it is, hoping that its readers may find some profit in its

perusal.
D. H. ANDERSON.
Chicago, July 1, 1905.

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THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION.

CHAPTER I.

Sort IN GENERAL—ITs FoRMATION, CHARAOTERISTICS
AND Usres—FERTILITY AND STERILITY.

The mere planting of a seed in the ground is not
sufficient to insure its growth, or development into a
useful or profitable plant. This fact is well known to
everybody, but what is not so well known is, the reason
or cause why a seed grows up into a vigorous plant cap-
able of reproducing seed similar to the one from which
it sprang, and how it does it.

There are certain elements which are essential to
the growth of every plant, the development of every
germ, for without them it cannot live; these are heat,
light, air and moisture. A few grains of wheat dis-
covered in the coffin of an Egyptian mummy after
three or four thousands years’ deprivation of the four
essential elements, were found inert, that is, they were
not alive, neither were they dead, for upon giving them
the essentials above referred to, the wheat sprang into
life and produced a plentiful supply of grain.

PLANTS ARE LIKE ANIMALS.

Still, notwithstanding the necessity of heat, light,
air and moisture, plants cannot flourish without proper
food. In this respect plants are similar to animals.
Among animals there is no universal specified diet,
some eating one kind of food, others another. We see
many that eat flesh exclusively, others whose sole diet is
insects. Certain animals eat herbs and grass, others
grain, and when we reach man we find an animal that

7

8 The Primer of Irrigation.

will eat anything and everything, hence we call man
“omnivorous.”

It is the same with plants, some devouring in their
fashion a certain kind of food, some another, and so on
all along the list. Plants are substantially like animals
that possess a stomach, they eat and digest, absorb and
assimilate the food they obtain. If the plant is not
furnished with its proper food, or if it is prevented
from obtaining it, it shrivels, droops, withers and dies
just like an animal that starves to death.

There is another striking resemblance between
plants and animals, which is the instinct and power to
seek food. The plant being a fixture in the soil, can-
not of course, “prowl” about in search of food, but it
throws out roots, fibres and filaments in every direc-
tion, its instincts reaching in the direction of food as
surely and with as much certainty as the nose of an
animal scents its prey, or the eye of an eagle sees its
quarry. Not only does the plant seek food beneath the
surface of the earth, but it thrusts shoots, branches and
leaves up into the atmosphere for the purpose of ex-
tracting nourishment there also.

It is, however, from the soil that plants receive the
principal supply of food necessary for their develop-
ment, hence an acquaintance with its chemical and
physical properties is important in helping us to under-
stand the nutritive processes of plants, and the operations
of agriculture.

Volumes of books have been written on the general
subject of agriculture, but they are more adapted to
soils upon which falls sufficient rain to dissolve the salts
necessary to produce a crop. In a book devoted to irri-
gation, the principles of agriculture and the adaptation
of the various elements of plant food in the soil, are
all the more important as the water employed in irri-
gation—which is nothing but artificial rain—is abso-
lutely within the control of man, and not dependent
upon meteorological uncertainties. One fact should,

Soil in General. ')

however, be constantly borne in mind by the practical
irrigator, that pure water is absolutely sterile so far as
plant food is concerned, and if poured upon a pure
soil, which is also sterile, there can be no crop of any
sort raised. A remedy for supplying a defect of plant
food in irrigating water will be given in detail in
another chapter, the scope of this chapter being limited
to soils that contain plant food, or are arable, in which
case the quality of the water is of secondary importance.

ORIGIN OF ARABLE SOIL.

Arable soil owes its formation to the disintegra-
tion of minerals and rocks, brought about by mechanical
and chemical agencies. The rock may be said to stand
in about the same relation to the arable soil resulting
‘from its disintegration as the wood or vegetable fibre
stands to what is called the humus resulting from its
decay. To be fertile, however, the soil must contain
disintegrated vegetable matter. There is no fertility
in a heap of sawdust, nor is there in a heap of powdered
rock; indeed, the two might be combined and still re-
main sterile, it is only after both have been disinte-
grated by chemical or mechanical action that they be-
come plant foods capable of nourishing and maintaining
plant life.

From this it results that soil consists of two grand
divisions of elements: inorganic and organic. The
inorganic are wholly mineral, they are the products of
the chemical action of the metallic, or unmetallic ele-
ments of rocks. They existed before plants or animals.
Life has not called them into existence, nor created
them out of simple elements. Yet these inorganic min-
eral elements of soil become part of plants, and under
the influence of the principle of life they no longer
obey chemical laws, but are parts of a living structure.
Through the operation of the laws of the life of the
plant, these mineral elements become organic and so

10 The Primer of Irrigation.

continue until death comes and decay begins, when
they return to their mineral form.

Organic elements are the products of substances
once endowed with life. This power influences the ele-
ments, recombines them in forms so essentially con-
nected with life that they are, with few exceptions, pro-
duced only by a living process. They are the products of
living organs, hence termed organic, and when formed,
are subject to chemical laws. The number of elements
in the inorganic parts of soil is twelve: Oxygen, sul-
phur, phosphorus, carbon, silicon and the metals: potas-
sium, sodium, calcium, aluminium, magnesium, iron
and manganese.

The number of elements in the organic parts of
soil does not exceed four: Oxygen, hydrogen, carbon
and nitrogen.

The great difference between these two divisions
is, that while the inorganic elements are combinations
of two elementary substances, the organic are com-
binations of three or four elements, but never less than
two. These three elements, however, are variously
combined with the other elements to form salts which
enter into the great body of vegetable products. in fact
they are continually changing, the mere change of one
element, or its abstraction forming a new product. It
is this susceptibility to change, and the constant as-
sumption of new forms by vegetable products which is
the foundation of tillage, and the essence of the knowl-
edge of irrigation.

HOW PLANTS FEED.

We do not know and we may not understand what
life is, nor how plants grow, but it is a knowledge which
comes to the most superficial observer, that all plants
feed upon various substances their roots find in the
soil, which substances are called “salts,” and they are
prepared for the uses of the plant by the action of or-.
ganic matter on the inorgani¢ or vice versa. That is to

Soil in General. ll

say, vegetable matter combines with decomposed rocks
or minerals and forms a plant food without which the
plant cannot live. We know as a fact that the silicates
or rock elements and minerals or metallic salts compose
all the earthy ingredients of soil, and are always found
in plants, the ashes of any burned vegetable or plant
showing this. But these silicates and salts do not make
fertility in soil. Fertility depends on the presence in
the soil of matter which has already formed a part of
a living structure, organic substances in fact. It is
this matter which causes constant chemical changes in
which lies the very essence of fertility. To make this
quite clear, it will be sufficient to refer to the fertility
in the valley of the Nile in Egypt caused by the over-
flow of the river and the deposits, upon the silicates
and minerals or metallic salts, which in plain language
means the sands of the desert, of a layer of mud con-
taining decomposed vegetable or organic matter. The
consequence is, chemical action takes place and a rich
harvest follows. The result would be the same in our
arid plains where the soil contains all the ingredients
necessary to plant life, but the element of moisture to
dissolve and unite them is absent. Here, irrigation
creates fertility. The oxygen and the hydrogen in the
water supplies the soil with the elements it lacks to man-
ufacture plant food.

There is a curious, not to say mysterious, fact con-
nected with the transformation of the organic and inor-
ganic elements in the soil into plant food, and that is,
the chemical change does not take place except through
the intervention or agency of the living plant itself.
It is life that is necessary to the process and this life
of the plant gives life to the inert elements around it.
The mere presence of a living plant gives to the ele-
ments power to enter into new combinations, and
then these combinations occur in obedience only to the
well-known, established, eternal laws of chemical
affinity.

12 The Primer of Irrigation.

If, on a dry day, a wheat or barley plant is care-
fully pulled up from a loose soil, a cylinder of earthy
particles will be seen to adhere like a sheath around
every root fibre. This will be also noticed in the case of
every plant. It is from these earthy particles that the
plant derives the phosphoric acid, potash, silicic acid,
and all the other metallic salts, as well as ammonia.
The little cylinders are the laboratories in which nature
prepares the food absorbed by the plant, and this food
is prepared or drawn from the earth immediately con-
tiguous to the plant and its roots. This demonstrates
the importance of the mechanical tillage of the ground.
Cultivated plants receive their food principally from
the earthy particles with which the roots are in direct
contact, out of a solution forming around the roots
themselves. All nutritive substances lying beyond the
immediate reach of the roots, though effective as food,
are not available for the use of the plants, hence the
necessity of constant tillage, cultivation of the soil, to
bring the nutrition in contact with the roots.

FORMATION AND USE OF EARTH SALTS.

A plant is not, like an animal, endowed with spe-
cial organs to dissolve the food and make it ready for
absorption; this preparation of the nutriment is as-
signed to the fruitful earth itself, which in this respect
discharges the functions performed by the stomach and
intestines of animals. The arable soil decomposes all
salts of potash, of ammonia, and the soluble phosphates,
and the potash, ammonia, and phosphoric acid always
take the same form in the soil, no matter from what
salt they are derived.

It is essential that these “salts,” as they are called,
should be understood, for without them there can be no
fertility. Unless these “salts” exist in a soil in certain
quantities the organic elements, or what are known as
“humic acids,” are insoluble and cannot be absorbed into
the plant through its roots, and so there can be no fruit

Sotl in General, 18

or vegetable. Yet there is such a thing as an excess
of these same salts, and then there is barrenness. A com-
mon illustration of which may be seen in what are termed
“alkali lands,” which will be treated in detail in another
chapter.

To simplify an acquaintance with these various
salts, we shall divide them into three general classes
depending upon the acids formed from them, all of
them nutritious to plants.

First—Carbonates.

Second—Nitrates.

Third—Phosphates.

The carbonates compose a very large portion of
the salts used in agriculture, and include limestone,
marble, shells. These salts are set loose from the rock,
that is the decomposed rock already alluded to, by the
action of the living plant, and their business is to dis-
solve, or render soluble, the organic matter in the soil,
so that the plant may absorb it through its roots.. When
there is an excess of these salts, or of lime or alkali,
the organic matter is rendered insoluble, that is, the
plant cannot absorb it, and then the soil is barren.
There are, however, certain plants known as “gross
feeders,” which flourish in such soils, but of them more
will be said in another chapter.

The second class of nourishing salts is the nitrates,
and includes saltpeter, nitrate of potash, nitrate of
soda, and all composts of lime, alkali and animal matter.
This class of salts produces ammonia which hastens the
decay or decomposition of the organic matter, and pre-
pares it for absorption by the plant. All the nitrates
act under the influence of the growing plant and yield
nitrogen which is essential to its life, indeed, if there
are any salts which can be called vegetable foods, they
are the nitrates, and they hold the very first place among
salts in agriculture.

The third class of plant nourishing salts is the

14 The Primer of Irrigation.

phosphates. They are found in bones, liquid manure,
and in certain rocky formations which are abundant in
the United States, and ground up, are largely used upon
land to add to its fertility and increase the supply of
plant food.

The phosphates act much like the nitrates, their
acid forming a constituent of the plant.

The proper, proportionate quantity of all these
salts in the soil, is generally in the order already given;
the carbonates in the greater quantity, the nitrates in
less quantity, and the phosphates least. The quantity
of any salt which may be used to advantage, however,
will depend upon the demands or necessity of the plant
which will show for itself the salt proper for its well
being and perfection.

To still further simplify the idea of the use and
operation of these salts and their necessity, it will
be well for the reader to again imagine a similarity
between the plant and an animal. The stomach of the
animal secretes, or produces, gastric juice and other
acids which come from practically similar salts, by the
action of which the organic matter—the meat and veg-
etables—put into the stomach, are digested and distrib-
uted to nourish every part of the body. If there were
no gastric juice, or other acids formed from the salts
of the body, the organic matter put into the stomach
could never become food, and the body, left without
nourishment, would starve and die.

So it is substantially with plants. The main dif-
ference being that the plant has no stomach within
itself, but it requires food just the same as the animal,
and if it does not receive it, it starves and dies. By the
active principle of life in the plant as in the animal,
the salts of the soil are brought into the presence of
each other to form acids which act upon the organic
matter in the soil, or the humus, in very much the
same manner as the gastric juice and other acids of the

Sostl in General. 15

animal stomach, convert it into prepared food, so to
speak, and the plant absorbs it, is nourished by it and
grows to maturity.

SILICATES AS ESSENTIAL TO FERTILITY.

There is one important prevailing element in all
soil which can neither be overlooked nor ignored, in
fact, its power of fertility is unlimited; we refer to the
silicates. Salts are spoken of as the inorganic sub-
stances acting upon humus or organic matter to pro-
duce nourishing foods that can be absorbed by the
plant, but behind these salts, there is another sub-
stance which really constitutes the framework of the
plant structure, the bony framework of the plant, the
sinew of the soil.

Silex, or silica, which is the earth of flints, is, in
its pure state, a perfectly white, insipid, tasteless
powder. Glass pulverized is an illustration, so also is a
sand heap. But earth of flints, sand heaps, are barren
and worthless, as much so as a peat bog, but put the
two together, and there is astonishing fertility. This
silica unites readily with the mineral substances or
bases, forming what are called “neutral salts,” to which
is given the name “silicates.” Thus we have the silicate
of soda, of potash, of lime, of magnesia, of alumina, of
iron and of manganese, a class which forms the great
bulk of all rock and soil.

The action of the silicates is simple and easily un-
derstood. When humus, or decomposed organic matter
—manure for instance—is mixed with silica, that is
added to a common sand heap, there is an immediate
decomposition of the silicate of potash, which we have
said is a neutral salt, and it becomes an active salt of
potash which dissolves the humus, or organic matter
and fits it for plant food. So the same process goes on
with the other silicates as the various plants growing
in the soil may demand for their nourishment. They are
converted into active salts, which are capable of dis-

16 The Primer of Irrigation.

solving organic matter, whereas, as neutral, inactive
salts or silicates, they are powerless to act.

Were it not for these silicates, the various active
salts and acids would lose their virtue, but as it hap-
pens, the silicates hold them in a firm grip, intact, un-
til the action of plant life demanding food, sets them
free to aid in preparing plant food.

The base, or fixed element of the earth called silex,
or silica—keep in mind a sand heap and it will be easy
to remember—is “silicon,” It is pure rock crystal,
common quartz, agate, caleedony and cornelian. All
these are silicon acidified by oxygen, and hence called
silicic acid. It is this which forms, with potash, the
hard coat of the polishing rush, the outer covering of
the stalks of grasses. It is the stiff backbone of eorn-
stalks which stand sturdily against the blast. Wheat,
rye, oats, barley, owe their support to this silica, and
where grain is said to “lodge” during a heavy storm, the
trouble may be traced to a deficiency of silica in the soil.
It cases the bamboo and the rattan with an armor of
flint so hard that from it sparks may be struck. Enter-
ing into the composition of all soil, and hard and un-
yielding as it appears, forming not only the solid rock,
but the delicate flower, combining with the metals of
soil whose gradual decomposition is the birth of fer-
tility, silica, or the sand heap, may well be likened to
the bony structure or framework of the animal.

The next chapter on particular soils will give more
in detail, the component elements which enter into their
composition, and present a series of tabulated analyses
showing proportions favorable to the growth of various
products.

CHAPTER II.

PARTICULAR SOILS, AND THEIR ADAPTATION TO
VARIETIES OF PLANTS.

Although this book is intended to apply exclusively
to irrigation, that is, the artificial application of water
to lands deprived of a sufficient rain fall to raise a crop,
such as the arid and semi-arid lands, which constitute so
vast a portion of our western country, yet, as all arable
or fertile soils in whatever part of the world they may
be, must contain certain elements necessary to plant life,
an inquiry into the specific nature of soils will supply
whatever information may be needed to till irrig-
able lands, as successfully as those where a rain fall
may be depended upon to raise a crop. It is even pos-
sible that such information may be of greater practical
value, because the elements in the soil and the crop itself,
are under better control and management when the
neessary water is in an irrigating ditch, than when it is
in a cloud beyond control.

As a matter of fact, there is very little difference in
soils as such, wherever they may exist. All of them are
capable of producing some variety of plant life, unless
absolutely barren on account of the absence of plant
food, as the Desert of Sahara, for instance, or by reason
of an excess of the elements essential to plant life, as
our so-called “alkali lands.” But, when it comes to the
comparative quantities of organic and inorganic ele-
ments to be found in all soils, there is a vast difference,
particularly when crops of a certain kind are to be suc-
_ cessfully raised.

It was stated in the last chapter that soil consists of
inorganic and organic elements. The inorganic ma-
terial being decomposed rocks and minerals; to be more
precise, such as were never endowed with life, and the
organic material consisting of decomposed vegetable
matter, which once possessed some form of life, both of

17

18 The Primer of Irrigation.

which elements are absolutely necessary to grow any
kind of plant.

A little experiment, which any one can perform,
will make this clear to the reader. When any veget-
able substance is heated to redness in the open air, no
matter whether it be a peach or a potato, a strawberry or
a squash, a handful of straw or a beautiful rose, the
whole of the so-called organic elements, which are car-
bon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, are burned away
and disappear, but there remains behind an “ash” com-
posed of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, iron, ete., which
does not burn, and which, in most cases, does not under-
go any diminution when exposed to a much greater heat.
It is this “ash” which constitutes the inorganic portion
of plants.

The predominance of certain of these substances,
which, it was stated in the last chapter, are absorbed
from the soil by the operation of plant life, is what en-
ables agriculturists to give certain names to various
kinds of soils, which names, however, are of very little
practical importance, except to enable a farmer to specify
which of them are best adapted to the varieties of plants
he desires to raise.

So far as these inorganic substances are concerned,
they must exist in the soil in such quantities as easily to
yield to the plant, so much of each one as the kind of
plant specifically requires. If they be rare, the plant
sickens and dies just the same as does an animal when
deprived of its necessary food. The same thing will
happen if the organic food supplied the plant by the
vegetable matter in the soil be wholly withdrawn. It
should be noted, however, that a plant will sometimes
substitute one inorganic element for another, if it does
not find exactly what it requires, as soda for potash, the
tendency of every plant being to grow to perfection if it
possibly can do so. This matter will be treated at length
in the chapter on “Plant Foods.”

Particular Soils. 19

The following table of the essential inorganic ele-
ments found in soils will prove useful and well worth
study. The first column gives the scientific, technical
name of the elementary bodies; the second column the
elements or substances they combine with, and the third
column contains the result of the combinations, that is,
the various substances ready to form salts which enter
into the life of the plant.

ELEMENTARY Bopy §CoMBINES WITH ForMING
Chlorine. Metals Chlorides.
Iodine Metals Iodides.
Sulphur Metals Sulphurets.
Sulphur Hydrogen Sulphuretted Hydrogen.
Sulphur Oxygen Sulphuric Acid.
Phosphorus Oxygen Phosphoric Acid.
Potassium Oxygen Potash.
Potassium Chlorine Chloride of Potassium.
Sodium Oxygen Soda.
Sodium Chlorine Chloride of Sodium, or
Common salt.
Calcium Chlorine Chloride of Calcium.
Calcium Oxygen Lime.
Magnesium Oxygen Magnesia.
Aluminum Oxygen Alumina.
. Silicon Oxygen Silica.
Tron and Oxygen Oxides.
Manganese Sulphur Sulphrets.

All the above elementary substances, except sul-
phur, exist only in a state of combination with other sub-
stances, principally oxygen, and are found only in the
soil, in no combination are they generally diffused
through the atmosphere, so as to be capable of entering
into the life of the plant through the leaves, or those
portions above the ground. Hence, they must be taken
up by the roots of plants, for which reason they are said
to be the necessary constituents of a soil in which plants
are expected to grow.

The enormous quantity of inorganic matter in soil
may be estimated by a simple calculation. Out of five
hundred samples of soil gathered from different parts

20 The Primer of Irrigation.

of the world, the average weight of a cubic foot, wet,
has been found to be 126.6 pounds. Now, let us ascer-
tain how many pounds of mineral, or metallic salts exist
in an acre of soil, say eight inches deep, the usual tilled
depth, or surface soil; of the subsoil, we shall speak
later on. We shall give the chemical analysis of an ordi-
nary alluvial, or river bottom soil, such as is common in
the western lands. The first column gives the name of
the mineral, and the figures in the second column the
parts of the mineral in an agreed one hundred parts,
and the third column the weight of each substance in
the surface soil eight inches deep:

Elementary bodies and their combinations Percentage Weight in pounds

Silieavand fine: ‘same s5..nisciateaueanee 87.143 3,203,781-+
PUMATIIAS 1). vies ste dele tniace viene met 5.666 208,308-++
Oxidesvol rons Aeienrsciciemtewks omens 2.220 81,617-+
Oxide) oi: Magnesia: i..2.'... eae a 0.360 13,235-+
Pos rie i CaN AACA MTA aA jo ais cin otuseie inreoia tans 0.564 20,735+
Magnesia ....... EAN ciao) ATR 0.312 11,470-++
Potash combined with Silica........ 0.120 4,411+
Soda combined with Silica ......... 0.025 g19+
Phosphoric Acid combined with Lime

and. Oxide .of Ironic... o.tess tees 0.060 2,205-++
Sulphuric Acid in Gypsum .......... 0.027 992+
Chlorine in common Salt .......... 0.036 1,323+
Carbonic Acid united to the Lime.... 0.080 2,041-++
PhtimicwAtcidy ter crineterrncseatco eats 1.304 47,941-+
Fnsoluble + Fiumtg) sie skh 6 ais ietciac oeteieiays 1.072 39,411-+
Organic substances containing Nitro-

BET er hia’ s iiia wp actus » Ula dames austere aie 1.011 37,1690-++

Total Inorganic and Organic sub-
SEANCES? Aale aicis arciorerehew tt hes a oteheiok 100. 3,676,464

It should be remembered that these immense quan-
tities are contained in only eight inches of top soil, and
that twelve inches, or one foot of soil, which is about
the depth before reaching the subsoil, would contain
a total of inorganic and organic matter equal to 5,514,-
696 pounds, or 2,757 and one-third tons.

Particular Soils. 21

The calculation is made by multiplying 43,560, the
number of square feet in an acre, by 126.6. pounds, the
estimated average weight of one cubic foot of wet soil,
which gives the weight of one acre twelve inches deep.
Then dividing by twelve, we get the weight of an acre
one inch deep. ‘To ascertain the weight of eight inches,
we have only to multiply by eight inches, and again mul-
tiply by the number of parts of any organic or inorganic
matter to ascertain the exact weight of that particular
matter in the acre, thus:

43,560x126.6=5,514,696 pounds per acre one foot deep.
5,514,690--12—=459,558 pounds per acre one inch deep.
459,558x0.120=551.46960 pounds of Potash in one inch
acre.
551.46060x8=4,411 pounds of Potash in acre eight inches
ep.

Five right hand figures must be cut off, three for
the decimal places and two more because the calculation
is based on a percentage of one hundred parts.

The average weight of a cubic foot of dry soil, ac-
cording to the foregoing estimate, based upon the tests
taken in the cases of five hundred soils collected from
various places on the globe, is 94.58 pounds, which will
make the dry soil acre eight inches deep weigh 2,715,792
pounds, a difference in weight between wet and dry soils
of 960,672 pounds per acre eight inches deep, which,
of course, represents the weight of water.

This information will prove of value in considering
the question of applying water to the soil. As a rule,
the proportions of inorganic and organic matter remain
about the same, except that the application of water by
irrigation adds to the quantity in soluble matter car-
ried to the soil, which is greater in the case of irrigation
than when rain is depended upon, humus and salts in
solution being carried in the ditch water.

22 The Primer of Irrigation.

ORGANIC MATTER IN THE SOIL.

By referring back to the test table of a specimen
soil, it will be noticed that the first twelve substances
are “inorganic,” and the three last “organic.” It will
also be noticed that the proportion of inorganic matter
is vastly greater than that of the organic. It is necessary
that this should be so, for the organic matter is the
“active” principle, the dynamic force, and the inorganic —
matter the “passive” principle. If the proportions were
reversed, the inorganic matter would react upon and
destroy itself, and as it could not be replaced very well,
there would soon be an end to the growth of plants.
Hence, nature provides a store-house of raw material, so
to speak, to be utilized in the manufacture of plant food,
and it is practically inexhaustible, the subsoil, for an un-
limited depth, containing all the ingredients necessary to
restore the top soil should it become jaded and unre-
sponsive to the demands of cultivation and fertility, if
the farmer will take the trouble to dig down after them
and bring them to the surface.

Moreover, the inorganic elements in the soil are
permanent. They are insoluble except when acted upon
by the acids formed through the chemical action of the
organic matter, and the vital force exercised by the
growing plant.

In the table of specimen soil, given on another page,
the percentage of inorganic matter passes 95 per
centum, while the organic matter is about three and
one-half per cent. Yet that particular soil is a fertile
one, in which it is possible to produce a good crop of
any kind of plant. It is only an analysis, it is true, and
a chemical analysis is not always to be depended upon,
because there are so many unknown and mysterious ap-
plications of the laws of nature, but there are many
things to be said in favor of ascertaining what ingredi-
ents the soil does contain, approximately, if not with
rigorous exactitude. It gives the practical farmer valu-

Particular Soils. 23

able information in the form of suggestions for'the 1m-
provement of the soil. It enables him to remedy the
defects in his land by the application of substances it
needs, and, what is equally of value, it enables him to
avoid adding to the soil what he knows it already con-
tains, and will put him upon the search for substances
it does need. Moreover, an analysis will indicate to the
farmer whether a certain soil is capable or not of pro-
ducing a good, profitable crop of certain plants, and
save him from losing his time, labor, and money by
planting a crop which can not grow to perfection be-
cause of some defect in plant food necessary to plant life.
In other words, the farmer will know what to do with
his land without guessing, or trying expensive experi-
ments. This is not “Book farming,” it is common
sense. .

The reader has already discovered that the inorganic
elements consist of decomposed rocks and minerals,
which have assumed a variety of forms by combining
with one another, and now he has reached a point which
is the foundation of plant life, being that other essential
in all soils, the organic elements, which must exist in a
greater or less proportion. This organic matter con-
sists of decayed animal and vegetable substances, some-
times in brown or black fibrous particles, many of which,
on close examination, show something of the original
structure of the objects from which they have been de-
rived; sometimes forming only a brown powder inter-
mixed with the mineral matters of the soil, sometimes
entirely void of color and soluble in water. In soils
which appear to consist of pure sand, clay, or chalk, or-
ganic matter in this latter form may often be detected
in considerable quantities.

In the table already given, the percentage of Humic
acid, Insoluble Humus, and organic substances contain-
ing Nitrogen, is given as 3.387 per centum, a very small
quantity apparently, but really amounting to 124,521

2 The Primer of Irrigation.

pounds or 62% tons, in a top layer of soil eight inches
deep, covering one acre of land. A quantity sufficient
to supply crops with essential matter for plant food dur-
ing many years without manuring.

This vegetable matter is the result of vegetable de-
‘composition, a decay which means fermentation ending
in putrefaction, a purely chemical process. Whence it
is said: Growth is a living process; death, or decay, a
chemical process. Putrefaction is the silent and on-
ward march of decay, its goal being humic acid, which
in its turn produces life. The saying of that great physi-
cian of the past centuries, Paracelsus, may be aptly
quoted here: ‘“Putrefaction is the first step to life.”
Everything travels in a circle in the vegetable as well
as in the animal kingdom: The egg, or germ must
first putrefy to produce an animal, and the seed, or plant
germ, must first putrefy before there can be any living
plant.

It has been said that various names have been given
soils, according to the predominating mineral of which
they are composed, but in reality, there are only three
great varieties of soil: sand, clay and loam, the latter
being a mixture of granite sand and clay. The great
distinctions in the scale of soils, may be said to be sand
and clay, all other varieties proceeding from mixtures
of these with each other. Now, the sand may be silice-
ous, or calcareous, that is, composed of silicates or lime.
By clay is meant the common clay abounding every-
where, and composed of about thirty-six parts of Alum-
ina, 68 parts of Silica, Oxide of Iron, and Salts of Lime,
and Alkalies, 6 parts. A sandy clay soil is clay and
sand, equal parts; clay loam is three fourths clay and
one fourth sand; peat soil is nearly all humus, which
we have seen is vegetable matter decomposed, decayed
or putrefied; garden, or vegetable mold is eight per
cent humus, the rest being silica, and the other mineral
substances; arable land is three per cent humus. There

Particular Soils. 25

are, in addition to these varieties of soil, several special
varieties which are fortunately not general, and there-
fore, need not be more than referred to. ‘They are those
peculiar conditions found in the “black waxy,” “bad
lands,” “hard pan,” upon which, nothing short of dyna-
mite will make any impression so far as discovered, and
the “tules,” which are common to California, but are
extraordinarily fertile when reclaimed, being similar to
peat bogs without the disadvantages of the latter, and
that are known as “swamp” or “marsh lands.” When
it comes to “desert lands” in the sense of the Acts of
Congress, they lack only water to make them as fertile
as any lands in the world. They will be treated in the
chapter on Arid and Semi-Arid Lands.

Aside from the chemical composition of soils, what
equally concerns the farmer is their physical charac-
teristics. These may be enumerated under the terms
cold, hot, wet and dry land. And these are dependent
upon weight, color, consistency, and power to retain
water. The relation of the soil to consistency makes
it light or heavy; its relation to heat and moisture
makes it hot or cold, dry or wet.

Taking the varieties already specified, sand is al-
ways the heaviest part of soil, whether dry or wet; clay
is among the lightest parts, though humus has the least
absolute weight. To calculate more closely: a cubic
foot of sand weighs, in a common damp state, 141
pounds ; clay weighs 115 pounds, and humus, 81
pounds, and garden or vegetable mould and arable soil
weigh from 102 to 119 pounds. The more humus com-
pound soil contains, the lighter it is.

The power of a soil to retain heat is nearly in pro-
portion to the absolute weight. The greater the mass
in a given bulk, the greater is this power. Hence,
sand retains heat longest, three times longer than
humus, and half as long again as clay. This is the
reason for the dryness and heat of sandy plains. Sand,

36 The Primer of [rrigation.

clay and peat are to each other as 1, 2, 3 in their power
of retaining heat. 7

But while the capacity of soil to retain heat de-
pends on the absolute weight, the power to be warmed,
which is a very important physical characteristic, de-
pends upon four circumstances: color, dampness, mat-
erlals, and fourth the angle at which the sun’s rays fall
upon it.

The blacker the color, the easier warmed. In this
respect, white sand and gray differ almost fifty per cent
in the degree of heat acquired in a given time. As
peat and humus are of a black, or dark brown color,
they easily become warm soils when dry, for secondly,
dampness modifies the influence of color, so that a dry,
light-colored soil will become hotter sooner than a dark
wet one. As long as evaporation goes on, a difference
of ten or twelve degrees will be found between a dry
and a wet soil of the same color. Thirdly, the differ-
ent materials of which soils are composed exert but very
little influence on their power of being heated by the
sun’s rays. Indeed, if sand, clay, peat, garden mould,
all equally dry, are sprinkled with chalk, making their
surfaces all of a color, and then exposed to the sun’s
rays, the difference in their temperature will be found
to be inconsiderable.

Fourthly, the angle at which the sun’s rays fall on
the land, has much i do with its heat. The more
perpendicular the rays, the greater the heat. The effect
is less in proportion as these rays, by falling more slant-
ing, spread their light out over a greater surface. This
point is so well understood that it is not necessary to
dwell any longer upon it, further than to add, that there
are localities where every degree of heat diminishes the
prospect of a good crop, particularly in hot regions,
and the circumstance should be taken advantage of to
obviate the danger of loss. A northern exposure or
an eastern exposure, or a crop on a slope may sometimes

Particular Soils. 27

realize more benefit than if this knowledge were dis-
regarded.

The relation of soil to moisture and gas, particul-
arly moisture, is of great importance in the case of
irrigation. All soil, except pure siliceous sand, absorbs
moisture, but in different degrees. Humus possesses
the greatest powers of absorption, and no variety of
humus equals in its absorptive power, that from animal
manure, except those heavily charged arid and semi-
arid lands, in which fibrous roots and vegetable matter
form a large part of the elements they contain. The
others rank in the following order: Garden mould, clay,
loam, sandy clay, arable soil. They all become satur-
ated with moisture by a few days’ exposure.

It is a very interesting question: Does soil give up
this absorbed water speedily and equally? Is its power
of retaining water equal? There is no more important
question to the irrigator. As a general fact, it may
be stated, that the soil which absorbs fastest and most,
evaporates slowest and least. Humus evaporates least
in a given time. The power of evaporation is modified
by the consistency of the soil; by a different degree of
looseness and compactness of soil. Garden mould, for
instance, dries faster than clay. As it has already been
shown, that the power of being warmed is much modi-
fied by moisture, so the power of a soil to retain water
makes the distinction of a hot or cold, wet or dry soil.

Connected with this power of absorbing moisture,
is the very important relation of soil to gas. All soils
absorb oxygen gas when damp, never when dry.
Humus has this power in the highest degree, however,
whether it be wet or dry. Clay comes next, frozen
earths not at all. A moderate temperature increases
the absorption. Here are the consequences of this ab-
sorptive power.

When earths absorb oxygen, they give it up un-
changed. But when humus absorbs oxygen, one por-

28 The Primer of Irrigation.

tion of that combines with its carbon, producing car-
bonic acid, which decomposes silicates, and a second
portion of the oxygen combines with the hydrogen of
the humus and produces water. Hence, in a dry
season well manured soils, or those abounding in humus,
suffer very little.

The evaporation from an acre of fresh-ploughed
land is equal to 950 pounds per hour; this is the great-
est for the first and second days, ceases about the fifth
day, and begins again by hoeing, while, at the same
time, the unbroken ground affords no trace of moisture.
This evaporation is equal to that which follows after
copious rains. These are highly practical facts, and
teach the necessity of frequent stirring of the soil in
the dry season. Where manure or humus is lying in
the soil, the evaporation from an acre equals 5,000
pounds per hour. At 2,000 pounds of water per hour,
the evaporation would amount in 92 days, that is, a
growing season, to 2,208,000 pounds, an enormous
quantity of water, too much to be permitted, however
beneficial that evaporation may be. It is true that this
evaporation is charged with carbonic acid, and acts on
the silicates, eliminates alkalies, waters and feeds
plants, but where irrigation is practiced, the evapora-
tion is carried on with as good an effect beneath a mulch
of finely pulverized soil through which it penetrates, if
the land is properly prepared for and tilled after the
application of water. This is a subject which demands
careful study, so that the laws of nature may be as
rigorously enforced when man takes them under his con-
trol, otherwise, there will always be failure. How to
enforce those laws without doing violence to the prin-
ciples which underlie them, is matter which will be
fully treated in future chapters.

In concluding this chapter, it is deemed proper to
call the attention of the reader to this maxim which
should never be forgotten: It is not the plants grown

Particular Sotls, 29

in a soil that exhaust it, but those removed from it.
It is an undeniable fact, that the growth of plants in
any soil is beneficial, inasmuch as it brings into play
the forces of nature which are in constant motion to-
ward increase through fertility. For ages, the great
prairies of the West, and also the so-called “arid, and
semi-arid” lands have been storing up humus which
now needs but the application of water to convert them
into lands that will laugh with rich harvests. Plant
life has, for centuries, sprung into existence, reached
maturity, and decayed, going back into the soil, with no
hand to remove it. The consequence is, all these lands
are rich in salts and humus, and it is left for the man
with the ditch to add moisture, open the soil and admit
oxygen to the seeds he plants, so that they shall be fed
up to perfection and enable him to reap a glorious har-
vest.

The laws of nature are the same in this regard as to
the man who looks to the heavens for his inconstant
rainfall. There is for him to consider in the lands un-
der ditch, that all soil has four important functions to
perform, which are:

First—It upholds the plant, affording it a sure
and safe anchorage.

Second.—It absorbs water, air and heat to promote
its growth. These are the mechanical and physical func-
tions of the soil. .

Third.—It contains and supplies to the plant both
organic and inorganic food as its wants require; and

Fourth.—It is a workshop in which, by the aid of
air and moisture, chemical changes are continually going
on; by which changes these several kinds of foods are
prepared for admission into the living roots.

These are its chemical functions. They all are the
law and the gospel of agriculture, and all the operations
of the farmer are intended to aid the soil in the per-
formance of one or the other of these functions.

CHAPTER III.

Sremi-ARID AND ARID LANDS—THEIR ORIGIN AND PE-
CULIARITIES.

From a general chemical point of view there is
very little difference between the soils elsewhere on
the surface of the globe, and those in the vast empire
in the United States west of the 100th meridian. The
soil possesses the identical organic elements already spe-
cified in the table given in the second chapter; the same
organic substances abound; the processes of plant life
are similar, and the same plant foods are essential
to the welfare of crops. Still, there is a difference ap-
parent to every man who thrusts a spade into the
ground, plants a seed, and attempts to coax the soil
to produce a harvest.

A bird’s eye view of the entire region impresses
the observer with the appalling sense of a vast, barren
desert, a few oases, here and there, where widely sepa-
rated streams and springs exist, but in the main it
is an illimitable ocean, a desolate plain, with occasional
straggling clumps of scant coarse grass, sage brush,
artemisia, chemisal, greasewood, scrub oak, cactus and
other sparse vegetation, kept alive by the scant snows
of winter followed by dreary, hot, rainless summers, or
by inadequate winter rains succeeded by a tropical dry
Hi This is the general aspect of the semi-arid
lands.

Beyond them, except in the North, there is no win-
ter, no seasons, nothing but a pitiless cloudless sky,
tropical heat, unmitigated by moisture, with an atmos-
phere so dry and desiccating that animal matter exposed
to its oxygen dries, or oxidizes and becomes reduced to
an odorless powder, the toughest substance soon pre-
senting the appearance of a moth-eaten garment. This
is the aspect of the arid lands. Some say there are
a hundred millions of acres of both kinds of land west
of the 100th degree of longitude, others claim a hundred

30

Semi-Arid and Arid Lands. $1

and fifty millions of acres, but the author suspects a
still greater measurement.

Notwithstanding all these discouraging features,
there is no land in the world that possesses greater fer-
tility, greater capacity for plant growth, and that will
so amply and so richly repay the labor of him who
puts his hand to the plow and blinds his eyes to the
hideous scenic features, until he has created an oasis
of his own, in the midst of which he may sit in peace,
plenty and content, beneath his own vine and fig tree,
in a cooling breeze, sipping the pure cold water from
his own olla hanging in the shade, while over, beyond
him, sizzling in the hot sands of the so-called desert,
eggs may poach in the intense heat, and not even an
insect find energy enough to emit a single buzz.

By and by, a neighbor comes, sees the oasis and
the near by sands, wonders if he can accomplish as
much, tries it, and is surprised to find how easily it
is done. Then comes another neighbor, and another,
and still more, who push the desert farther off, until
there is no desert as far as the eye can reach, nothing
visible but rich harvests, fat kine, and plenty. The
very atmosphere has changed; the rainfall is slightly
increased, where rain and moisture had been strangers
from a time far beyond the memory of man, the dews
of heaven begin to fall and restore to the parched soil
a portion of the moisture stolen from it by the greedy
sun. It is a desert reclaimed, semi-arid and arid lands
wrenched from the grasp of ages of barrenness and in
the struggle forced to perspire plenty, comfort, and
wealth. Is the picture overdrawn? The reader has but
to look around to perceive the truth of it; it is a mov-
ing picture constantly before the eyes of him who turns
them in the right direction.

There are men still living who remember when all
that vast domain was considered as a desert, and indi-
cated on the maps of long ago, as “The Great American
Desert,” even the Government regarding it as a desert

32 The Primer of Irrigation.

not worth offering the public, or so poor and worthless
as not to be worthy of protecting against marauders.

It has been said that from a general. chemical
standpoint, there is no difference in the soil which
offers so mournful and dreary a prospect as our semi-
arid and arid lands, and that found anywhere else on
the globe. In their physical characteristics, however, a
vast difference is presented to the eye, but that differ-
ence is not to the disadvantage of the desert, for when
we come to investigate, even carelessly, we discover a
greater richness of inorganic and organic matter than
in any other region on the earth. For ages the land
has been exposed to the lixiviating action of rain water,
in greater or less quantities—for it must be taken as
true that at some period in the misty past all these
lands were exposed to the ‘wash of rains—without los-
ing their fertility. As year after year and age after
age rolled away, greater or less vegetation grew to ma-
turity, and, unharvested, returned back into the soil to
further enrich it, and hence it became richer and richer,
for it must be remembered, that the fertility of the
ground is not diminished by plants growing therein;
it is not until they are removed from the ground that
the soil gradually loses its fertility. Neither was there
any impairment by their utilization as pasture grounds
for countless herds of wild and domesticated animals,
for those, during ages of pasturage, returned to the
soil the elements most suitable for plant life.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.

Inasmuch as this book is devoted to irrigation, it
will be understood in all cases, that the lands and soils
referred to in it belong to that class known as “arid,”
or “semi-arid,” or, as they are commonly called, “‘desert
lands,” as contradistinguished from those soils which
produce crops through the instrumentality of rain. This
is often said to be raising crops by “natural means,” but
it by no means follows that growing crops by irrigation

Semt-Arid and Artd Lands. 83

implies “unnatural” means, the latter method being
equally as natural as the former, the forces of nature
being equally at the command and disposal of the farmer.
Nature works along lines laid down by general laws,
and man makes a special application of them for his
own uses and purposes. He drains the land when the
rain fall is too abundant, and when it is insufficient, or
fails altogether, he irrigates it. He follows the laws
of nature in both cases, wthout altering, straining, or
violating them, indeed, he could not if he would.

Comparing the entire vast area of arable desert
lands of the great West with the lands within the rain
belt, the soil relations between the various localities
are substantially the same. There are good and there
are bad lands, lands that are fertile and others that are
sterile; here we find soils which will grow luxuriant
crops, there we see soils that are not worth even an
experiment.

To realize this properly the reader must divest
his mind of the idea of immensity that amazes, and
often disheartens him; this idea eliminated, the only
thought that should dominate his mind, if he con-
templates practical success, is, how to abolish the aetual
differences and arrive at practical uniformity in agri-
cultural results. He thinks of the pioneers who went
into the forests with their axes and laboriously felled
trees and extracted stumps with infinite labor, to pne-
pare a clearing, in the soil of which he might plant
his sparse crops, and wait years before establishing
any sort of home. Perhaps he remembers how a bog
or marsh had to be drained, and the years it required
to “sweeten” the soil before it could be utilized. He
does not fully realize that in the desert his land is ready
for his muscles, for his seed, and for his crop; he does
not dream that he does not have to grow old before
carving out a comfortable home as he had to do in
the old days, back in what he is pleased to call “God’s
country,” and that out in the desert he may have a

34 The Primer of Irrigation.

home and plenty while still young enough to enjoy them.

The climatic differences are too much in favor of
the desert to desire alteration, but the diametrically op-
‘ posite methods of controlling the soil are difficult to
be appreciated, though they are never baffling. They
are no greater than elsewhere, but they are opposed by
preconceived opinions, perhaps, rooted prejudices, and
are, therefore, apparetly more serious. There are illim-
itable treeless regions, covered or patched with stunted
vegetation, that receive little or no moisture at all
from the clouds, and a soil parched, even burned by
the hot sun. Yet the scientists have discovered and
classified 197 different species of plants that love the
desert soil and flourish in it. Many of them suitable
for animal food, all of them indicating some quality
in or under the soil as plainly as if they were labeled.

Thus, greasewood, or “creosote bush,” indicates less
than 0.4 per cent of alkali in the soil; salt grass and
foxtail mean that there is plenty of moisture at the
surface of the ground and consequently, the presence
of free ground water not far below the surface; shad
scale indicates dry land with less than 0.4 per cent
of salt; rabbit bush flourishes on sandy soil compar-
atively free from salts, and will seldom grow under any
other conditions; sweet clover and foxtail indicate wet
land and less than four per cent of salts, though sweet
clover will grow in six per cent alkali soil and produce
a fairly good crop for forage if harvested very early.

So it is with the color of the soil. Indications are
ever present of the dominant characteristics of the
ground. Red soils always indicate iron in the form of -
an oxide; black soils mean carbonate of soda, an alkali
ruinous to vegetation; white soils or gray mean soda
in sulphate salt form, also deleterious to plants when
more than one or two per cent; gray or brown and black
cracked or checked soil with vegetation, signifies adobe,
while barren, dark or light colored soil so hard that
dynamite is more suitable for its tillage than a plow,

Semi-Arid and Arid Lands. 85

is “hardpan,” the former indicating a soil retentive of
moisture, the latter indicating that moisture is some-
where beneath.

Another peculiarity of desert land soils is the fre-
quent occurrence in the soil when plowed or dug up,
of innumerable small roots or rooty fibers. They are,
indeed, vegetable remains, but through lack of moisture,
they have not fermented into humus, though it may
be said that they have practically “oxydized” without
losing any of their nitrogenous elements. It is well
for the desert soil where this organic matter exists, that
these rooty fibers have not fermented, for the inorganic
matter, the alkalies and other mineral and metallic
salts would have speedily devoured the product and
left nothing for plants to feed upon. The reader has
already been informed that both organic and inorganic
elements are essential to plant life, and that the inor-
ganic elements—the substances given in the table in
the second chapter and their combinations into salts,
are largely in excess of the organic elements. The same
principle holds good in the case of desert soils—it is
not a theory but a practical fact—that organic matter
added to the inorganic means life; their separation,
death. Hence, it is clear, that the addition or presence
of organic matter and nitrogen, added to the mass
of inorganic substances in the soil, tempers the latter
and lessens its natural tendency to do harm. In the
case of an alkali soil, vegetable matter and nitrogenous
substances lessen the deleterious effects of the alkali,
although it may not reduce the percentage of the salts.
Whence, also, the presence of masses of coarse or fine
vegetable fibers in the soil is evidence of either the
absence of an excess of alkali, or that it is under con-
trol and innocuous to vegetation. Perhaps the reader
may see in this a way to get rid of the alkali in soils
and render them fertile. If he does, he will not be
far wrong in his idea, as we shall see presently.

36 The Primer of Irrigation.

LACK OF WATER.

There are two conditions which are the bane of
all desert lands, whether arid or semi-arid: Lack of
water and the presence, in excess, of alkalis. We shall
devote space here to some general remarks on both
conditions, leaving it to subsequent chapters to enter
more into details. The chapters on “Alkali Soils,”
“The Relations of Water to the Soil,” and that on “Cul-
tivation,” will give more particulars, though at this
point it may be necessary to include matter which will
be repeated elsewhere, or presented from a different
viewpoint. This, however, should not be deprecated
as a fault, but extolled as a benefit, for the subject is
of so much vital importance that it can not be repeated
too often, lest it be forgotten.

There must be a water table at some point below
every soil, at a less or greater depth. This may be
accepted as a fact without going into geology to prove
it. Such subsoil water originates in a variety of sources,
through percolations from above, underground streams
coming from great distances, from springs that have
their original sources in some nearby hill or mountain
land, by seepage from rivers, brooks, or streams, from an
irrigating ditch, or pond, and from the artificial sur-
face application, or through sub-irrigation. Although
the action of the earth’s gravity pulls or draws water
downward as it does every other object heavier than
the atmosphere, the constant natural tendency of the
water beneath the surface is to rise to the surface and
evaporate.

It is this rise of the water table to the surface
that causes more alarm than any other process of nature
in the arid and semi-arid regions, particularly in the
arid regions where all water must be applied artificially.
The reason is obvious. The subsoil water contains in
solution whatever soluble salts it may come in contact
with, and reaching the surface, evaporates, leaving be-
hind a deposit of the salts as crystals. Constant deep

Semst-Arid and Arid Lands. 37

cultivation also has a tendency to bring up the water
table with alkaline solutions, for we have already seen
that the subsoil contains in reserve as much mineral
matter and salts as the surface soil. And this is so
whether the land is in the arid regions or in the rain
belt, the disadvantage of the desert land being that the
proportion of organic matter is not high enough to
maintain an equilibrium of plant food consumption.
Still, this is not an incurable disadvantage, for when
the labor and expense of draining, mixing, tempering,
and reducing soils in the rain belt is compared with
the trifling care and attention devoted to desert land
soils to render them continuously fertile, the wonder
is that they produce any crops at all, so slight is the
effort to make them yield.

It is not uncommon to fill the subsoil with water
from irrigating ditches, by putting into it all the sup-
ply obtainable during the flood season, thus bringing
the water table sufficiently near the surface to supply
the crops by capillary action. “This brings the ground
water within three or four feet of the surface, which
is well enough for alfalfa and gross feeding plants, but
is bad for trees, vines, and more delicate plants. In
arid regions where irrigation is the only means of bring-
ing moisture to the soil the water table may be a hun-
dred or more feet below the surface and can not rise on
account of impenetrable strata of rock or hardpan. But
in that case the irrigation water creates a new water
table, the excess of the irrigating water sinking down
until it meets an impervious stratum of rock or hard-
pan, and there it accumulates, becomes stationary, dis-
solves out the earth salts and when the surface soil
dries out or is deeply cultivated begins coming to the
surface by capillary action, every subsequent additional
saturation of the soil from the irrigating ditch increas-
ing the area and zone of the artificial water table.
When that happens, and it does happen in desert lands
sooner than it takes to clear the ground of trees and

38 The Primer of Irrigation.

stumps in the rain belt, drainage becomes of vital im-
portance, second to irrigation itself.

In semi-arid regions, where there is some rain fall,
though inadequate, the amount of rainfall, whatever
it may be, has washed the alkali out of the surface
soil down into the water table, and the surface soil
is freer from the deleterious material, which in the
arid soils even prevents the seeds from germinating
and obtaining a foothold strong enough to resist it,
for when a plant has outgrown its infancy, and devel-
oped its first true leaves, it will require a most extraor-
dinary quantity of deleterious material to destroy it.
It refuses to absorb what it does not need and does
not require, and unless wholly overpowered by the so-
lutions in the water that surrounds it, it will grow
up to be something more or less perfect.

It is said that six or eight inches of rain will
mature a crop in the semi-arid region with proper cul-
tivation. It matters little whether it be wheat or bar-
ley if the grain be sown very thin to allow more room
for stooling. Six inches will grow it to fodder and eight
inches will cause it to head out fairly well. An instance
has been called to the attention of the author, where
ten inches produced two crops without irrigation.

A fair crop of potatoes was grown in and removed
from the fibrous, red clayey soil in April. The land
lay on a side hill, about in the center, the summit of
which had been roughly plowed to gather as much
rain as possible so as to utilize the seepage for the po-
tatoes. Immediately after the removal of the potatoes
the land was plowed deep, and moisture still showing,
it was carefully cultivated. Corn, of the variety known
as “white Mexican,” was then dibbled in and left to
its fate. From the time of its planting, until harvested,
not a drop of water was put on the land by way of
irrigation, and only about an inch of rain in “Scotch
mists” fell upon the surface. The corn came up Im
four days and grew strong and vigorous. The soil

Semi-Arid and Arid Lands. 39

was plowed deep about every ten days, fully turned
over and followed with the cultivator and harrow, until
it became so soft and powdery that it was difficult to
walk in it. It was also hoed frequently, not a weed
being permitted to appear, and the soil stirred deep
and drawn well up over the roots. The land measured
about an acre. The corn grew to full maturity without
a single set back, or twisting of a leaf. The stalks
measured an average of nine feet and each bore from
two to four perfect ears of plump kernels, and made
good roasting ears, and when harvested in the middle
of June, the groundsstill showed some moisture.

Instances of this particular kind are abundant in
every locality in the arid and semi-arid regions. They
are nothing but experiments, or rather accidents, and
prove nothing that can be of general utility. They
show, however, what may be done by careful cultivation
with a small amount of water husbanded to the last
drop. There was not a particle of alkali in the soil
above referred to, and it was very retentive of moisture.
It emphasizes what the author contends, and what sci-
entific investigation places beyond the pale of denial,
that cultivation and moisture are what may be con-
sidered essentials, and not water in its liquid form.
To borrow a word from another profession: we are
dealing with the homeopathy of agriculture, and ad-
vocating water triturations provided they accomplish the
purpose of growing a profitable crop, where drastic
doses will ruin.

In every case, however, the supply of water dimin-
ished by evaporation must be restored either by irriga-
tion or by rain fall, and the requisite amount must be
continuous and not intermittent; that is, the plant
must be kept growing.

If it were not for the fact that water is a solvent
of the salts necessary to plant life, and as a medium
for conveying them in a state of solution to the plants,
there would be no necessity for water, and plants could

40 The Primer of Irrigation.

grow in an absolutely dry and rainless region without
irrigation.

It should be borne in mind that it is not so much
“wetness” that plants require, as a medium for dissolv-
ing the earthy salts end vegetable acids, so that the two
may find their affinities and form the various chemi-
cal combinations which are necessary to make the plant.
When that has been accomplished all the rest is sur-
plus, waste, useless expenditure of the forces of nature,
deleterious to plants by over feeding them, and injurious
to the soil by washing its reserve elements out alto-
gether, or driving them down into the subsoil beyond
the reach of the plant roots, or forcing them to com-
bine in excessive quantities which leach out, or crys-
tallize on the surface and accumulate in masses that
prevent the germination of seeds.

More will be said upon this important subject in
the chapter on “The Relations of Water to the Soil,”
the second bane of desert land, “alkali,” being next in
order.

CHAPTER IV.

ALKALI SOILS; THEIR NATURE, TREATMENT AND
RECLAMATION.

The “alkalis,” as they are called, are common to all
soils wherever they may be found on the globe; they
belong to earth and are part of its essential constituents.

Originally, they were brought or carried into the
soil along with the other elements which form its in-
organic bulk (as has been explained in Chapter II),
by the pulverization of rocks and minerals, the deposi-
tion of inorganic sediment held in solution by water,
by glacial action, by seepage from rivers, and numerous
other ways.

These elements, if unacted upon, would forever
remain in an insoluble, inert condition, incapable of
exerting any influence upon each other, or of perform-
ing any functions whatever; in which case, however,
there could not be any plant life of any kind. But
nature comes in and begins action upon these elements
and changes their form so that they may become capable
of aiding in the production of plants by furnishing
them with the food to make them grow and ripen their
fruit or seed.

First, we have the atmosphere, or air, which, how-
ever arid the region, contains oxygen in a very large
proportion, and this oxygen attacks the inorganic ele-
ments, transforming them into various substances, or
rather fits them to be acted upon by other substances so
that they may become useful or otherwise. Thus,
oxygen acts upon potash, soda, lime and magnesia to
form what are known as “alkaline bases,” that is, the
foundations for the “salts,” which are beneficial in mod-
erate quantities but injurious in excess. The forces of
nature are always at work, regardless of the quantity
of the product; certain laws are followed, and these
laws keep on operating in certain unvarying ways, ac-
cording to a fixed program, which is never changed un-

41

42 The Primer of Irrigation.

less man comes in and compels a change. The follow-
ing table will enable the reader to understand in a gen-
eral way how nature works upon the elements in the
soil through oxygen:

OXYGEN

Unites with Potassium and forms Potash.

Unites with Sodium and forms Soda.

Unites with Calcium and forms Lime.

Unites with Magnesium and forms Magnesia.

The oxygen acts upon the above four metals just
as it does on iron exposed to the air, when it forms the
familiarly known “rust,” which is technically called
“oxide of iron.” So the potash, soda, lime and mag-
nesia are really the earth oxides, the four of them
being “alkaline bases,” that is, the foundations upon
which to compound all the various kinds of alkalis.

These “oxides,” or “bases,” in themselves, would
be of very little use or harm while in that state, but the
oxygen in the air and everywhere else attacks the other
essential elements in the soil as well as the potash,
soda, lime and magnesia, that is, the silicon, carbon,
sulphur and phosphorus, but inStead of converting them
into oxides, or alkaline bases, turns them into “acids.”
The following table will explain:

OXYGEN

Unites with Silicon and forms Silicic Acid.
Unites with Carbon and forms Carbonic Acid.
Unites with Sulphur and forms Sulphuric Acid.
Unites with Phosphorus and forms Phosphoric Acid.
Here is where the whole trouble about alkali soils
begins, for these acids mentioned im the last table,
which may he called mineral, or metalic, acids, have a
great affinity for the alkaline bases mentioned in the
first table, and greedily seize upon them, forming
“salts,” as they are commonly called. When these min-
eral acids attack the alkaline bases, this is what happens:

Alkali Soils. 48

Silicic Acid froms Silicate of Potash, Soda, Lime and

Magnesia.

Carbonic Acid forms Carbonate of Potash, Soda, Lime
and Magnesia.

Sulphuric Acid forms Sulphate of Potash, Soda, Lime
and Magnesia.

Phosphoric Acid forms Phosphate of Potash, Soda,

Lime and Magnesia.

It is the carbonate of soda, or what is commonly
called “sal soda,” which makes ¢black alkali land,” and
sulphate of soda, or “Glauber salt,’ which constitutes
“white alkali land.” There are numerous other salts
formed by combining the alkaline bases and the min-
eral acids, but sufficient are given here to make the
principle clear; to enumerate the others would require
a volume, and complicate too much the idea sought to
be conveyed in this book. Moreover, their action is the
same as the sodas, though in a much less harmful de-
gree.

So far, water has been kept in the background, as
unnecessary to the formation of these salts, but when
water is brought in the distribution of these alkaline
salts is largely aided, for the alkalis are extremely
soluble in water, the latter taking up nearly its own
weight of the salts. When this happens, the alkalis
are carried wherever the water penetrates, and when
it comes to the surface it evaporates into the atmos-
phere, but leaves the alkali salts behind to accumulate,
until the soil is ruined for purposes of vegetation un-
less they are removed, or got rid of in some way and
the soil thus “reclaimed,” as it is called.

In this inorganic matter, plant life is impossible.
As has already been said, organic matter in combination
with the inorganic matter, is essential to plants of any
kind, and here originates a phenomenon as common as
the continual process of the formation of alkalis by
combinations with the mineral, or metallic, acids, as

44 The Primer of Irrigation.

above specified. Organic matter also combines to form
acids which are called “vegetable acids,” and they also
readily combine with the alkaline bases, the result of
which is mutual destruction. This will be understood
from a simple experiment that any reader can try.

Vinegar is the most commonly known vegetable
acid, the technical name of which is “acetic acid,” it
being formed during the germination of seeds in the
ground, as will be explained in the chapter on Plant
Foods. The plant forms it within its tissues and then
rejects it for the purpose of permitting it to continue
dissolving the earthy substances with which it is in
contact. “It is also formed artificially for domestic use.
Now this vinegar is the natural enemy of the alkalis.
When poured upon any of the alkalis of potash, soda,
or magnesia, it causes a hissing or effervescence. When
this ceases, there is left neither an alkali nor acid, both
have disappeared, and their substances are totally
changed into something else, a new salt called an
“acetate,” which is neither one thing or the other; they
have mutually destroyed each other.

These acetates are not noxious to plants, and ap-
pear to be freely created by the plant itself during the
process of developing acetic acid, which is essential for
the purpose of transforming starch into sugar, whether
of the cane or grape variety, and for laying the founda-
tion of woody fiber and cellular tissues, all of which,
alkali tends to prevent if in excess. It is well known
from actual experience that sugar bearing plants, such
as sorghum, sugar beets, and trees of abundant starch
and woody fiber will flourish luxuriantly in alkali soils
that will not even permit the germination of cereals, or
alfalfa. The reason why this is so is not far to seek,
and when well understood the partial reclamation of
alkali lands, even under adverse conditions, may be at-
tained, and wholly so where the conditions are opposed
to the accumulations of alkali from artificial sources.

Alkali Soils. 45

DANGEROUS PERCENTAGE OF ALKALI.

There is much controversy about the dangerous
amount of alkalis in arable soils, but the entire ques-
tion may be resolved into four divisions:

First-—Soils naturally so heavily charged with
alkali as to be worthless.

Second—Soils in which the alkali is increased by
fortuitous or artificial means.

Third—Alkali soils suitable for general crops.

Fourth—Alkali soils adapted only to certain special
classes of plants.

The sodas are the most dangerous of the alkalis,
both the carbonate, or “sal soda,” which is the cause
of “black alkali land,” and the sulphate, or “Glauber
salts,” which is the deposit on most of the “white alkali
lands,” because they are so very easily soluble in water,
whereas the sulphate of lime, or “gypsum,” and all the
other sulphates, and the phosphates, are very much less
soluble in water. The consequence is, the soda alkalis
are always shifting their location, always following the
water, because the latter takes them up greedily when-
ever they are brought in contact, whether on the sur-
face or in the subsoil, or under the influence of seepage
which carries the alkalis from a higher to a lower level.
The tendency of water when in motion, or flowing, is
first downward, it leaches, or percolates through the
soil, but after it has become stationary, that is, when
it does not find an outlet through drainage, either nat-
ural or artificial, it begins an upward movement toward
the surface through capillary action, and carries with it
the alkalis it contains in solution, evaporates and leaves
the salts on the surface. It is not difficult to under-
stand how the alkalis accumulate in the soil, the diffi-
culty begins when the attempt is made to remove them
and fit the soil for plant life.

As the amount of alkali deposited in the soil in-
creases, the number of species or varieties of plants de-
creases. Where soils are charged with an excess of

46 The Primer of Irrigation.

alkalis by fortuitous or artificial means, the reader will
understand that the excess has been added to the natural
supply by the flooding of rains, or by irrigation. The
alkali has not been washed out of the soil by the water,
it has been carried into it by water charged with the
soluble salts, directly, or by seepage from irrigating
ditches. In either case, deep cultivation, surface, or
sub-drainage, will tend to restore the soil to its normal
condition. Moreover, it is not difficult to wash out of
the soil the elements necessary to plant life through the
application of water, and, inasmuch as the alkalis are
more soluble than any of the plant foods, it should be
less difficult to eliminate the former by the same process
that carried them into the soil, intelligently applied.
One per cent of alkali salts in an average soil one
foot deep equals 40,946 pounds dry, and 55,146 pounds
wet, too great a quantity for the successful growth of
cereals, although the soil may be very rich in all the
other plant foods, which is generally the case in all
alkali soils, and this percentage will prevent the growth
of trees, bushes, vines and root crops in general. Some-
times the alkali is near the surface, in the first two
inches of it; indeed, the tendency of the alkalis is
toward the surface, in this case the one per cent of
alkali would mean a weight of the salts in a foot deep
acre of only about 6,824 pounds dry, or 9,191 pounds
wet, a quantity not in excess if distributed uniformly
through the soil. But lying at the immediate surface,
the cereal grains cannot germinate, or if they do the
young and tender plants perish from thirst, literally,
the alkalis absorbing all the water around them, al-
though there may be plenty of untainted water in the
subsoil, in which case deep plowing and turning the
soil over will furnish a top soil in which the seeds may
germinate and reach a growth able to resist the alkali
turned under. In fact, the roots of the plants will
reach beyond the alkali, for the latter will then have
again sought the surface, where it can do no harm.

Alkali Sotis. 47

Alfalfa, for instance, will grow in a moderately
alkaline soil, because the long tap roots penetrate to the
subsoil depths, where there is less alkali. Moreover, the
thick growth and luxuriant foliage shade the ground
and prevent evaporation, which is the handmaid of
alkali deposits.

All soils showing less than one-fifth of one per
cent of alkali salts, that is, less than 9,000 pounds to
the foot acre dry, or 12,000 pounds wet, may be consid-
ered safe for all kinds of crops, and there will never
be any danger from excess of alkalis, so long as good
water is used and the land well drained and cultivated.
When the alkali goes beyond one-fifth to two-fifths per
cent, general crops fail, as a rule, and spots begin to
show when cultivated. And when the alkali reaches
four-tenths and six-tenths of one per cent, while gen-
eral crops will not grow, sweet clover and the common
run of fleshy, scented and sugary plants will grow and
produce large crops, but must be harvested early in the
case of forage plants, as has already been said, else they
will become bitter and uneatable.

There are, as has been said, about 197 species of
plants which possess a great affinity for alkali and will
luxuriate in masses of it where all other vegetation fails
to gain a foothold. Thus, greasewood, or creosote bush,
will flourish in a soil containing 194,760 pounds of
alkali salts per acre one foot deep, which is more than
four per cent of alkali. Scrub salt bush will grow in
soil containing 78,240 pounds per acre, equal to about
one and one-half per cent. Samphire luxuriates in soil
containing 306,000 pounds of alkali per acre, or about
six per cent. Wheat, however, will not grow where the
soil contains a total of 20,520 pounds of the sulphates,
carbonates, chlorides and nitrates of soda and potash
per acre one foot deep, which is less than one-half of one
per cent of the weight of the soil.

48 The Primer of Irrigation.

' ATTEMPTS AT RECLAMATION.

It is impossible to establish any rule or set of rules
for the adaptation of alkali lands to profitable crops.
The natural growth of numerous varieties and species
of plants on strong alkalis is of very little moment to
the farmer, his main inquiry being: How shall I get
rid of the excess of alkali? The whole object of culti-
vating the soil is to compel it to produce something
useful as well as profitable, otherwise it is labor lost to
put a plow in the ground. But in the arid and semi-
arid lands the soil may be exceedingly fertile for general
crops, and after cultivation and irrigation may become
so impregnated with alkali as to lose that fertility in
spite of the quantities of essential plant food still in
the soil.

Where this calamity overtakes the farmer he can
not very well wander about and take up a new location
on fresh land and again go through the same experi-
ence. He must remain rooted to the soil, so to speak,
and use all the information he can gather to restore his
land to its normal condition, or so much of it as has
gone wrong. It is a well-known saying: “All signs
fail in dry weather,” and there are several others equally
as apt. Some say: “It is useless to pray for rain with
the wind from the wrong quarter,” or, “It is a dry
moen, and the horns up won’t let the water out.” In
the case of alkali soils there are no apt sayings, but
there ought to be one, and a very good one seems to be:
“Alkali laughs at the established methods of cultivating
the soil.”

When crops begin to look “sick,” and black or
white patches appear here and there, the reason is not
far to seek: alkali is at work. The subsoil may be
alkaline; there may be a stratum of hard pan which
prevents the water with its solution of alkalis from
leaching down through beyond the reach of the roots;
the irrigation water may contain a large percentage of

Alkali Soils. 49

alkali in solution, and, coming to the surface, carry its
alkali along with it; there may be an irrigation ditch
above and beyond, or a stream, or reservoir, from which
the water seeps and comes up wherever it can find an
outlet. In all these cases, and there are many others,
except where the soil is naturally strongly alkaline, he
looks for the cause, and he finds it in fortuitous or acci-
dental additions of alkali. Excess of alkali has been
carried jnto the soil, and he first stops any further ar-
rivals. The beginning of a remedy is the same in the
case of a thousand or more acres as in the case of but
one, there is merely a difference in extent of operations.
Then the alkali having got into the soil, he quite nat-
urally thinks that it may be got out in the same way it
got in. This is true as to methods. It drains or seeps
in; let it drain and seep out. It came to the surface
with the water through capillary action, therefore let
that capillary action be stopped or impeded. The water
from the subsoil evaporating at the surface left the
alkalis behind to interfere with plant life, hence, if that
evaporation be prevented or reduced, there will be no
more, or, at least, less surface deposits.

Without stopping to consider drainage, which re-
quires a chapter of its own, there are two conditions or
processes which are keys that nearly fit the situation:
cultivation and rotation of crops.

Cultivation serves a double purpose; that of break-
ing up the uniform capillary spaces in the soil and pre-
venting the rise of the water from the subsoil to the
surface, and that of covering the ground with a layer
of dry soil, or a mulch, that prevents evaporation. In-
deed, there are cases where frequent cultivation, or
stirring up of the soil, have reduced the accumulations
of alkali to one-third the amount on uncultivated land.
As to its preventing evaporation, every farmer is too
well acquainted with the effect of cultivation as a con-
servative of the moisture in the soil not to know this
thoroughly.

50 The Primer of Irrigation.

The incorporation of organic matter in the soil,
such as stable manure, leaves, straw, plowing under a
crop of weeds, or green manure, tends to break up the
capillary pores in the soil and retard the upward move-
ment of the subsoil water. But this retarding process
is much greater if this organic matter is spread over the
ground in a uniform layer or mulch. ‘This method
alone has saved many an orchard when an adjoining one
in the same kind of soil was perishing from an excess
of alkal.

It should not be forgotten that it is water that dis-
solves the alkalis, not moisture. For which reason the
water in the subsoil must be kept below the surface at
least three, four, five and six feet, according to the soil
and the crops. It is the standing water below the sur-
face which soaks up the salts, and they must be drained
away until the water table will not send up water, but
moisture only, a sort of subsoil evaporation, to coin an
expression, the water coming up as wet vapor, or merely
wetness, leaving its salts behind, they being unable to
follow unless held in solution.

As soon as water from rain or irrigation begins to
fill the soil, the standing water below with its alkalis in
solution commences to rise, but by keeping this subsoil
water at a depth of five or six feet, and thus allowing
an easy movement of moisture through the land, the
work of reclamation is easily attained. Here is where
the rotation of crops may be called upon to aid. The
farmer has been growing wheat, barley, small fruits,
corn, etc., and the soil has become so impregnated with
alkali as to prevent the growth of any more similar
crops. Now when he is leaching the alkalis out of the
soil he plants gross feeders, plants that have an affinity
for alkali. Sorghum and sugar beets are recommended
for correctives of alkali soils, but there are many other
plants that may be used for the same purpose, such as
asparagus, onions, sweet clover, and among the fruits,
pears, figs, pomegranates and date palms, all of which

Alkali Sotts. 51

withstand the action of alkalis which would kill cereals
and small fruits.

The reason is that all sugar-producing plants re-
quire large quantities of alkali, particularly the carbon-
ates, for starch is produced by the decomposition of
carbonic acid, which the plant breathes in through its
leaves, and takes up from the soil through its roots.
Now, taking the carbon out of the alkalis renders them
innocous, just the same as does vinegar or acetic acid,
which is also always forming in plants that produce
sugar. Not to be misunderstood, it may be well to say
here that this starch is transformed into sugar, woody
fiber and cellular tissue. When it comes to raising 20
to 40 tons of sugar beets per acre, carrying 17 to 22 per
cent of sugar, and reflect that 100 parts of the green ~
syrup of sugar beets carbonated show 9.18 per cent of
alkali ashes, and that the leaves and root fibers will
show nearly as much more, it is a simple sum in arith-
metic to demonstrate that it will not take many such
crops to remove the alkalis, and make it necessary to add
more voluntarily as a fertilizer. Indeed, in non-alkali
soils it is necessary to add alkalis as fertilizers in culti-
vating beets. Within two or three years the alkali-
devouring plants will have removed so much of the
alkali from the soil that barley and wheat can be intro-
duced, and afterward a good stand of alfalfa secured.
All of these attempts at reclamation are, in the opinion
of the author, equivalent to a rotation of crops, since
they benefit and strengthen the soil by taking away
elements that certain plants do not require, as well as
add those which they need.

The following general rules to follow in reclaiming
alkali soil may be considered as a recapitulation of what
has been said in this chapter, and in all the authorities
on the subject:

First—Insure good and rapid drainage to a depth
of three or four feet, in which case flooding the land

52 The Primer of Irrigation.

with water is a simple and sure method of washing out
the alkali.

Second—Plow deep; say, twelve inches.

Third—Furrow land and plant sorghum in the bot-
tom of the furrows. I:rigate heavily, and gradually
cultivate down the ridges to uniformity.

Fourth—After two years in sorghum (or sugar
beets, etc.)—deeply plowed each year and cultivated
frequently—plant barley. Have the surface of the
ground well leveled, and flood heavily before planting.

Fifth—Seed to any desired crop, for if the land is
at all porous a stand of any ordinary crop can be se-
cured, except in the worst spots.

What has been said with reference to the black and
white alkalis, is applicable to the other alkali salts, the
chlorides (common salt, etc.), nitrates, muriates, etc.,
most of which are beneficial and necessary to plants in
reasonable quantities, but deleterious and destructive in
excess, but, we repeat, not so dangerous as the sodas.

The processes of chemical transformations are al-
ways going on in nature, and every soil, together with
the plants or crops growing upon it, constitute a vast
laboratory, in which materials of an almost infinite
variety are in a constant state of manufacture, and by
acquiring even a superficial knowledge of what nature
is doing and trying to do, man will be better able to di-
vert nature in his direction to his profit. Nature is
perfectly willing that this should be done, and if she is
diverted from her purposes and does too much or too
little, it is because the man behind the plow is looking
the other way.

Adobe soils and the hardpans have been reserved
for another chapter, as having a closer relation to drain-
age, water, and cultivation, than to arid lands. Adobe
is a peculiar kind of clay of several varieties, and the
hardpans, though sometimes arable, in general resemble
the cement plaster which has been found unimpaired in

Alkali Soils. 53

the pyramids and temples of Egypt after thousands of
years’ exposure to the elements.

It is reasonable to suppose that plants which will
grow in heavily charged alkali soils, do so because they
have an affinity for the alkaline salts, and take up large
quantities of them. Whence it is clear that, by con-
tinually growing, cutting and removing this “alkali
vegetation,” the excess salts in the soil will be gradually
eliminated, and thus the soil be fitted for the growth of
other desired plants. This is the law and the gospel in
the case of the commonly known “salt meadows,” of
which there are estimated to be in the United States
over one hundred thousand square miles. The attempt
to reclaim these lands in this manner has proved suc-
cessful in Germany and Holland, and has passed beyond
the mere experimental stage in the United States.
Wherefore the query: Is not the same law applicable to
the overcharged alkali lands of the arid and semi-arid
regions ?

CHAPTER V.
RELATIONS OF WATER TO THE SOIL.

When a small portion of soil is thoroughly dried
and then spread out on a sheet of paper in the open air
it will gradually drink in watery vapor from the atmos-
phere and thus increase its weight to a perceptible de-
gree. In hot climates and during dry seasons this prop-
erty of absorption in the soil is of great importance re-
storing, as it does, to the thirsty ground, and bringing
within reach of plants, a part of the moisture they
have so copiously exhaled during the day. Different
soils possess this property in unequal degrees. During a
night of twelve hours, for it is at night that watery vapor
is deposited on the ground (evaporation from the soil
occurring during the day), 1,000 pounds of perfectly
dry soil will absorb the following quantities of moisture
in pounds.

Oar tz Bani <. cid Soy ala wets abate GeuesG 0
Calearcous SANG. ssa ck oe sen eee 2
Hoary Sotliro. 7. hen ees 5 eee ane 21
Clay loans Soa ees ie 6 Ero eee 25
PTE. VOLAY? xpd 3 a sets ake ee ee ae Cae 27

Peaty soils and those rich in vegetable matters will
absorb a much larger quantity from the atmosphere,
sometimes becoming “wet” two inches deep, a surpris-
ing quantity of water when the weight of it on an acre
of ground is calculated. The weight of dry and wet
soils has already been given, and the difference between
the two will, of course, show the quantity in weight of
the moisture or water absorbed. The average weight
of dry soils is about 94 pounds, the average ordinary
wet weight is 126 pounds, the difference, being 32
pounds, represents the average weight of water per cubic
foot. Now, multiplying 43,560 square feet in the acre
by 82, gives 1,393,920 pounds to the acre one foot deep,
and dividing by 12 to ascertain the weight of one inch,
we have 116,160 pounds, or about 58 tons of water

54

Relations of Water to the Soil. 55

falling on an acre of ground in the shape of dew in a
single night. Of course that quantity represents the
highest possible absorptive quality in a heavily charged
vegetable soil. Other soils would receive a less quantity
as will be readily understood, but there is enough to
be equivalent to quite a smart shower and worth en-
couraging.

In what are known as “dry” climates there is
always some moisture in the atmosphere which is de-
posited upon the soil, for wherever there are oxygen
and hydrogen there must be moisture. But the quan-
tities vary in climates as much as they do in soils.
Where there is evaporation from the soil moisture dur-
ing the day there is also a re-absorption of moisture by
the soil at night and, with this fact in mind, it may be
laid down as an axiom: The tendency of water is to
evaporate from the soil into the atmosphere during the
day and to fall back upon the soil during the night. To
- reduce the idea to an axiom: A dry soil has an affinity
for a moist atmosphere, and a dry atmosphere loves a
moist soil.

SATURATION AND POWER TO RETAIN MOISTURE.

_ The rain falls and is drunk in by the thirsty soil ;
the dew descends and is absorbed, and the waters of
irrigation poured upon the ground quickly disappear.
But after much water falls upon the earth the latter be-
comes saturated, can hold no more, and the surplus
tuns off the surface or sinks down through until it
reaches the water table. This happens more speedily
in some soils than in others. Thus, 100 pounds of dry
soils, as here specified, will hold the quantity of water
set opposite their respective names without dripping or
running off.

Suaiz: sand &. i... saw euiies 25 pounds
Calcareous sand ............ 29 pounds
PGI ROU Py. > ike aa oe ws 40 pounds
leven 6 do tots yleleats eioase 50 pounds

PES TOMY Ne WAGE Danas 70 pounds

56 The Primer of Irrigation.

But dry, peaty soils and adobe will absorb a much
larger proportion .before becoming saturated to the drip-
ping point; sometimes such soils will absorb their own
weight of water. Arable soils generally will hold from
forty to seventy per cent of their weight of water.

This power of retaining water renders such a soil
valuable in dry climates. But the more water the soil
contains in its pores the greater the evaporation and
the colder it is likely to be. Indeed, evaporation is a
source of cold, sometimes to so great a degree that ice
will be formed. In very hot regions in India where
ice is inacessible it is customary to place small, shallow
saucers filled with water on the ground after nightfall,
and they are gathered in the morning before sunrise,
the water being converted into ice by the rapid evapora-
tion from the soil during the night. Our modern ice
machines owe their efficacy for making ice to the rapid
evaporation of ammonia under pressure. Hther, chloro-
form, alcohol, and numerous other substances, produce
a sensation of cold when rubbed on the skin, which is
not due to anything in those substances, but wholly to
their rapid evaporation or volatility. The presence of a
saturation of water in the soil, however, excludes the
air in a great degree and thus is injurious to plants,
whose roots must have air as well as moisture, hence
the necesity for drainage where there is a liability to
saturation.

Unless rain or dew is falling or the air is saturated
with moisture, watery vapor is constantly arising from
the surface of the earth. The fields, after the heaviest
rains and floods. gradually become dry, and this takes
place more rapidly in some fields or parts of fields than
in others, in fact, wet and dry patches of ground may be
seen on the same field, indicating a heavy or light soil.
Generally speaking, those soils capable of containing
the largest portion of the rain that falls also retains it
with greater obstinacy and require a longer time to
dry. The same thing happens when the land is irri-

Relations of Water to the Soil. 57

gated. Thus, sand will become as dry in one hour as
pure clay in three, or peat in four hours.

There is one fact every irrigator should constantly
bear in mind and that is: Water saturation of the soil
is never necessary to plant life; it is, in fact, positively
injurious except in the case of acquatic plants. A long
time ago men, seeing rice growing luxuriantly in
swamps, imagined that plant would not grow anywhere
else, and, accordingly, rice culture meant a swamp. But
it was discovered that rice would grow better and pro-
duce a larger and richer crop in arable soil generally,
and now it is cultivated with astonishing success the
same as wheat, barley, or any other cereal, except for
a short period of flooding.

Nature, through heavy rains and other water
sources, converts the soil into a storage reservoir by
establishing a water table beneath the surface from
which the water vaporizing up constantly moistens the
growing stratum of the soil, decomposes and dissolves
the salts which are necessary to plant life, and is itself
decomposed by the principle of life in the plant and
its elements, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, utilized
in the interior of the plant itself. Where there is no
natural supply of water for this storage purpose irriga-
tion must copy nature and provide one, or at least
furnish an adequate supply of moisture for solvent pur-
poses. When that has been done everything has been
done that should be done.

A familiar illustration of the action of moisture
may be witnessed in the slaking of lime in the open air
without the direct application of water. The same
transformation takes place in the case of all the other
soluble mineral salts when in the presence of moisture.
This transformation effected, the plant thrives, and, to
give it an excess of dissolving liquid is to float off the
material needed by the plant and thus deprive it of its
nourishment. It is like feeding an infant on thin,
weak soup instead of nourishing bouillon and expecting
it to thrive.

58 The Primer of Irrigation.

EVAPORATION FROM PLANTS.

The tendency of plants is to exhale or perspire
moisture as well as the soil. The flow of the sap is con-
stant from the roots to the leaves to receive oxygen and
carbonic acid and back again to the roots; like the
circulation of the blood in animals it travels in a cir-
cuit. When the sap reaches the leaves it parts with a
portion of its water, and in some plants the quantity is
very considerable. An experiment with a sunflower,
three and one-half feet high, disclosed the fact that its
leaves lost during twelve hours of one day, 30, and of
another, 20 ounces of water, while during a warm night,
without dew, it lost only three ounces, and, on a dewy
night, lost none.

All this evaporation or exhalation of water from
the leaves of plants is supplied by the moisture in the
soil, for plants generally do not drink in water through
their leaves but through their roots, and when the
escape of water from the leaves is more rapid than the
supply from the roots the leaves droop, dry and wither,
because then they are drawing from their sap, living,
so to speak, upon their own blood. This evaporation
in the plant is similar to the perspiration constantly
exuding from the skins of healthy animals and it has
added to it the mechanical evaporation which takes
place on the surface of all moist bodies when exposed to
hot or dry air. There can be no growth or health
without it, hence, it is often beneficial to wash or spray
the leaves of plants. and trees to remove the dust or
other clogging material that has accumulated upon the
leaves and “stopped perspiration.” To stop this leaf
evaporation is to kill the plant as surely as was killed
the boy in the Roman pageant. His entire body was
covered with a thick coating of gum arabic, on which
was laid a layer of gold leaf, the intention being to
have him pose as a golden statue. He died in a
few hours and it was not until the cause of his sudden
death was investigated by scientific men that it was

Relations of Water to the Soil. 59

discovered that the closing of the pores of the skin,
thereby preventing evaporation from its surface, was
the cause. On dry, dusty soils, where there is none, or
very little rainfall, the accumulation of dew during the
night is generally sufficient to “trickle” along the leaves
and carry down the dust and other accumulations on
the leaves which interfere with evaporation. Some-
times the plant, as if aware that there is a stoppage
in its circulation, will throw out fresh, new leaves to
cure the defect, but this is done at the expense of the
root, tuber, or fruit.

The amount of loss due to natural and mechanical
evaporation from plants, of course, differs very greatly
in the various species of plants depending, in a great
measure, on the special structure of the leaf, whether
fine or coarse meshed, large or small, lean or fleshy,
the natural perspiration, however, always exceeding the
mechanical. Both processes, moreover, are more rapid
under the influence of a warm, dry atmosphere aided
by the direct rays of the sun.

As showing the quantity of evaporation an experi-
ment was tried with an acre of maple trees containing
640 trees. The calculation is not positively exact, but
it is worth accepting as a basis for other experiments
on crops of all kinds and may come somewhere near
enabling the irrigator to determine the quantity of
water to be applied to the soil, whether there is a water
table within the reach of the surface or none at all.

The evaporation was assumed to take place only
during a day of twelve hours and each of the 640 trees
was estimated as carrying 21,192 leaves. From an esti-
mate based on the quantity of evaporation from one tree
containing the number of leaves above specified, which
were carefully counted, the 640 trees evaporated from
their leaves in twelve hours 3,875 gallons of water, or
31,000 pounds. During ninety-two twelve-hour days,
the life of the maple leaf, the evaporation would amount
to 2,852,000 pounds. During that period the rainfall

60 The Primer of Irrigation.

was 8.333 inches or 43.8 pounds to every square foot
of surface, equal, per acre of 43,560 square feet, to
1,890,504 pounds. The evaporation from the leaves
of the trees, therefore, exceeded that of the actual fall
of rain by nearly one million pounds. Whence did the
surplus come? Evidently from the water stored in
the water table and drawn up by the action of the roots
of the trees. Where there is no water table or ground
water and the soil is dry “all the way down,” it is
necessary to create one by irrigation and this is not so
difficult as might be imagined, for we must consider
that in the case of maple trees the roots may reach
down into the subsoil for fifty feet, and in the case of
ordinary fruits, vegetables, and cereals, a water table
at that depth would be wholly unnecessary even if gen-
erally impracticable. Soil saturation at any depth
beyond four feet with unlimited surface cultivation is
sufficient, although in the case of vines and trees it
should be much deeper.

The above experiment with the maple trees al-
though, perhaps, of no practical value on account of
its uncertainty, being more or less guess, demonstrates
two things, when there is also taken into consideration
the quantity of sap in plants and the amount of salts
held in solution in it.

First—How easily a soil may be exhausted by cut-
ting and removing plants and crops therefrom.

Second—aAs a direct corollary, through its diametric
opposite, it shows how easily alkaline salts may be re-
moved from the soil by cutting and removing the plants
and crops. These alkali-consuming plants hold large
quantities of the earth salts in their sap in solution, the
carbonates, sulphates, the sodas, and potash, literally
taken up out of the soil. Of course, when removed a
certain amount of alkali is removed with them. This
has been the experience with the “salt meadows” in
Germany and Holland, and in the United States, as has
been already noted, and, inasmall way, with the alkali

Relations of Water to the Soil. 61

lands of the West where the experiment has been made.

CAPILLARY POWER OF SOIL.

When water is poured into the saucer or sole of a
flower-pot filled with earth the soil gradually sucks it up
and becomes moist even to the surface. This is what
is known as “capillary action,” and exists in all porous
bodies to a greater or less extent. A sponge is a well-
known instance of this power, and if the small end of a
piece of hard chalk be held in water the entire mass
soon becomes saturated. The experiment with the
flower-pot, however, represents the action in the soil,
the water from beneath—that contained in the sub-soil
—is gradually sucked up to the surface. It is one of
the operations of the laws of nature which maintains
all things in constant motion to preserve their life and
vitality, for, if permitted to remain at rest without
motion, they sicken and die, afterward putrefying as
happens even with water which becomes stagnant, that
is, ceases to be in motion.

In climates where there is winter, or even a moder-
ate degree of cold weather, this capillary action ceases
and the tendency of the water is to “soak” downward,
and it is not until warm weather that capillary action
begins and the water commences “soaking” upward
toward the surface. In a warm, or hot climate, this
action is constant and it also takes place whenever the
soil is parched or dry.

This suspension of capillary action in winter, or
cold weather, furnishes a strong point in favor of winter
irrigation, which really takes the place of the autumn
and spring rains, and of the snow that slowly melts
and its waters carried down into the soil to the water
table ready to begin an upward movement when the
weather becomes warm and the surface soil dry.

The dryer the soil and the hotter the atmosphere,
the more rapid is the rising of the water to the surface
by capillary attraction, and. as the water ascends, it car-
ries along with it the saline matters dissolved by it and,

62 The Primer of Irrigation.

reaching the surface, evaporates, leaving the salts it
carried behind. It is this capillary action which has in-
crusted our own lands with alkalis of all kinds; it is the
same in India, Egypt, South Africa, and elsewhere.
On the arid plains of Peru, and on extensive tracts in
South Africa, alkali deposits, several feet in thickness,
are sometimes met with, all of which are caused by the
capillary action of water bringing up to the surface
the salts in the subsoil. So it is that the enormous beds
of nitrate of soda in Peru and those of the carbonate of
soda in Colombia were created; and in our own black
and white alkali and sodium bad lands capillary action
may be blamed for their condition. It must not be for-
gotten that wherever there is seepage there is also cap-
illary action, for that power is exercised in every direc-
tion. It does not matter which end of the sponge or
piece of chalk is held to the water, both become sat-
urated. It may be said that capillary action is-a viola-
tion of the law of gravity, or, rather, is a law of itself
acting independently.

This tendency of water to ascend to the surface of
the earth is not the same in all soils. It is less rapid
in stiff clays and more rapid in sandy and open, porous
soils generally, and it is of especial importance in rela-
tion to the position of the water table in the soil when
considered as a source of water supply or shallow root-
ing plants. Gravity draws the water downward toward
a water table, and in a dry subsoil it is capillary attrac-
tion that impels it down. But when the water in the
surface soil is less than that below an upward movement
begins as though nature were desirous of maintaining
an equilibrium which, scientifically speaking, it always
does, or attempts to do. However, there is a zone of
capillary action, a space between the water table and the
surface, in which moisture rises and with it carries
food substances to the roots of plants. Where the water it-
self rises it means more than capillary attraction, it means
a rise of the water table through additions from some

Relations of Water to the Soil. 63

new water supply or saturation of the soil, in which
case plants are injured vitally and drainage must come
to the rescue. It is the rise of the water table that is
to be feared in irrigation. The reason is because the
rise of alkaline solutions is greater than in the case of
pure water. Thus, a 50 per cent solution of sodium
chloride (common salt) and sodium sulphate will rise
faster than pure water, and a much stronger concentra-
tion of soda carbonate will rise still faster. Hence
the necessity of preventing soil saturation and the main-
taining of a zone of capillary action, in which the roots
of plants may be fed by material furnished through
that action when they would be killed if saturation
were permitted to overcome it.

A few practical ideas may be gathered from the
foregoing which are worth considering:

First—It is evident that deep plowing will enable
the rainfall or the irrigation water to penetrate deeper
into the soil, in which case it will remain longer and the
effects of a small quantity of rain may extend over a
period long enough to mature a crop where half as
much again would show nothing.

Second—To be effective and beneficial to vegeta-
tion the water in the subsoil must be in constant motion.
When water ceases to flow in the subsoil streams, or
when capillary action is entirely suspended, the water
becomes stagnant, ceases to imbibe oxygen, nitrogen and
carbonic acid, and practically rots, causing vegetation
within its influence also to decay. Running water com-
ing from the clouds or irrigating ditch enters the soil
charged with gaseous matters above specified, mixed in
their proper proportions, and carries along with it vari-
ous dissolved inorganic substances which are not per-
mitted to be deposited out of it while it is in motion.
Hence, to derive the full benefit of the water, the land
must be drained even where irrigation is practiced, so
that the surplus water, after irrigation is stopped, may
find a ready outlet. If there should be no surplus, no

64 The Primer of Irrigation.

harm is done by drainage facilities; on the contrary,
the tendency of all drainage is to open the soil below
and “draw” the moisture from above as well as to carry
off the surplus water in a soaked subsoil if there be one.
Drainage does not carry off moisture, but only the sur-
plus water; capillary attraction will always hold the
moisture.

Third—Whenever sufficient water is added to the
soil to compensate for loss by evaporation from soil
and plant, the business of the irrigator is accomplished.
To keep on adding, to soak the soil continually, would
be to injure vegetation as much as by furnishing too
little water, as it is only by keeping the surface soil
loose and finely pulverized—the deeper the better—that
evaporation from the soil may be retarded.

As to the quality of the water the more impure it
is, particularly in organic matter, the better it is for
vegetation. There is no more impure water in the world
than that of the river Nile, yet it gives fertility and pro-
duces luxuriant vegetation where there would be barren-
ness and sterility were it pure. The exception in the
case of irrigating alkali lands would be water heavily
charged with alkali salts, this kind of water being one
of the causes of deleterious alkali deposits.

THE SOIL AND THE ATMOSPHERE.

The oxygen of the atmosphere is essential to the
germination of the seed and to the growth of the plant.
The whole plant must have air, the roots as well as
the leaves, therefore it is of consequence that this oxy-
gen should have access to every part of the soil and
thus to all the roots. This can only be effected by
working the land and rendering it sufficiently porous.

Some soils absorb oxygen faster and in greater
quantities than others. Clays absorb more than sandy
soils, and vegetable molds or peats more than clay.
It depends, however, upon their condition as to por-
osity, and also upon their chemical constitution. If the

Relations of Water to the Soil. 6

clay contains iron or manganese in the state of oxides
these latter will naturally absorb oxygen in large quan-
tities for the purpose of combining with it, having
a great affinity therefor, while a soil containing much
decaying vegetable matter will also drink in large quan-
tities of oxygen to aid the natural decomposition con-
stantly going on.

In addition to absorbing oxygen and nitrogen, of
which the air principally consists, the soil also absorbs
carbonic acid and portions of other vapors floating in
it whether ammonia or nitric acid. This absorption of
atmospheric elements and gases of every kind occurs
most easily and in greater abundance when the soil
is in a moist state. Hence it is that the fall of rains
and the descent of dew, or the application of irriga-
tion water, favors this absorption in dry seasons and
in dry climates; it will also be greatest in those soils
which have the power of most readily extracting wa-
tery vapor from the air during the absence of the sun.
It must be elear from this that the influence of dews
and gentle showers reaches much farther than the
surface of the soil, watery vapor following the atmos-
phere down deep into the soil, penetrating as deep as
the porous nature of the soil will permit it. Some say
that, under proper conditions as to cultivation, the
soil will gain in dew at night nearly as much as it
loses by evaporation during the day. It appears rea-
sonable enough to suppose that the atmosphere, under
a pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch, will
penetrate to any depth and carry with it whatever of
moisture and gases it contains.

THE SOIL AND THE SUN.

In addition to the chemical effect of sunlight upon
plants the rays of the sun beating down upon the earth
impart to the soil a degree of heat much higher than
that of the surrounding atmosphere. Sometimes this
soil heat rises from 110 degrees to 150 and more, while

66 The Primer of Irrigation. _

the air in the shade is between 70 and 80 degrees, a
quantity of heat most favorable to rapid growth. The
relations between the heat of the sun and the color of
the soil is of little importance where sunlight abounds,
although in some locations it is of considerable import-
ance. This has already been alluded to and all that
need be said here is that the dark-colored soils, the
black and the brownish reds, absorb the heat of the
sun more rapidly than the light-colored, for which rea-
son, as to warmth, the dark soils more rapidly pro-
mote vegetation than the others.

As to the power of retaining heat it is interest-
ing to note that sandy soils cool more slowly than clay,
and clay more slowly than peaty soils, or those rich
in vegetable matter. Vegetable mold will cool as much
in one hour as a clay in two, or a sandy soil in three
hours. That is, after the sun sets the sandy soil will
be three hours in cooling, the clay two, and the soil
rich in vegetable matter, one hour. It is also inter-
esting to note that on those soils which cool the soon-
est dew will first begin to be deposited.

Man possesses very little power over the relations
between the soil and heat other than growing plants
whose abundance of leaves and luxuriant growth will
shade the ground, prevent, or retard evaporation,
and enable the soil to maintain a uniform heat, or
mixing sand with less heat-retaining soils. These mat-
ters are of more importance in kitchen garden culture
than in the fields; but there are deep valleys among
the mountains where the sun rises about 9 a. m. and
sets about 3 p. m., and in these, there being so little
scope for the sun’s rays and the soil being cool for a
rauch longer period than it is warmed by the sun, the
power of retaining heat would render one soil more
valuable and favorable to plant growth than a soil
less retentive.

CHAPTER VI.

PLANT FOODS-——-THEIR NATURE — DISTRIBUTION AND
BFFECTS IN GENERAL.

There are four substances which are essential to
all plant food; without them few plants could live,
and what is surprising, they form a very large portion
of every plant in one form or another. These
substances are: Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Nitro-
gen. We shall take them up in rotation and briefly ex-
plain their origin, nature and action.

CARBON.

Carbon is generally known under the form of
coal, any kind of coal, but for experimental pur-
poses it is usually wood charcoal that is consid-
ered the nearest approach to pure carbon, there
being none except the diamond which can be called
actually pure or crystallized carbon. As wood
charcoal, it is derived from willow, pine, box, and sey-
eral other woods, burned under cover so as to prevent
free access of air, and its manufacture is of great com-
mercial importance, kilns for its creation existing in
thousands of places throughout the United States,
where forests abound and wood is in plenty. It should
be borne in mind that this carbon, or wood charcoal,
is an essential element of the plant, inasmuch as it
comes out of it by burning. Moreover it is all manu-
factured in the plant, extracted as part of its food
from the soil, or the air.

Heated in air, charcoal, or carbon, as we shall
call it hereafter, burns with little flame, and is slowly
consumed, leaving only a white ash, the rest of the
carbon disappearing in the air. It is not lost, how-
ever, for by the burning it is converted into a gas
which goes by the name of “carbonic acid,” which -
ascends and mingles with the atmosphere, to be again
absorbed by plants to manufacture more carbon, or

67

68 The Primer of Irrigation.

rather a fresh supply of charcoal. This carbonic acid
gas is deadly, speedily causing death if breathed.

Carbon is light and porous and floats on water, but
plumbago, or black lead, and the diamond, which are
only other forms of carbon, are heavy and dense. Both
black lead and the diamond when burned in the air at
a high temperature, leave only a very little white ash,
the rest being converted into carbonic acid and disap-
pearing in the air like the common charcoal.

Of this carbon, all vegetable substances contain a
very large proportion. It forms from 40 to 50 per
centum by weight of all parts of dried: plants cultivated
for the food of animals or man, and the part it per-
forms in the economy of nature is therefore very im-
portant.

Light, porous charcoals’ possess several notable
properties in plant culture:

First—they absorb into their pores large quan-
tities of gaseous substances and vapors which exist
in the atmosphere. Thus: They absorb over ninety
times their bulk of ammonia; fifty-five times their bulk
of sulphuretted hydrogen; nine times their bulk of
oxygen; nearly twice their bulk of hydrogen, and
absorb sufficient aqueous vapor to increase their weight
from ten to twenty per centum.

Second—They separate from water, decayed ani-
mal matters and coloring substances which it may
hold in solution. In the soil they absorb from rain,
or flowing water, organized matters of various kinds,
and yield them up to the plants growing near to
contribute to their growth.

Third—They absorb disagreeable odors and keep
animal and vegetable matter sweet when in contact
with it. For which reason vegetable substances con-
taining much water, like potatoes, turnips, etc., are
better preserved by the aid of a quantity of charcoal.

Fourth—They extract from water a portion of the

Plant Foods—Their Nature, Etc. 69

saline substances, or salts, it may happen to have in
solution, and allow it to escape in a less impure form.
The decayed (half carbonized) roots of grass, which
have been long subjected to irrigation, may act in
one or all of these ways, on the more or less impure
water with which they are irrigated, and thus gradu-
ally arrest and collect the materials fitted to promote
the growth of the coming crop.

OXYGEN.

We know oxygen only in its gaseous or aeriform
state, although it may be liquefied, and even converted
into a solid form under the name of “liquid air.” As
a gas it is invisible and possesses neither color, taste,
nor smell. When inhaled in a pure state it is stim-
ulating and exciting to the vital functions, but used
in excess it causes death. Plants refuse to grow in
pure oxygen gas and speedily perish.

It exists in the atmosphere in the proportion of
21 per centum of the bulk of the latter, and in this
state and proportion it is necessary to the existence
of animals and plants, and to permit combustion every-
where on the globe. The amount of it in water will
surprise many readers, for every nine pounds of water
contains eight pounds of oxygen. A knowledge of this
fact will cause the full value of water as an essential to
plant growth to be appreciated; moreover, water pos-
sesses the power of absorbing still more oxygen from
the atmosphere than it contains naturally. Thus, water
will absorb from three and one-half to six and one-half
parts of oxygen to one hundred parts of water. Rain,
spring and river waters always contain an additional
proportion of oxygen which they have absorbed from
the atmosphere. This is taken up in the soil, for, as the
water trickles through the soil it surrenders the oxygen
to the plants with which it comes in contact, and min-
isters to their growth and nourishment in various ways
to be hereafter explained.

70 The Primer of Irrigation.

But the quantitiy of oxygen stored in solid rocks
is still more remarkable. Nearly one-half of the rocks
which compose the crust of the earth, of every solid sub-
stance we see around us, of the soils which are daily
cultivated, and much more than one-half of the weight
of living plants and animals, consist of this elementary
body, oxygen, known to us only as an invisible, im-
ponderable, unperceivable gas.

HYDROGEN.

Hydrogen is also known to us in the state of gas,
and like oxygen is without color, taste, or smell. It is
unknown in a free or simple state, although chemists
have succeeded in obtaining it in small quantities, and
is not so abundant as either carbon or oxygen. It forms a
small percentage of the weight of animal and vegetable
substances, and constitutes only one-ninth of the weight
of water. With the exception of coal and mineral oils
known as “hydro-carbons,” it is not a constituent of
any of the large mineral masses of the globe.

It does not support life, and animals and plants
introduced into it speedily die. It is the lightest of
all known substances, being fourteen and one-half times
lighter than air. Water absorbs it in very small quan-
tities, one hundred gallons of water taking up no more
than one and one-half gallons of it.

NITROGEN.

This substance is likewise known only in a state
of gas. It exists in the atmosphere in the proportion
of seventy-nine per centum of its entire bulk, and
is without color, taste, or smell. It is lighter than
atmospheric air in the proportion of ninety-seven and
one-half to one hundred, and is deadly in its pure state
to both animals and plants. It is essential in the at-
mosphere we breathe, moderating the combustion which
would ensue if the air were pure oxygen, and forms a
part of many animal and some vegetable substances,
but does not enter, except in small proportions, into

Plant Foods—Their Nature, Ete. 71

mineral masses. It is less abundant than any of the
so-called organic elements, but it performs certain
most important functions in reference to the growth
of plants. Spring and rain water absorb it as they
do oxygen, from the atmosphere, and bear it in solu-
tion to the roots of plants, one hundred parts of water
dissolving about one and one-half to four per centum
of the gas.

PROPORTIONS OF THE FOREGOING ELEMENTS IN PLANTS.

Although the substances of plants are composed
mainly of the above organic elements, they exist in
very different proportions. This will appear from the
following table of “dried” plants, taking one thousand
parts by weight as the standard :

Clover Grass, Pota-

Oats. seed. hay. Peas. Wheat. toes.

Carbon ..... 507 494 458 465 455 441
Hydrogen... 64 BSiy bOK «61 5? 58
Oxygen ..... 367 350 38% 401 4381 439
Nitrogen .... 22 70. 15° 42 34 12
ABR. ais: cio oes 40 yap Cacho 2 23 50

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000

The above proportions are slightly variable, but
the figures given represent nearly the relative weights
in which these elementary elements enter into forms
of vegetable matter. Herbaceous plants generally leave
more ash, that is, inorganic matter, the wood of trees
and the different parts of plants yielding unequal quan-
tities.

HOW ORGANIC ELEMENTS COMBINE TO FORM PLANT
FOODS.

Carbon being a solid, and insoluble in water, can
not be taken up through the pores of the roots of
plants, the only parts with which it can come in con-
tact. Hydrogen, in its simple state, forms no part

12 The Primer of Irrigation.

of the food of plants because it does not exist in the
atmosphere or in the soil in any appreciable quan-
tities. Oxygen exists in the atmosphere in the gaseous
state and may be inhaled by the leaves of plants.
Nitrogen may be absorbed by the leaves of living plants,
but in a quantity so small as to escape detection.
Horeover, oxygen and nitrogen being soluble in water
to a slight degree, may also be absorbed in small quan-
tities along with the water taken in through the pores
of the roots.

But this absorption by the plant is insufficient to
maintain its life and growth. It must have a liberal
supply of food in which the four elements specified
form a large percentage. Now, this food can only
be obtained, or manufactured, by the four organic ele-
ments entering into mutual combinations to form what
are known as “chemical compounds.” It is these chem-
ical compounds which find their way into the interior
of the plant, into its very substance, and then the
plant grows and reaches maturity, provided these chem-
ical combinations are continued during its period of
existence.

It must be borne in mind that the atmosphere
diffuses itself everywhere. It makes its way into every
pore of the soil, carrying with it its oxygen, carbonic
acid and other substances it may be charged with, to
the dead vegetable matter and to every living root. Its
action is double: Playing among the leaves and
branches, and fondling the roots by mingling with the
soil. It is the workman, and its tools are its gases,
and with them it manufactures out of the raw material
it finds in the soil—that is, the silica, the sulphur, and
other inorganic substances, and the decayed organic
matter—chemical combinations which the plant seizes,
appropriates and digests.

CHEMICAL COMBINATIONS.
When common table salt and water are mixed the

Plant Foods—Their Nature, Etc. 78

salt dissolves and disappears. By evaporating the wa-
ter it is possible to recover the salt in the same form
and condition as it was at first. This is called a
“mechanical combination,” with which chemistry has
nothing to do, and which would not, in the economy
of nature, be sufficient as a plant food, although such
combinations and solutions are absorbed by the plant—
they do not feed it!

But when limestone is put into a kiln and burned
it is changed into an entirely different substance, which
is called “quicklime.” The limestone is decomposed by
the burning, the carbonic acid mixed with lime is
driven off by the heat, and lime remains.

So when sulphur is burned in the air it is all
converted into a white vapor of an unpleasant odor,
which is finally absorbed by the atmosphere and dis-
appears. This is also a chemical decomposition, in
which the sulphur is combined with the oxygen of
the atmosphere.

To cite another illustration, it may be said that
water itself is a chemical compound of the two ele-
mentary bodies, oxygen and hydrogen.

None of these latter are mixtures like the mix-
ture of salt and water, but elementary bodies united
to form new substances, which, as has been said, are
called “chemical compounds,” and it is through these
chemical combinations that all plants and fruits pos-
sess their various peculiarities.

The number of compounds which the four organic
elements form with each other is practically unlim-
ited, but of them, a very few only minister to the
growth and nourishment of plants. Of these water,
carbonic acid, ammonia, and nitric acid are the most
important. These compounds we shall take up in their
order, a knowledge of all of them being of essential
importance in agriculture,

74 The Primer of Irrigation,

WATER.

The following are the three qualities of water im-
portant to plant life:

First—A solvent power.

Second—An affinity for certain solid substances.

Third—An affinity for its own elements.

First—Water possesses the power of absorbing the
several gases of which the atmosphere is composed, and
carries them to the roots of plants whence they are
taken into the circulation.

It dissolves many solid inorganic substances, earthy
and saline, and conveys them in a fluid form to the
roots of plants, which enables them to ascend with the
sap. It also takes up substances of organic origin,
such as portions of decayed animal and vegetable mat-
ter, and likewise brings them within reach of the roots.

When warm the solvent powers of water over solid
substances is very much increased, a fact which ac-
counts for the luxuriant vegetation in the tropical and
semi-tropical regions, and in what are known as “warm
soils.”

Second—Water exhibits a remarkable affinity for
solid substances. A familiar instance is mixing water
with quick lime. The lime heats, cracks, swells, and
finally becomes a white powder. This is familiarly
known as “slaking” lime. When thoroughly slaked, the
lime will be found to be one-third heavier than before.
Every three tons of lime, therefore, absorb one ton
of water; hence, if four tons of slaked lime is put
upon land one ton of water is also mixed in the soil.

Water has an affinity for clay, the hottest sum-
mer seldom robbing the clay of its water, enough be-
ing retained to keep wheat green and flourishing when
plants on lighter soils are drooping and burning up.

An affinity for water causes vegetable matter to
combine chemically with it, but in the case of a porous
soil the water is merely “drunk in” mechanically and

Plant Foods—Theiry Nature, Ete. 75

it is retained unchanged in the pores of the soil, whence
it may be evaporated out, as related in the last chapter,
but not where there has been a chemical transforma-
tion. This is a fact that should be remembered in
applying mixtures of vegetable matter to the soil by
way of fertilization. A mere mechanical mixture is of
little effect; there must be a chemical transformation
provided for. And it should also not be forgotten that
water itself is capable of a chemical change whereby its
qualities are preserved and retained much longer, in-
deed, than if merely poured upon the soil as a mechan-
ical attempt to assist plant growth.

Third—Water possesses an affinity for its own ele-
ments, and this fact exercises a material influence on
the growth and production of all vegetable substances.
In the interior of plants, as in animals, water undergoes
continual decomposition and re-composition. In its
fluid state it finds its way into every vessel and every
tissue. In this situation the water yields its oxygen to
one portion of the plant and its hydrogen to another
portion, wherever either is needed, and, in like manner,
the oxygen and the hydrogen resume their combination
as water and cling together until a new chemical change
is needed. To comprehend this better the reader has
only to observe the effects of water on his own system,
for, as between plants and animals, the transmutations
of oxygen and hydrogen, conveyed into the system by
means of water, are practically identical.

We shall have more to say upon this subject in the
chapter on the advantages of irrigation.

CARBONIO ACID.

Carbonic acid, as has been said, is the gas
from burned charcoal, or carbon. It has an acid
taste and smell, is soluble in water, and reddens vege-
table blues. Water dissolves more than its own bulk
of this gas. It is one-half heavier than atmospheric
air, and is deadly in its effects. Yet it is the principal

16 The Primer of Irrigation,

food of plants, being absorbed by the leaves and roots
in large quantities, hence its presence in the atmos-
phere is necessary to plant growth, though the pro-
portion is small.

' Carbonic acid unites with potash, soda and lime,
forming compounds known as “carbonates.” Thus
pearlash is carbonate of potash; the common soda of
the shops is carbonate of soda, and limestone, or chalk,
is carbonate of lime. The common carbonate of lime,
in its various forms. of chalk, limestone, or marble, is
insoluble in pure water, but it dissolves readily in
water containing carbonic acid. We know that water
absorbs a quantity of carbonic acid from the atmos-
phere, and hence as it trickles through the soils con-
taining limestone, etc., it dissolves a portion of the
earth and carries it in its progress to the roots of the
plants, where the earthy solution is used directly or in-
directly to promote vegetable growth.

As to its absorption by water, a reference to a
common glass of soda water will be sufficient to make
this clear.

Some plants manufacture their own acids out of
the carbonic acid—distinctive acids—for instance, ox:
alic acid, which is found in the leaves and stems of the
common sorrel (oxalis). It is an acid not found in the
soil and may be obtained from sugar, starch and even
from wood by various chemical processes, principally
by the use of nitric acid. To detail all the uses to which
carbonic acid may be put would be going deep into
chemistry, which is beyond the scope of this book.
However, vegetable acids will be referred to in the next
chapter.

AMMONIA.

Ammonia is a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen,
and performs a very important part in the process of
vegetation. It promotes not only the rapidity and lux-
uriance of vegetation, but exercises a powerful control

Plant Foods—Their Nature, Etc. 77

over the functions of vegetable life. It possesses sev-
eral special properties which bear upon the preparation
of plant food.

First—It has a powerful affinity for acid sub-
stances, and unites with them in the soil, forming saline
compounds or “salts,” which are more or less essential
to vegetable life.

Second—It possesses a very strong affinity for
the acids of potash, soda, lime and magnesia. When
mixed with these acids the acid in the salt of am-
monia (sal ammoniac) for instance, is taken up by
the potash, etc., and the ammonia. is set free in a
gaseous state. This is the effect of lime dressing on
a soil rich in animal and vegetable matter; it de-
composes the salts, particularly those of ammonia.

Third—The salts which ammonia forms with the
acids are all very soluble in water, and thus ammonia
is brought down to the roots of plants for their use.

Fourth.—In the state of carbonate it decomposes
gypsum, forming carbonate of lime (chalk) and sul-
phate of ammonia, both of which are peculiarly favor-
able to vegetation.

Fifth—The presence of ammonia in a soil con-
taining animal and vegetable matter in a decaying
state causes this matter to attract oxygen from the
air with great rapidity and in abundance, the result
being that organic acid compounds are formed which
combine with the ammonia to form ammoniacal salts.
On the decomposition of these latter salts by the action
of lime or other of the affinities above mentioned, the
organic acids separated from them are always further
advanced toward the state in which they become fit
for plant foods.

Sixth—The most important property of ammonia
is the ease with which its salts undergo decomposition,
either in the air, in the soil, or in the interior of
plants, a peculiarity which is possessed by water, as

78 The Primer of Irrigation.

has been said. In the interior of the plant ammonia
separates into its constituent elements as frecly as
water. The hydrogen it contains in so large a quan-
tity is always ready to separate itself from the nitrogen,
and so, in concert with the other organic elements in-
troduced into the plant through the roots or the leaves,
it aids in producing the different solid bodies of which
the several parts of the plant are made up. The nitro-
gen also becomes fixed, that is, “permanent” in the col-
ored petals of the flowers, in the seeds, and in other
parts of the plant it passes off in the form of new com-
pounds, in the insensible form of perspiration, or in
perfumed exhalations of the plant.
NITRIC ACID.

This acid consists of nitrogen combined with oxy-
gen, and never occurs in nature in a free state, but is
found in many semi-tropical regions in combination
with potash, soda and lime, in what are known as “ni-
trates.” They are all, like the salts of ammonia, very
soluble in water, those of soda, lime and magnesia at-
tracting moisture from the air, and in a damp atmos-
phere gradually assume a liquid form. Saltpeter is a
compound of nitric acid with potash (nitrate of potash),
and it may sometimes be used as an influential agent
in promoting vegetation. Like the acid itself, these
nitrates, when present in large quantities, are destruc-
tive of vegetation, and are frequently the cause, in arid
and semi-arid regions, of utter barrenness, the nitrous
incrustations accumulating upon the surface of the soil.
In small quantities, however, they exercise an important
and salutary influence on the rapidity of growth.

CHAPTER VII.

PLANT FOODS—CEREALS—FORAGE PLANTS—-FRUITS—
VEGETABLES—ROOT CROPS.

Plants of every variety are very hearty feeders
as a rule; in fact, if a plant be furnished with un-
limited quantities of its proper food, and the environ-
ments of soil and climate are favorable, it will increase
its bulk to enormous dimensions; the case is the same
with fruits.

Sir Humphrey Davy introduced plants of mint
into weak solutions of sugar, gum, jelly, etc., and
found that they grew vigorously in all of them. He
then watered separate spots of grass with the same
several solutions, and with common water, and found
that those watered with the solutions throve more lux-
uriantly than those treated with ordinary water. From
this it may be reasonably inferred that different or-
ganic substances are taken into the circulation of plants
and then converted by them into its own substance,
or acts as food and nourishes the plant. Of course,
it will be understand that by “plant foods” are meant
whatever material’ tends to make the plant grow to
maturity.

We have learned that plants absorb carbon in the
shape of carbonic acid, and the part ammonia plays in
the plant economy. Indeed, ammonia is actually pres-
ent in the juices of many plants, for example: in
beet roots, birch and maple trees, etc. In tobacco leaves
and elder flowers it is combined with acid substances.
It is also an element in the perfume of flowers, whence
the value of barn yard manure to supply that element.

Nitric acid is invariably present in common, well
known plants, in combination with potash, soda, lime,
and magnesia (nitrates). It is always contained in
the juices of the tobacco plant and the sunflower. The

79

80 The Primer of Irrigation.

common nettle contains it and it is present in barley
in the form of nitrate of soda.

Like ammonia, nitric acid exerts a powerful influ-
ence on growing crops, whether of corn or grass. Ap-
pied to young grass or sprouting shoots of grain, it
hastens and increases their growth and occasions a
larger production of grain, and this grain is richer in
gluten, and therefore more nutritious in quality.

As showing the power of a plant to select its own
food: if a bean and a grain of wheat be grown side by
side, the stalk of the wheat plant will contain silica
and that of the bean none. The plant intelligence, or
instinct, so to speak, knows what it wants or needs,
and it takes what it requires, rejecting everything else.
Plants have also the power to reject through their
roots such substances as are unfit to contribute to their
support, or which would be hurtful to them if re-
tained in their system. Knobs, excrescences and exu-
dations may often be seen on the roots, stems, and
even the leaves of plants, which many think are due
to the ravages of some insect, but which are nothing
more than the natural effort of the plant to get rid -
of some obnoxious or harmful substance in its system.
When the plant’s blood is out of order its nature
attempts to cure it by forcing the dangerous substance
or matter to the surface, as does the animal system
under like circumstances.

Even the germinating seed is a chemical labora-
tory, inasmuch as it gives off acetic acid, or vinegar,
which dissolves the inorganic material in its vicinity and
returns with it in a condition to build up and nourish
the plant.

The chemical compounds produced by the juices
of all plants may be said to be innumerable. Most of
them are in such small quantities that it would scarcely
be worth while to consider them, but some are of a
highly remedial quality, as quinine from Peruvian bark,

Plant Foods—Cereals—Forage Plants, Ete. 81

morphine from the opium of the poppy, salicine from
the willow, etc. All the cultivated grains and roots
contain starch in large quantities, and the juices of
trees, grasses and roots contain sugar in surprising
quantities. The flour of grain contains sugar and two
other substances in small quantities, namely: gluten
end vegetable albumen, which are .important nutri-
tive substances. Sugar is also present in the juices
of fruits, but is associated with various acids (sour)
substances, which disappear altogether, or are changed
into sugar as the fruit ripens.
WOODY FIBER, OR LIGNIN.

To manufacture the foregoing chemical compounds
nature requires a huge structure, an enormous space
when compared with the product turned out. More
than one has wondered why a monstrous oak should
produce so ridiculously small a fruit as an acorn, and
a weak pumpkin vine one so enormous. The philoso-
pher in the fable complained of this irregularity of
nature as he lay under an oak. But when a small
acorn fell upon his head he changed his mind. Now,
all this huge structure, the body of the plant, is as
carefully manufactured as the delicate savory fruit,
and out of the same ingredients, practically. The bulky
part of the plant, the bone and sinew, so to speak, is
the woody fiber, or lignin.

When a piece of wood is cut in small portions and
cooked in water and alcohol until nothing more can
be dissolved out of it there remains a white, fibrous
mass to which is given the name woody fiber, or lignin.
It has neither taste nor smell, and it is insoluble.
Strange to say, two of its chemical constituents are the
same as water, being oxygen and hydrogen, with an
equal quantity of carbon added.

Under the microscope this woody fiber appears to
consist of what is called “cellular” matter, the true
woody fiber, and a coating for strengthening purposes,

82 The Primer of Irrigation.

called “incrusting” matter. This cellular matter is
composed of oxygen and hydrogen in the proportions
to form water, but it is difficult to separate them to de-
termine the elementary construction, but we shall see
that they demand a certain food and are intended
for an important purpose.

The woody fiber sometimes constitutes a large pro-
portion of the plant, and sometimes it is very small.
In grasses and corn growing plants, it forms nearly
one-half of the weight, but in roots and in plants used
for food it is very small in the first stages of their
growth. The following table gives the percentage of
woody fiber in a few common plants while in a green
state.

Name of plant. Per cent of woody fiber. Water.
Bea stalls ken bccn. ote the ewes 10.33 80.0
White churminsy. 4): fige'h oe fin-aminds wok 3.0 92.0
Cominon Beeb ss uted keel aoe 3.0 86.0
Red clover sete oats tis Rede aaa eee 7.0 79.0
White ‘clover weiieiies ad bs Bis by che cae lt daar 4.5 81.0
Alfalfa—tin: flower | seis de. beget oa 9.0 73.0
Ryeqts-shnittes tele Seen eds ee eee e ae ikG 68.0
STARCH.

Next to woody fiber, starch is the most abundant
product of vegetation. By whatever names the various
kinds of starch are called: wheat starch, sago, potato
starch, arrow root, tapioca, cassava, etc., they are all
alike in their chemical constitution. They will keep
for any length of time when dry and in a dry place,
without any change. They are insoluble in cold water
or alcohol, but dissolve readily in boiling water, giv-
ing a solution which becomes a jelly when cold. In
a cold solution of iodine they assume a blue color.

The constituents of starch are carbon, oxygen, and
hydrogen, with less carbon and more oxygen than woody
fiber and about the same quantity of hydrogen.

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Plant Foods—Cereals—Forage Plants, Ete. 83

That starch constitutes a large portion of the
weight of grains and roots usually grown for food the
following table will show, one hundred pounds being
the quantity upon which to base the percentage:

Name of plant. Percentage of starch.

Wrheab MOUr Sccic sco ete's geen aeinnons 39.77
PR yO OUR. sos foes. slsiae 4 > mame e olets 50.61
Barley flour .........cceescecserrs 67.70
Oates: ooh. cts, b cusrc Gueterets Boye 70.80
RICE, “Chars Pc wcieriea ea ere a ae cep 84.85
Corns tic obs eet Sa eA ca etle es 77.80
BUCK WeRe ic cco ore ook eis nace eh erapecees 52.0

Pea ‘and bean meal: * = 2.2. 3 2. sess 43.0

PEG ER i Sls) cra iaiel aed Ss a apes oferoiie 15.0

In roots abounding in sugar, as the beet, turnip,
and carrot, only two or three per centum of starch
ean be detected. It is found deposited among the
woody fiber of certain trees, as in that of the willow,
and in the inner bark of others, as the beech and the
pine. This is the reason why the branch of a willow
takes root and sprouts readily, and why the inner bark
of certain trees are used for food in times of famine.

GUM.

Many varieties of gum occur in nature, all of them
insoluble in alcohol, but become jelly in hot or cold
water, and give a glutinous solution which may be
used as an adhesive paste. Gum Arabic, or Senegal,
is the best known. It is produced largely from the
acacia, which grows in Asia, Africa, California and in
the warm regions of America generally. It exudes from
the twigs and stems of these trees, and forms round,
iransparent drops, or “tears.” May of our fruit trees
also produce it in smaller quantities, such as the apple,
plum and cherry. It is present in the malva, or althea,
and in the common marsh mallow, and exists in flax,

84 The Primer of Irrigation.

rape, and numerous other seeds, which, treated with
boiling water give mucilaginous solutions.

All the vegetable gums possess the same chemical
constituents of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, in nearly
the same proportions as woody fiber and starch.

SUGARS.

All sugars may be classified according to four prom-
inent varieties: Cane, grape, manna and glucose.

First—Cane sugar is so called from the sweet sub-
stance obtained from sugar cane. It is also found in
many trees, plants and roots. The juice of the maple
tree may be boiled down into sugar, and in the Cau-
casus the juice of the walnut tree is extracted for the
same purpose.

It is also present in the juice of the beet, turnip
and carrot. Sugar beet cultivation is assuming enor-
mous proportions in the United States, as well as in
Europe. Carrot juice is boiled down into a tasteless
jelly and when flavored with any fruit flavors passes
for genuine fruit jelly.

It is further present in the unripe grains of corn,
at the base of the flowers of many grasses and in
clovers when in blossom.

Bure cane sugar, free from water, consists of the
following elements, estimated in percentages:

Carbon, 44.92; oxygen, 48.97; hydrogen, 6.11;
almost identical with starch.

Second—Grape sugar. This sugar is so called
from a peculiar species of sugar existing in’ the dried
grape or raisin, which has the appearance of small,
round, or grape shaped grains. It gives sweetness to
the gooseberry, currant, apple, pear, plum, apricot, and
most other fruits. It is also the sweet substance of
the chestnut, of the brewer’s wort, and of all fermented
liquors, and it is the sugar of honey when the latter
thickens and granulates, or “sugars.”

It is less soluble in water than cane sugar, and less

Plant Foods—Cereals—Forage Plants, Etec. 85

sweet, two parts of cane sugar imparting as much
sweetness as five parts of grape sugar, at which ratio
forty pounds of cane sugar would equal 100 pounds
of grape sugar. Its chemical constituents are, in per-
centages: Carbon, 40.47; oxygen, 52.94; hydrogen,
6.59. Likewise nearly the same as starch.

As a test to distinguish cane sugar from grape
sugar: Heat a solution of both and put in each a
little caustic potash. The cane sugar will be unchanged,
while the grape sugar will be blanckened and precipi-
tated to the bottom of the vessel.

MANNA SUGAR, ETC.

Manna sugar occurs less abundantly in the juices
of certain plants than cane or grape sugar. It exudes
from a species of ash trée which grows in Sicily, Italy,
Syria and Arabia. It is the product and main portion
of an edible lichen, or moss, very common in Asia
- Minor. This curious lichen is found in small, round,
dark colored masses, from the size of a pea to that
of a hazel nut or filbert, and is speckled with small
white spots. The wind carries it everywhere, and it
takes reot wherever it happens to fall. It can only
be gathered early in the morning as it soon decomposes,
or corrupts. The natives gather it from the ground
in large quantities and make it into bread. This is
said to be what constituted the “rain of manna” which
fed the Israelites during their wanderings in the des-
ert, and it derives its name from that circumstance.

Manna sugar is found in the juice of the larch
tree and in the common garden celery. In the mush-
room a colorless variety is found. To add two other
varieties of sugar, the black sugar of liquorice root
and sugar of milk may be mentioned.

GLUCOSE.
The name of this sugar means “sweet,” a sweet

86 The Primer of Irrigation.

principle, or element. It occurs in nature very abun-
dantly, as in ripe grapes, and in honey, and it is manu-
factured in large quantities from starch by the action
of heat and acids. It is only about one-half as sweet
as cane sugar. It is sometimes called “dextrose,”
“orape sugar,” and “starch sugar.” What is known
to the trade as “glucose,” is the uncrystallizable resi-
due in the manufacture of glucose proper, and it con-
tains some dextrose, maltose, dextrine, etc. Its pro-
fusion and ease of manufacture makes it a cheap adul-
teration for syrups, in beers, and in all forms of cheap
candies. The test for it is the same as that given to
distinguish between cane and grape sugar.

All the elements in the foregoing sugars are simi-
lar in their chemical constitution, and what is still
more remarkable about them, is the fact that they
may be transformed one into the other, that is: Woody
fiber may be changed into starch by heat, sulphuric
acid, or caustic potash; the starch thus produced may
be further transformed, first, into gum, and then into
grape sugar by the prolonged action of dilute sulphuric
acid and moderate heat. When cane sugar is digested
(heated) with dilute sulphuric acid, tartaric acid (acid
of grapes), and other vegetable acids, it is rapidly con-
verted into grape sugar. When sugar occurs in the
juice of any plant or fruit, in connection with an acid,
it is always grape sugar, because cane sugar can not
exist in combination with an acid, but is gradually
transformed into grape sugar. This is the reason why
fruits ferment so readily, and why, even when pre-
served with cane sugar, the latter is slowly changed into
grape sugar and then fermentation ensues, and the
preserved fruit “spoils.”

GLUTEN, VEGETABLE ALBUMEN AND DIASTASE.

These substances are the nitrogenous elements in
plants.

Plant Foods—Cereals—Forage Plants, Ete. 87

Gluten is a soft, tenacious and elastic substance,
which can be drawn out into long strings. It has
little color, taste, or smell, and is-scarcely diminished
in bulk by washing either in hot or cold water. It
is a product of grain flour, left after washing dough
in a fine sieve, and allowing the milky, soluble sub-
stance to pass off. The percentage of gluten in various
grains is as follows:

Wy rene AEP ES Sis ele 8 to 35 per centum.
Beye) 88 APRS AR ee 9 to 13 per centum.
1 SC eater ee mete 3 to 6 per centum.
Le eA med OE a 2to 5 per centum.

Dried in the air it diminishes in bulk, and hardens
into a brittle, transparent yellow substances resembling
corn, or glue. It is insoluble in water, but dissolves
readily in vinegar, alcohol, and in solutions of caustic
potash, or common soda.

Vegetable albumen, is practically the same as the
white of eggs. It has neither color, taste, nor smell,
is insoluble in water or alcohol, but dissolves in vine-
gar, and in caustic potash, and soda. When dry it is
brittle and opaque. It is found in the seeds of plants
in small quantities, and in grain in the following

percentages :
NE hive ae vaileleia i ew cre aan -%5 to 1.50
Sey Oee Sees iit rahe ose PRR Ce 2.0 to 3.75
Arie id Sis a ee eee oes oe 10 to .50
PIGS coed hs SS. 2S .20 to .50

It occurs largely, moreover, in the fresh juices of
plants, in cabbage leaves, turnips and numerous others.
When these juices are heated, the albumen coagulates
and is readily separated.

Gluten and vegetable albumen are as closely re-
lated to each other as sugar and starch. They con-
sist of the same elements united together in the same
proportions, and are capable of similar mutual trans-
formations. The following table will show the per-

88 The Primer of Irrigation.

centages in which the reader will notice that nitrogen
is an element which does not exist in starch or sugar:

REMI bic! cisjin ict <b Beeb beeline te 54.76
WMYREN (0... sei sit severe wRleG He eR eaT 20.06
A Vd eR oi ies Kha dicie tiehle otincin + ep 7.06
Miiragen. iiss. soles Seiwa shee ae 18.12

When exposed to the air in a moist state both
these substances decompose and emit a very disagree-
ble odor, giving off, among other compounds, ammonia
and vinegar. Both of them exercise an important
influence over the nourishing properties of the different
kinds of foods, as we shall see in a subsequent chapter.

DIASTASE.

This substance may be manufactured from newly
malted barley, or from any grain or tuber when ger-
minated. It is not found in the seed, but is manu-
factured during the process of germination by the seed
itself, or its decomposition, and it remains with the
seed until the first true leaves of the plant have ex-
panded, and then it disappears. Its functions, there-
fore, are to aid in the sprouting of the seed, and that
accomplished, and there being no further use for it,
it disappears. The reason for this is as follows:

Diastase possesses the power of converting starch
into grape sugar. First, it forms out of starch a gummy
substance known as dextrine, in common use as ad-
hesive paste, and then conyerts it into grape sugar.
Now, the starch in the seed is the food of the future
germ, prepared and ready to minister to its wants when-
ever heat and moisture come together to awaken it into
life. But starch is insoluble in water and could not,
therefore, accompany the fluid sap when it begins to cir-
culate. For which reason, nature forms diastase at the
point when the germ first issues, or sprouts from its bed
of food. There it transforms the starch into soluble
sugar, so that the young vessels can take it up and carry
it to the point of growth. When the little plant is able

ee a

Plant Foods—Cereals—Forage Plants, Ete. 89

to provide for itself, and select its own food out of the
soil and air, it becomes independent of the diastase and
the latter is no longer wanted. Weaning a child will
give the reader the idea.

VEGETABLE ACIDS.

There is another class of compound substances
which play an important part in the development of
plant foods and the perfection of growth. They are
known as the vegetable acids, and it is due to them that
plants possess a taste and flavor, every plant having its
own peculiar acid. They are usually classified into five
species and enter into combination with all of the sub-
stances heretofore referred to. They are:

Acetic acid (vinegar), tartaric acid (acid of wine),
citric acid (acid of lemons), malic acid (acid of ap-
ples), and oxalic acid (acid of sorrel). Acetic acid is
the most extensively diffused and the most largely pro-
duced of all the organic acids. It is formed wherever
there is a natural or artificial fermentation of vegetable
substances. It easily dissolves lime, magnesia, alumina,
and other mineral substances, forming salts known as
“acetates,” which are all soluble in water, and may,
therefore, be absorbed by the root pores of plants. It is
an acid common in everything, and may be manufac-
tured from wood, alcohol, cane sugar and from the juice
of apples, or by any vegetable fermentation, the process
of fermentation throwing off carbonic acid and forming
vinegar.

Tartaric acid finds lodgment in a variety of plants.
The grape and the tamarind owe their sourness to it,
and it exists also in the mulberry, berries of the sumach,
in the sorrels, and in the roots of the dandelion. It is
deposited on the sides of wine vats, and when purified
and compounded with potash, it becomes the familiar
“cream of tartar,” which is known to every housewife.
In the grape it is converted into sugar during the ripen-
ing of the fruit.

90 The Primer of Irrigation.

Citric acid gives sourness to the lemon, lime, orange,
grape fruit, shaddock and other members of the citrus
family. It is the acid in the cranberry, and in numerous
small fruits such as the huckleberry, wild cherry, cur-
rant, gooseberry, strawberry, and the fruit of the haw-
thorn. In combination with lime, it exists in the
tubers, and with potash, it is found in the Jerusalem
artichoke.

Malic acid is the chief acid in apples, peaches,
plums, pears, elderberries, the fruit of the mountain
ash. It is combined with citric acid in the small fruits
above mentioned, and in the grape and American agave
it is associated with tartaric acid. It has exactly the
same chemical constitution as citric acid, and the two
bear the same relation to each other as starch, gum and
sugar. They undergo numerous transformations in the
interior of plants, and are the cause of the various
flavors possessed by fruits and vegetables.

Oxalic acid has poisonous qualities, but an agree-
able taste. It occurs in combination with potash in the
sorrels, in garden rhubarb, and in the juices of many
lichens, or mosses. Those mosses which cover the sides
of rocks and the trunks of trees sometimes contain half
their weight of this acid in combination with lime.

This chapter is, of course, one step farther in ad-
vance of the one immediately preceding, and the facts
stated are intended to lead on up to a complete, prac-
tical knowledge of the forces of nature operating in
the soil and within the plant to attain perfection. Noth-
ing but the bare essentials, the mere outlines, have been
given so far; to attempt to enter into all the details
would be to write an entire volume, the reading of which
might prove tiresome and unproductive of anything
practical. All that it is desired to do in these prelim-
inary chapters is to furnish the reader with sufficient
elementary knowledge to enable him to go farther on
his own account and to infer what the soil needs for the

Plant Foods—Cereals—Forage Plants, Etc. 81

cultivation of plants; how that, soil is to be cultivated,
and how the element of water is to be applied to it in
order to increase its productiveness and his profit.
This is the true preliminary to irrigation, as we imag-
ine, for it would convey no information to suggest the
pouring of water on the soil, and drenching plants and
crops with it, unless the intelligence is prepared to
understand why that should be done, and all the details
and consequences laid before the reason and common
sense.

So far, the reader ought to have a comparatively
clear idea of the chemical constitutions of the substances
which enter into the soil, and from the soil into the
plants, but there still remains the question: How do
the substances necessary to plant life get into the con-
dition of plant food? This question will be answered in
the next chapter.

CHAPTER VIII. .
HOW PLANT FOOD IS TRANSFORMED INTO PLANTS.

The growth of plants from the seed to the harvest,
or fall of the leaf, may be divided into four periods,
during each of which they live on different foods and
expend their energies in the production of different
substances.

This is important to be well understood, for plants
can not be dieted like animals, they need certain provi-
sions at certain periods of their growth, and if not
supplied with them the result is failure, or a sparse
crop. A:farmer feeds his chickens egg-producing food,
his cows milk-generating fodder and mash, and his
cattle fat-making provender. He might as well deprive
his animals of their necessary stimulating food and
expect them to go on laying eggs, furnishing milk and
growing fat, as to expect his crops to succeed without
providing them with the requisite material to arrive at
perfection. But, to proceed.

These four periods in the life of plants are:

.° First—The period of germination, that is, from
the sprouting of the seed to the formation of the first
perfect leaf and root.

Second—From the unfolding of the first true
leaves to the flower.

Third—From the flower to the ripening of the
fruit or seed.

Fourth—From the ripening of the fruit, or seed,
to the fall of the leaf and the return of the following
spring.

Of course, in anuual plants, when the seed or fruit
is ripe or harvested, there are no more duties or func-
tions to perform, hence the plants die, having accom-
plished the object of their existence. But in the case
of perennial plants, there are important things to be

92

How Plant Food is Transformed Into Plants. 93

done in order to prepare them for the new growth of
the ensuing spring.
PERIOD OF GERMINATION.

1. To sprout at all, a seed must be placed in a
sufficiently moist situation. No circulation can take
place, no motion among the particles of the matter
composing the seed, until it has been amply supplied
with water. Indeed, food can not be conveyed eae
its growing organs unless a constant supply of fluid be
furnished the infant plant and its first tender rootlets.
This does not mean drenching the immature plant with
water, but supplying it with moisture. A child needs
feeding just as much as an adult, but not to the same
extent, and over-feeding kills the young plant as quickly
as the young animal. The reason is plain, if the reader
remembers what was said in the last chapter, in which
it was specified that water is a chemical compound of
oxygen and hydrogen. In this state it is too strong a
food for the young plant, and “drowns” it out, as the
saying is. But in a state of moisture, the chemical
nature of the water is altered somewhat and becomes
available to the juices in the seed, whereby the germ
is enabled to grow and fulfill its mission without meet-
ing with a premature death. It is water that is the
parent of moisture and without water, of course, there
can be no moisture. Nevertheless, throughout this en-
tire book, it is moisture that will be insisted upon;
when plants have that, the whole object of irrigation
will be accomplished, unless it be the intention to grow
aquatic plants.

Now, this moisture must be constant during the
entire life of the plant, not liberal one day with the
next day dry, and so on, alternately, as some say may
happen in the case of pork for the purpose of making
alternate layers of fat and Tean in the bacon, but not in
the case of vegetation.

2. A certain degree of warmth is necessary to

94 The Primer of Irrigation,

germination. This warmth varies with the seed, some
seeds, those containing much starch, for instance, re-
quiring more, and slow germinating seeds less. What is
needed is not too early a planting and protection against
any inclemency of the weather from frost or cold rains,
and not too late a planting in locations where there are
no winter or spring frosts, to avoid too great a heat
from the sun, which is as dangerous to tender plants
as frost. “Warmth” is a sufficiently descriptive word
to make the meaning clear.

3. Seeds refuse to germinate if entirely excluded
from the air, even where there is plenty of moisture.
Hence, in a damp soil, seeds will not show any signs
of life for a long time, and yet when turned up near
the surface within reach of the air, they speedily sprout.
The starch in the grain intended to feed the germ will
not dissolve in water, so it happens that the farmer,
sometimes, in ditching or digging a well, throws up
earth that has lain many feet below the surface for
years, perhaps ages, the length of time makes no differ-
ence, from which sprout plants of unknown varieties.
They have never lost their vitality. The “oat hills” in
the southern part of California are familiar examples.
Year after year a good crop of oats springs up without
planting, cultivating the surface being sufficient to
bring the buried grain within reach of the air. It is
said that the old Padres originally sowed this grain
broadcast wherever they went, taking a sack of it on
their horses, and as they traveled along cast handfuls
of it in the most favorable spots. This grain grew to
maturity year after year, going back to the soil unhar-
vested, there being nobody to gather it. The civil and
criminal records of the southern California courts are
full of lawsuits and murders growing out of struggles
to obtain and retain possession of these “oat hills.”

A friend for whose accuracy there is abundant evi-
dence, cites a case that happened to him personally in a

How Plant Food is Transformed Into Plants. 95

small valley in the semi-arid region. Wanting water
he began sinking a well and went down one hundred
feet before reaching moist ground. That ground was
a soft black loam, and desiring to keep it for a top
dressing, he laid it aside for future use. Not long
afterward seeds began sprouting all over it and, helping
the sprouts with a little water to keep the soil moist,
he raised a thick crop of fine sweet clover. The seeds
had never been planted by the hand of man, for the
formation of the soil indicated that it might have been
in the same condition since the Deluge.

4. Generally speaking, light is injurious to ger-
mination, wherefore, the seeds must be covered with
soil, and yet not so deep as to be beyond the reach of
air. Sowing grain broadcast leaves much of it exposed
to the light, and even after harrowing, it does not ger-
minate, being food for birds and drying up or burning
up in the sun. In light, porous soils, it is common,
however, to sow broadcast and then plow under, after-
ward harrowing lightly. It is also common in the arid
and semi-arid regions to plow the grain in “dry” in
the summer or dry months, and when the rains come in
the autumn, or say, in November and December, the
grain sprouts in a few days.

The reason why light is prejudicial to germination
and why atmospheric air is necessary is because during
germination seeds absorb oxygen gas and give off car-
bonic acid, and they can not sprout unless oxygen gas
is within their reach, the only place where they can
obtain it being from the atmosphere. In the sunshine
the leaves of plants give off oxygen gas and absorb
carbonic acid, while in the dark the reverse takes place.
Hence, if seeds are exposed to the sunlight, they give
up oxygen which they need and absorb carbonie acid,
which kills them.

5. During germination, acetic acid (vinegar) and
diastase are produced, as mentioned in the last pre-

96 The Primer of Irrigation.

ceding chapter, whereby the insoluble starch is con-
verted into sugar, which is soluble and can be absorbed
as food by the youthful plant.

6. The tender young shoot which ascends from
the seed consists of a mass of organs or vessels, which
gradually increase in length, sometimes “unroll” into
the first true leaves. The vessels of this first shoot do
not consist of unmixed woody fiber, that is not formed
until after the first leaves are fully developed. In the
meantime the young root is making its way down into
the soil, seeking a storehouse of nourishment upon
which it can draw when the sugar of the seed shall all
have been consumed.

These phenomena are brought about in the follow-
ing manner: The seed absorbs oxygen and gives off
carbonic acid. This transforms a portion of the starch
into acetic acid, which aids the diastase to transform the
insoluble starch into soluble sugar, or food that can be
taken up into the plant. It also dissolves the lime in
the soil contiguous to it, and returns into the plant,
carrying the lime or other dissolved earthy substances
with it. The seed imbibes moisture from the soil, and
this dissolves the “sugary starch,” so to speak, and it
all goes into the circulation, and. the plant is enabled to
grow and develop its first leaves. It is like a baby fed
on milk.

When the true leaves have expanded, woody fiber
begins to make its appearance, which can be readily
understood by attempting to break the plant stalk, a
thing easily done before the first leaves appear, but not
so easily afterward. The sugar in the sap is now con-
verted into woody fiber, the root drawing up food from
the soil, and the leaf drinking oxygen and carbonic acid
from the atmosphere. The moisture must still be con-
stant, for the root can not absorb food unless the latter
is properly dissolved.

How Plant Food is Transformed Into Plants. 97

FROM THE FIRST LEAVES TO THE FLOWER.

_The plant now enters upon a new stage of exist-
ence, deriving its sustenance from the air and the soil.
The roots descend and the stem shoots up, and while
they consist essentially of the same chemical substances
as before, they are no longer formed at the expense of
the starch in the seed, and the chemical changes of
which they are the result are entirely different.

Here is where the farmer will make a fatal mistake
if he relaxes his vigilance. The whole energy of the
plant is directed toward one single goal, that of pre-
paring for the flower which is the forerunner of the
fruit. What the flower is, that will be the fruit.

The leaf absorbs carbonic acid in the sunshine and
gives off oxygen in equal bulk, and the growth of the
plant is intimately connected with this absorption of
carbonic acid, because it is in the light of the sun that
plants increase in size. Now, by this function of the
leaf, carbon is added to the plant, but it is added in the
presence of the water of the sap and is thus enabled by
uniting with it to form any one of those numerous
compounds which may be represented by carbon and
water, and of which, as was shown in the last chapter,
the solid parts of plants are principally made up. This
period may be called the period of “plant building,”
the plant utilizing every material that will bring it up
to the condition of flowering.

The sap flows upward from the roots, through
which have been received the silica, potash, soda, phos-
phorous, ete., in solution, and reaching the leaves, meets
the carbonic acid flowing in through the myriad of
mouths in the leaves, and then flows along back down-
ward to the roots, depositing, as it descends, the starch,
woody fiber, etc., which have been formed by the action
of the carbonic acid. Thus the sap circulates round and
round like the circulation of blood in the veins of an
animal, except that its heart is not a central organ, but

98 The Primer of Irrigation.

an attraction of affinities among the substances which
enter into plant life, affinities constantly pursuing each
other through the veins or capillaries of the plant, and
forming unions, the products of which add to the
growth of the plant and enable it to accomplish its des-
tiny.

During this ante-flowering period there are pro-
duced in the plant not only woody fiber, but other
compounds which play an important part in a subse-
quent stage of its existence; one of these, the most im-
portant, is oxalic acid, which has already been alluded
to. This acid seems to be formed at this period to aid
in perfecting the future fruits that will follow the
flower. What is curious about these various acids now
formed is that many of the plants are sour in the
morning, tasteless during the middle of the day, and
bitter in the evening. The reason is, during the day
these plants have been accumulating oxygen from the
atmosphere to form acids, but as the day advances this
oxygen is given off, carbonic acid is imbibed and the
acids deco.aposed. Hence the sourness disappears, but
the materials are in the plant ready for use when re-
quired—the acid storehouse is filling against the day
of need.

In the case of wheat, barley and other grains, the
chief energy of the plant, previous to flowering, is ex-
pended in the production of the woody fiber of its stem
or stalk, and growing branches, drawing up from the
soil for that purpose the various ingredients they re-
quire from among the inorganic elements, which unite
with the vegetable acids in the sap and form compounds
which are essential to the perfection of the grain or
seed. In the first stage of its growth the starch of the
seed is transformed into gum, and then sugar; in its
second stage, when the leaves are expanded, the stareh
is transformed into woody fiber.

How Plant Food is Transformed Into Plants. gy

FROM THE FLOWER TO THE RIPENING OF THE FRUIT.

The sap has now become sweet and milky, indi-
cating sugar and starch. These during the third period
are gradually transformed in the sap into starch, a
process exactly the reverse, or contrary of that in the
first and second periods. The opening of the flower
from the swollen bud is the first step taken by the plant
to produce the seed by which its species is to be per-
petuated. At this period a new series of chemical
changes commence in the plant.

1. The flower leaves absorb oxygen and emit car-
bonic acid all the time, both by day and by night.

2. They also emit pure nitrogen gas.

3. The juices of the plant cease to be sweet, even
in the maple, sugar cane, and beet; the sugar becomes
less abundant when the plant has begun to blossom. A
change not difficult to understand when it is considered
that nature is at work preparing to perfect the seed or
fruit, and is not working for commercial interests.
The structure of the plant is now of no consequence,
and ceases to be of any importance. The imbibing of
oxygen, which is the parent of all acids, is intended to
convert the sugar into material for the seed, or fruit,
the wheat or the peach, the strawberry or the squash.

The husk of grain bearing grasses, corn, wheat,
oats, etc., is filled at first with a milky fluid which be-
comes gradually sweeter and more dense, or thicker,
and finally consolidates into a mixture of starch and
gluten, such as may be extracted from the grain as has
already been said.

The fleshy envelopes of many plants, at first, taste-
less, become sour and finally sweet, except in the lime,
lemon and tamarind, in which the acid remains sensible
to the taste when the seed has become perfectly ripe.

Fruits, when green, act upon the air like green
leaves and twigs, that is, they imbibe oxygen and give
off carbonic acid, but as they approach maturity they

L OFC,

100 The Primer of Irrigation.

also absorb or retain oxygen gas. The same absorption
of oxygen takes place when unripe fruits are plucked
and left to ripen in the air, as is common in the case
of tomatoes, oranges, lemons, and bananas. After a
time, however, they begin throwing off carbonic acid
and then they ferment, spoil or rot.

RIPENING OF THE FRUIT.

In the case of pulpy fruits, such as the grape,
lemon, orange, apple, peach, plum, etc., when unripe
and tasteless, they consist of the same substances as the
leaf, a woody fiber filled with tasteless sap, and tinged
with the green coloring matter of the plant. For a
time, the young fruit performs the functions of the leaf,
that is, it absorbs carbonic acid and gives off oxygen,
thus extracting from the atmosphere a portion of the
food by which its growth is promoted and its size is
gradually increased. Remember what has been hereto-
fore said about carbon constituting the bulk of the
plant.

By and by, however, the fruit becomes sour to the
taste, and this sourness rapidly increases, while at the
same time it gives less oxygen than before, the retain-
ing of the oxygen being, as has been said, the cause of
the sourness, the oxygen converting the sugar into tar-
taric acid and water. The grape is an illustration,
though the same thing happens in fruits abounding in
the other vegetable acids.

This formation of acid proceeds for a certain time,
the fruit becoming sourer and sourer. Then the sharp
sourness begins to diminish, sugar is formed, and the
fruit ripens. The acid, however, rarely disappears en-
tirely, even in the sweetest fruits, until they begin to
decay.

During the ripening of the fruit, the woody or
cellular fiber gradually diminishes and is converted into
sugar. This will be noticed in several kinds of fruits,
particularly winter pears, which are uneatable when

How Plant Food is Transformed Into Plants. 101

actually ripened on the tree, but become ripe, long after
plucking, by continuing to absorb oxygen, which con-
verts the woody fiber, or cellular tissue, into sugar,
which is not difficult to understand, as woody fiber is
very similar to sugar in its chemical constitution.

It should be noted that the entire forces of the
plant are concentrated upon the seed, the element, or
agent of reproduction, the pulp of the most delicious
fruit, the kernel of the sweetest nut being nothing but
protective envelopes and food supplies for the germ
when the time and opportunity shall arrive for germi-
nation. So that the object of the plant in making so
many transformations is not fruit, but seed.

FROM THE FALL OF THE LEAF TO THE FOLLOWING
SPRING.

When the seed is fully ripe the functions of annual
plants are ended. There is no longer any necessity for
absorbing and decomposing carbonic acid; the leaves,
therefore, begin to take in only oxygen, with the result
that they are burned up, so to speak, and they become
yellow, or parti-colored; the roots decline to take in
any more food from the soil, and the whole plant pre-
pares for its death and its burial in the soil by becoming
resolved into the organic and inorganic elements from
which it sprang, and of which it was originally com-
pounded.

But of trees and perennial plants, a further labor
is required. The ripened seed having been disposed of,
there are incipient young buds to be provided for, buds
which are to shoot out from the stem and branches on
the ensuing spring. These buds are so many young
plants for which a store of food must be laid away in
the inner bark of the tree, or in the wood of the shrub
itself.

The sap continues to flow rapidly until the leaves
wither and fall, and then the food of the plant is con-

102 The Primer cf Irrigation.

verted partly into woody fiber and partly into starch.
It has been shown how these substances are converted
into food by chemical changes, or transformations, and
these changes do not cease so long as the sap continues
to move. Even in the depth of winter the sap slowly
and secretly stores up starchy matter, in readiness, like
the starch in the seed, to furnish food to the young
buds when they shall awaken in the spring from their
winter sleep. It is the same process as in the case of a
seed planted in the ground.
RAPIDITY OF GROWTH.

It has been shown that from carbonic acid and
water, the plant can extract all the elements of which
its most bulky parts consist, and can build them up in
numerous ways. But the rapidity with which the plant
can perform this building up is almost incredible.

Wheat will shoot up several inches in three days,
barley six inches in that time, and a vine twig will
grow about two feet in three days. Cucumbers have
been known to attain a length of twenty-four inches in
six days, and a bamboo has increased its height nine
feet in less than thirty days.

The rapid growth of vegetation in semi-tropical
arid and semi-arid regions is phenomenal. A young
eucalyptus tree has been known to grow thirty feet in
a single season, and wheat or barley three inches high
three days after planting is not uncommon. Potatoes
(solanum tuberosum) have run up to fifteen pounds in
weight before the plant had time to blossom, in fact, it
never did blossom.

Three-pound onions, eighty-pound watermelons,
and five-hundred-pound squash are not rarities,
and I have been told of a field of corn, of the
white Mexican variety, that grew fourteen feet with
four perfect ears of corn to the stalk with only twelve
inches of rain. As for sweet potatoes, or yams, thirty
pounds weight do not occasion surprise, and beets after

How Plant Food is Transformed Into Plawts. 168

two years’ growth are often as large as nail kegs, all
woody fiber, of course, and unfit for food.

It is true that such examples are mere experiments,
indeed they may be called specimens of “freak” vegeta-
tion, and rarely mean perfection of quality, but they
indicate the ability of the plant to rapidly assimilate
from the soil and air large, even excessive, quantities
of the elements it needs, or fancies, provided they exist
in abundance, and they demonstrate that the farmer has
it within his power to convert this enormous productive
energy into “quality” of product by regulating it
through adequacy of moisture and cultivation without
excess.

In the foregoing chapters nothing but the mere
outlines of the chemistry of agriculture have been
given. Even to do that it was necessary to concentrate
a mass of matter from a multitude of books, lectures,
personal experiences of successful farmers, and from
other sources, to reach simplicity and clearness. The
books are full of never-ending disputes over theories,
doctrines and scientific experiments, relating to plants
and the soil, and it was thought best to eliminate all
those disputes and present the operations of nature with
regard to the soil and plants in as simple a manner
as possible.

There are many things mysterious in nature which
science has not yet been able to explain, and which
practical experience accepts without inquiring into rea-
sons or causes. Why do early potatoes often reach ma-
turity and the vines die down before the latter have a
chance to blossom? What is the answer to the problem
of seedless fruits, such as oranges, lemons, grapes, etc. ?
Why do certain plants revert to originals which have
few traits in common, like the tomato, for instance?
Why do not the seeds of plants always produce the
same variety? We know that the laws of chemistry

104 The Primer of Irrigation.

are practically immutable, though their manifestations
may be irregular. What has been written, it is hoped,
will be of some benefit toward preparing for the prac-

tical part of this book, which will occupy the subsequent
chapters.

CHAPTER IX.
PREPARATION OF SOIL FOR PLANTING.

One great object of cultivating or tilling the soil is
to break up and loosen the earth, in order that the air
may have free access to the dead vegetable matter in it,
as well as to the living roots which spread and descend
to considerable depth beneath its surface.

If it be desirable to have a luxuriant vegetation
upon a given field of land, that is, a good crop, one
must either select such kinds of seed as will grow in it,
or which are fitted to the kind of soil in which they are
planted, or change the nature of the soil so as to adapt
it to the crop it is desirable to raise.

It is not denied that plants will grow in any soil
that contains the general elements essential to their
existence, but when the quantity and quality of the crop
are considered as of importance, it is useless to “guess,”
for only partial satisfaction will result, and often entire
failure, which is usually attributed to the elements
or to the wrath of Providence.

Farming for profit means that the farmer knows
every foot of his land and the nature of the soil; what
it will grow and what it needs. A lack of this knowl-
edge is farming for luck, and is equivalent to gambling
with the eyes shut. There is less labor and twice the
profit in harvesting forty bushels of wheat on an acre
of properly cultivated soil than forty bushels on two
acres roughly tilled. The case is the same with any sort
of crop, and this is so plain that it seems absurd to men-
tion it, yet it is forgotten in numerous cases of farmers,
who go more on quantity of acreage than perfection of
cultivation. and increase of crop. It is not extensive
farming that pays so well as concentrated farming. A
man with one hundred acres well in hand is better off
than another with five hundred acres of struggling crops.
Wholesaling in any business is more expensive and the
returns less than in retailing, and every farmer knows,

105

106 The Primer of Irrigation.

perhaps by bitter experience, that everything about a
farm is attended with expense, if not always in cash
money, then in a draft upon his future strength and
vitality. Irrigation, however, promises to be a cure for
rambling farming, by compelling concentration. Why
spread water over one hundred acres to raise a sparse
crop when the same or much less water will secure a
fine, luxuriant crop on twenty-five acres? When a
single grain of wheat may be made to stool out into sixty
plants, is not that better than when it stools out into
only twenty? The former shows health, vigor, and pro-
ductiveness, the latter mediocrity. The one means a
syndicate, the other a home.

The new beginner, the small farmer, reads accounts
of the great farming schemes, the thousands and thou-
sands of acres which run bank accounts into five and six
figures. He dreams of gang plows, steam plows, com-
bined harvesters and reapers, his fat cattle upon a thou-
sand hills, and he swells himself up like the toad in the
fable to equal the ox, and bursts in his effort. Let the
reader desirous of gaining a competency through farm-
ing, acquire a home before he is worn out in the strug-
gle, before his patient wife sinks beneath the sod in the
effort, and his children grow up into cowboys, rustlers
and desperadoes, imitate nobody, read none of the glow-
ing accounts of successful great farmers without at the
same time understanding that all such began, as a rule,
on enormous capital, took a magnificent ranch through
the early demise of a worn-out ancestor, through a mort-
gage foreclosure of some “imitator,” or raises himself
to grandeur upon the cheap labor of his fellowmen.
Let him take the soil and treat it as the foundation for
a home, for plenty, and the other things will come to
him.

It was said in a former chapter that plants are like
animals, in that to grow to perfection they must be
properly managed and fed. A half-starved hog pro-

Preparation of Sot. 107

duces poor bacon, a chaff-fed horse has little energy, the
wool of a starveling sheep is coarse and wiry, and even
a human being, limited in his diet or restricted in
nourishment, possesses a flabby, shriveled brain and a
weak physical energy. Men say of animals: prune, cul-
tivate, select, feed; of men: prune, cultivate, feed, and
wherefore not say the same of plants and the soil: prune,
cultivate, feed? Herein is the whole science of prepar-
ing the soil for cultivation, the heredity of plants,
their atavism, their environments, the survival of the
fittest, and whatever else may be said of animals and
humanity. But to return to the great vegetable king-
dom.

All of our practical writers agree, and the every-
day farmer knows by his personal experience, that as the
systems of roots, branches and leaves are very different
in different vegetables, so they flourish most in different
soils. The plants which have bulbous roots require a
looser and a lighter soil than such as have fibrous roots,
and the plants possessing only short fibrous radicles de-
mand a firmer soil than such as have tap roots or ex-
treme lateral roots. But it may be considered as a tru-
ism that shallow cultivation of the soil always produces
minimum crops, whereas maximum harvests are gleaned
by deep plowing whatever may be the plant.

It is always a question of the ability of the roots to
reach out after food and their exposure to air. To com-
prehend this fully it should be considered that there is
about as much of the plant under ground as above it,
and the experienced farmer can always tell by the
growth of his crop above ground whether the roots are
doing well under ground, if the growth is not in ac-
cordance with the natural progress of the plant, there is
some obstacle below the surface which can be removed
by cultivation, the loosening up of the soil to a sufficient
depth. How quickly growing corn revives and takes a
new lease upon life after deep cultivation between the

108 The Primer of Irrigation.

rows! Not shallow cultivating, or scratching over the
surface, but ‘deep plowing.’ Level with a shallow culti-
vator afterward, of course, then hoe and see the stalks
shoot up. It is some trouble, certainly, but do you not
depend upon a good crop to make money, and to obtain
a home? It is also a trouble to raise a child, but when
it grows up straight, is not the labor more amply repaid
than when it grows up crooked and stunted?

The character of the cultivation, however, depends
upon the condition of the subsoil. Where that is hard
or packed, it must be broken through, and up, to per-
mit root penetration. Frequently, not to say generally,
there is moisture beneath the hard, packed sub-soil, and
by breaking through the moisture finds its way up and
“slakes” the hard pan or other resistant subsoil. There
is also a difference in cultivation between the soils of
the arid and the humid regions, differences which are
atmospheric and also in the quantity of the organic ele-
ments which will be made apparent as we go along.

# It seems unnecessary to repeat so simple a thing
when it should be as plain as day, that plants possess
an instinct that does not fall far short of the marvelous.
For instahce, in the arid regions the plant sends its
roots down deep and out in every direction after the
moisture whieh it apparently knows it can not get at
the surface or near it, whereas, in the humid regions,
the roots spread out more, because they apparently
know that the moisture is near the surface and they
do not have to toil so hard to make their way down
deep. Anyone practicing surface irrigation will know
that the roots of plants which have a habit of penetrat-
ing deep into the soil, grow along the surface, because
the moisture is there. Plants always adopt the easiest
method of obtaining food.

Now why do plants travel after moisture and not
after dry soil? It is not water plants need, nor is it
moisture, but it is food. They know that there is food

Preparation of Soil. 109

material in the dry soils, but it is not in a fit condition
to be absorbed, whereas, moisture prepares the food for
them, hence they refrain from pursuing the raw ma-
terial and expend their energies in seeking the manu-
factured product. Let a garden patch which has been
kept moist, and in which the roots congregate, be allowed
to dry, and another patch that has been dry and away
from which the roots turn, be moistened, and the plants
will grow away from their former hunting ground and
in the direction of the new one. This is common ob-
servation. A beet root has been known to travel sixteen
feet in the direction of a well where it knew it could
get a drink, although plants, as a rule, are not drinkers
but feeders of the most pronounced Epicurean type.

In the arid and semi-arid regions it is better to
provide for a deep burrowing of the roots, because when
they frequent the surface, they are liable to suffer from
drought, or surface dryness. In this the reader will
find an argument in favor of sub-irrigation.

Upon this instinct of roots to seek their proper food
in moist soil, depends the measurement of soil tillage,
whether deep or shallow, and by “shallow” is not meant
a mere surface scratching, but a good wholesome up-
heaval of the soil from a depth of eight to twelve inches,
thence on up to eighteen if the subsoil be in question.
Where the subsoil is not hard packed, then as deep as
the subsoil; if packed it should be broken up. But
where the subsoil is open and porous there is less need
of deep plowing; on the contrary, it may be necesary to
pack the bottom of the furrow, which is accomplished
by a plow attachment known as a “packer,” so arranged
as to follow the plow and press down the earth at the
bottom of the furrow; a useful contrivance where irri-
gation is practiced, inasmuch as it tends to prevent the
leaching of the irrigation water down into the porous
subsoil, where the water is run into the furrows.

110 The Primer of Irrigation.

It can not be too strongly impressed upon the
reader that the soil must be so cultivated that it will
retain moisture without permitting it to leach beyond
the reach of the roots, and at the same time so broken
up and pulverized that the roots may easily penetrate.
Let this be the axiom constantly in mind: Give the
plant roots room to spread. Upon this depends the
perfection of the plant. “Stunts” are always caused by
too little root room, the plant languishing because
they are unable to reach moisture by reason of obstacles
in the soil. If there is any moisture in the soil the
plant will get it if it be given an opportunity.

Let us assume that we have a parcel of land in
which it is purposed to grow plants without the appli-
cation of manure. It does not matter whether it be
virgin soil or one that has already grown a crop of any
kind; the first thing to be done to this land is to im-
prove the soil, that is, prepare it for vegetation. This
may be done in seven ways:

First—By cultivation, or, more properly speaking,
pulverization of the soil, by plowing and other mechan-
ical means of reducing its consistency.

Second—By mechanical consolidation.

Third—By exposure to the atmosphere; that is,
“fallowing.”

Fourth—By alteration of its constituent parts.

Fifth—By changing its condition in respect to
water.

Sixth—By changing its position in respect to at-
mospheric influences.

Seventh—By a change in the kinds of plants cul-
tivated, or “rotation of crops.”

PLOWING AND PULVERIZING.

All these different methods of preparing the soil
means practically the same thing—the breaking up of
the soil, which must be done constantly if a good crop
in quantity and quality be desirable.

Preparation of Soil. 111

By reason of their chemical elements the tendency
of all soils is to concrete; that is, to run together into
a sort of more or less hard cement, a tendency enhanced
by the growing of crops and the application of water,
or either. Thus, sand without consistency and quick-
lime without coherence, when mixed together with
water, produce a hard cement or plaster, which may be
crushed and pulverized before it can become again man-
ageable. In soil the chemical agencies of nature are
constantly at work to produce the same result; hence
cultivation to break up a tendency which is adverse
to the growth of plants and free root penetration.

The very first object of cultivation is to give scope
to the roots of plants to spread in every direction, for
without abundance of roots no plant can become vigor-
ous, whatever may be thé richness of the soil in which
it is placed. The quantity of food taken from the soil
does not depend alone upon the quantity in the soil,
but on the number of absorbing root fibres. The more
the soil is pulverized the more the fibres are increased,
the more food is obtained, and the more vigorous the
plant becomes. Any house plant growing in an earthen-
ware pot will demonstrate this. The roots grow down
and then, finding an obstruction, begin growing round
and round in search of food, until the entire pot is
filled with root fibres, even forcing out the soil to find
room, and when they have grown to the limit of their
confined space, the plant stops growing and becomes
sickly.

This cultivation or stirring up of the soil for root
expansion is not only essentially precious to planting,
or sowing, but highly beneficial afterward, during the
progress of vegetation ; and when practiced in the spaces
between the plants it also operates as a method of
root-pruning, by which the extended fibres are cut off,
or shortened, thereby causing them to throw out numer-
ous other fibres whereby the mouths or pores of the

112 The Primer of Irrigation.

plants are greatly increased, and their food capacity
enhanced. It is very much like fattening animals for
Hees by encouraging their consumption of fattening
ood.

Cultivation renders capillary attraction more uni-
form, this peculiarity of the soil being greater when the
particles of earth are finely divided. Thus, gravels and
sands scarcely retain water at all, while clays, not opened
by pulverization or other means of breaking them up,
either do not readily absorb water, or when exposed
to long action, they retain too much of it. In the arid
regions deep cultivation is essential to admit moisture
from the atmosphere, as for example, the dews of night.
In irrigated sections deep and thorough cultivation
checks evaporation and reduces the accumulation of
alkali salts to a minimum, besides saving water.

Heat is tempered by deep cultivation, which is a
great desideratum in the arid and semi-arid regions, the
layer of pulverized soil serving the purpose of shade
or mulch, and the evaporation retarded, the moisture
acquires a uniform temperature. This seems to be a
small matter in plant growth, but practical experience
has demonstrated that it is an important part of the
general combination of practices which result in suc-
cessful agriculture.

Whenever the soil is opened, turned over and oth-
erwise prepared for planting, a portion of the atmos-
pheric air is buried in the soil and this air so confined,
is decomposed by the moisture retained in the earthy
matters. Ammonia is formed by the union of the
hydrogen of the water with the nitrogen of the atmos-
phere, and nitre by the union of oxygen and nitrogen.
So also, the oxygen of the air may unite with the car-
bon contained in the soil and from carbonic acid gas.
Heat is given out during all these chemical processes.
As a rule farmers do not pay much attention to these
simple facts, but the plants he is growing do, and they

Preparation of Soil. 118

are more or less benefited as they are permitted to take
advantage of these laws of nature, or prevented.

The depth of cultivation must depend upon the
nature of the soil and the variety of plant grown in it.
The subsoil, also, is not to be disregarded. Rich clayey
soils can hardly be cultivated too deep, and even in
sands, unless the subsoil contains alkali in dangerous
quantities, or other plant poisons, deep cultivation
should be practiced. When the roots are deep they are
less liable to be injured by excessive water or drought;
the radicles are shot forth into every part of the soil,
the space from which nourishment is to be drawn be-
ing extended over a much greater extent than when the
seed is superficially inserted in the soil.

In this respect cultivation should be attended with
a thorough mixture of the soil by turning it over and
over. Plowing, of course, accomplishes this result in
a great measure, but the difference of gravity between
the organic and the inorganic matters in the earth,
has a tendency to separate them, for which reason light
or shallow stirring of the soil is of little or no use
practically, because it leaves the surface of the soil too
light and spongy and the lower part too compact and
earthy. Even where the plant roots are near the sur-
face cultivation with a plow and a complete turning
over of the soil is much better than the mere scratching
of the surface, for there, as has been said, it is equiva-
lent to root pruning.

In a former chapter reference is made to the fact
that plant roots consume all the food in their neigh-
borhood, and this furnishes another obvious reason for
deep cultivation, otherwise the roots of a new crop reach-
ing out for nourishment find an empty cupboard.

Some soils, however, require the opposite of pul-
verization and demand mechanical consolidation. This
will be understood in the case of spongy peats and light,
dusty sands. A proper degree of adhesiveness is best

114 The Primer of Irrigation.

given loose soils by the addition of earthy matters in
which they are deficient, perhaps the bringing up of
a heavier and more consistent subsoil will accomplish
the purpose. Rolling and treading, however, are simple
methods, but in that case the soil must be dry, and
the operation must not be carried too far, or so far
as to concrete the earth, which is its constant tendency,
as has been observed.

A peat bog drained and rolled will sooner become
covered with grass than one equally well drained but
left to itself. Drifting sands, however, may well be
rolled when wet, and by repeating the process after rains
or floodings, they will in time acquire a surface of
grass or herbage. Light soils should always be rolled,
and the seeds should be “tread in” when planted, a
pat with the hoe not being sufficient, as in the case
of heavier soils, unless the seeds be very small.

Exposure to the atmosphere, speaking with refer-
ence to soils, means “lying fallow,” the only benefit of
which, and sometimes it is not a small one, is to ex-
pose insects and their eggs, weeds and their seeds, to
destruction. In climates where there are severe win-
ters and hard frosts, a hard, lumpy soil becomes pulver-
ized by the action of the frost, and soils that have be-
come soured, sodden and baked by the tread of cattle or
other cause in wet weather, are more rapidly sweetened
and restored to friability by exposure to the hot sun of
summer, than by the frosts of winter. Some maintain
that the only benefit of fallow, that is, turning up the
soil roughly to the atmosphere, is to free the soil from
the roots of weeds. There is nothing, indeed, in the
idea that the land “needs a rest,” for if properly culti-
vated, soil will keep on producing as long as there are
any elements capable of feeding plants. The idea origi-
nated in ancient times when lack of help to till the
entire farm, or a deficient supply of manure, compelled
the suspension of cultivation on certain parcels or fields.

Preperation of Sod. 115

It is certain that what is called an “exhausted soil” ob-
tains no renewing material from the atmosphere.

To alter a soil is to add or subtract the ingredients
which are lacking, or which exist in excess. The so-
called “alkali soils” are an illustration of excessive in-
gredients, and any sterile, sandy or gravelly soil may
be regarded as one representing a deficiency of food
producing elements. In case of sterility, the only rem-
edy is to add the ingredients lacking, or convert sterile
material into fertile ones by chemical means. Thus:
where in sterile soil, on washing it, there is found the
salts of iron or acid matters, the application of quick-
lime will ameliorate it, and in a soil of apparently good
texture, but sterile on account of the sulphate of iron,
a top dressing of lime will afford a remedy by converting
the sulphate into a manure.

If there be an excess of calcareous matter in the
soil it may be remedied by the application of sand or
clay. Too much sand is improved by clay, marl, or veg-
etable matter, and light sands are benefited by a dress-
ing of peats, and peats improved by adding sand. The
labor of thus improving the texture or constitution of
the soil is more than repaid by the requirement of less
manure, in fact, accretions in the way of new soil are a
natural manuring and insure the fertility of the soil,
where manure might be doubtful on account of its adding
an excess of organic matter, which is equally as deleteri-
ous to plant growth as too much inorganic matter. An
equal number of tons of sand, clay, marl, or other natural
soil, as of manure, will often tend to greater productive-
ness than from the addition of manure. When there
is an excess or superabundance of soil material, the
problem of its removal is much more difficult and seri-
ous, the reclamation of alkali lands abundantly demon-
strating this. Ordinary sand and gravel may be plowed
under, scraped from the surface, or partly washed off
by flooding, particularly where the lay of the land

116 The Primer of Irrigation.

is sloping. In the case of alkali, as has already been
said, drainage, or exhaustion of the soil by the culti-
vation of gross feeding plants seems to be the reason-
able remedy ; at all events it proves effectual.

Burning over the soil was an ancient method, one
used by the Romans to alter the constituents of the
soil, the object being to render the soil less compact,
less tenacious, and less retentive of moisture by destroy-
ing the elements that tend toward holding it in a con-
crete consistency.

It is practiced in the United States for the same
purpose, but in the vast areas of the boundless West,
where a man is not limited to a small acreage of the
soil, it is not regarded as worth the labor, although it
might in many instances be beneficial. The soils im-
proved by burning are all such as contain too much dead
vegetable fiber, by the burning of which they lose
from one-third to one-half of their weight. So stiff
clays, adobes, hardpans, and marls are improved by
burning. But in the case of coarse sands, or where
the elements of the soil are properly balanced, burning
is detrimental, and the same is the case in silicious sandy
soils after they have once been brought into cultivation.

As to changing the condition of lands in respect
to water, the subject belongs to irrigation, but it may
be said here in passing, the land should be cultivated,
having in mind the flowing of water, whether from
irrigation or rain, so as to avoid the accumulation of
stagnant water, which is injurious to all classes of use-
ful plants. When the surface soil is properly consti-
tuted and rests on a subsoil moderately porous, both
will hold water by capillary attraction, and what is not
so retained will sink into the substrata by its gravity ;
but when the subsoil is retentive, it will resist the per-
colation of water to the strata below and thus accumu-
late in the surface soil, and, making the latter “soggy,”
will cause disease to the plants. Hence the origin of

Preparation of Soil. 117

surface draining, that is, laying land in ridges or beds,
or intersecting it with small, open gutters, a very good
practice where irrigating water is used, for into them
the water may be turned and then plowed over, left
to come up to the surface where the plant roots can
reach it. ‘The alteration of land by water will be treat-
ed in detail in its proper place under the head of “Irri-
gation.”

We have already referred to the effect of the sun’s
rays on land, and add here that in cultivating, there
is one advantage in ridging lands and making the ridges
run north and south, for on such surfaces the rays
of the morning sun will take effect sooner on the east
side, and those of the afternoon on the west side, while
at mid-day the sun’s elevation will compensate for the
obliquity of its rays to both sides of the ridge. In
gardening there is much advantage in observing this
method of cultivation, for the reason that much earlier
crops may be produced than on a level ground. Thus,
sloping beds for winter crops may be made southeast
and northwest, with their slope to the south, at an
angle of forty degrees, and as steep on the north side as
the mass of earth can be got to stand. On the south
slope of such ground of course the crops will be earlier
than on level ground. There is little advantage of
this sloping, however, unless perfection of garden prod-
uce is desirable, although the advantage of sloping is
a diminution of evaporation and also a ready natural
drainage.

Although rotation of crops will be treated in a
special chapter, the subject has a bearing upon cultiva-
tion, or treatment of the soil, since the necessity for a
rotation of crops seems to grow out of a diminution of
certain plant foods desirable to certain plants, and
there are many species of plants which require particu-
lar substances to bring their seeds or fruits to perfec-
tion. It may be that these particular substances are

148 The Primer of Irrigation.

in the soil but beyond the reach of the plant. In that
case it is clear that a thorough mixing of the elements
of the soil will bring the appropriate food within reach
of the plant, or, if that can not be done, then the plant-
ing of some other crop, and permitting it to return
back into the soil, will afford the required food for the
desired plant. In this place, cultivation and thorough
mixing is advised. In the proper chapter the whole sub-
ject will be treated in detail.

The following are some of the root and soil pecu-
liarities of well known plants:

Wheat—Has feeble roots at surface, but strong tap
roots penetrating deep into the soil. Stiff soil.

Oats—Next to wheat, will stand stiff soil, but the
plant throws out in the superficial layer of soil a num-
ber of fine feeders in lateral directions, and hence the
top soil should be light and open.

Barley—It throws out a network of fine, short root
fibers of no great depth and requires a light, open loam.

Peas—Require a loose soil, with little cohesion, and
spread soft root fibers deep.

Beans—Ramify strong, woody roots in all direc-
tions, even in a heavy and compact soil.

Clover—Grass seeds and small seeds generally put
forth at first feeble roots of small extent, and require so
much the greater care in preparing the soil to insure
their healthy growth. The pressure of a layer of earth
a half to one inch thick suffices to prevent germination.
Such seeds require only just as much earth to cover
them as will retain the needful moisture for germina-
tion.

Turnips, potatoes, ete—The nature of these fleshy
and tuberous roots clearly point out the part of the soil
from which they draw their chief supply of food. Po-
tatoes are found in the topmost layers of soil, whereas
the roots of beets, turnips, parsnips, etc., send their
ramifications deep into the subsoil, and” will succeed

Preparation of Soil. 119

best in a loose soil of great depth. Still they grow well
in heavy and compact soil properly prepared for their
reception.

As to the length of roots it has been found that
alfalfa will grow roots thirty feet, flax five feet, clover
above six feet, etc., and beets have been known to send
out a long, tapering root sixteen feet along the surface,
an instance of which has been already noted.

It is on the root that the farmer should bestow his
whole care. Over that which grows from it he has
no control, except perhaps in the way of pruning or bud
“pinching,” as in the case of tobacco, melons, fruits,
etc.

CHAPTER X.
LAYING OUT OF THE LAND—METHOD OF PLANTING.

Generally speaking every farmer has his land under
his eye and knows what to do with particular portions
of the ground. He will plant wheat in this field,
barley over yonder, further along he expects to have
a patch of rye.

In the case of vegetables he follows the same prac-
tice and plants his cabbages, his beets, turnips, etc.,
wherever the fancy moves him. It is a haphazard
manner of farming, and to it may be attributed fail-
ures which have been ascribed to the elements. From
what has been heretofore said it must be apparent that
there is something in soil and in the manner of plant-
ing which it would be well to heed ; indeed, which must
be heeded if success be desired and a crop assured.
True, plants will grow if the seed be thrust in the
ground; that is, after a fashion; and so will an ani-
mal grow if kept alive after a fashion, but the pro-
duce in both cases will be scrub.

The time is coming, if it has not already arrived,
when farmers will be able to produce as much from
half an acre of ground as from an acre, and better
crops. Too much land is as great a bar to success as
too little, for in the former case there is too much
trusting to luck, whereas in utilizing nature for the
purpose of wresting products from the bosom of the
earth there is not the smallest element of luck; it is
all pure science, knowledge, ability, ete. A man with
the trifling commercial business keeps an account of
stock, his books show just what he has on hand, his
sales and purchases. His inventory shows where his
varieties of goods are located on his shelves. But when it
comes to a farm, which is never a small business, no
books are kept, no account of stock taken, and the

120

Laying Owt of the Land—Method of Plowimg. 124

location of his crops are retained in his mind’s eye.
More than that, quality is little regarded, the varieties
of "soil are not considered, and plants requiring one
kind of soil are fed on a kind they do not flourish
in. This is the common rule.

Take any tract of land, large or small, and when
the crop is growing there will always be spots where
the plants are thin, sparse and sickly. Failure of proper
cultivation? Not at all; nothing but failure to prop-
erly lay out the land so as to know what it is suitable
for. The pollen of a sickly plant spreads as far as
that of a good healthy one, and poor results are attrib-
uted to poor seed, etc., when a little care and fore-
thought might have made the crop uniform and the
results satisfactory. .

This is preparatory to the subject of laying out
the land, for upon doing that properly depends the
success it is always desirable to attain in every species
of farming for profit. If profit be not the desideratum,
then why go to the trouble and labor of farming?

The proper laying out of the land is always of
great importance, and where irrigation is practiced it
is of the highest importance. Water runs down hill
and it also soaks into the soil seeking the water table,
and this water table is always receiving additions
through the constant or periodical application of irri-
gation water, and rises to do damage.

Hence, drainage is to be considered as well as the
slope of the land. The first thing to be done is to pre-
pare an outline of the land, its boundaries. If a square
tract the matter will be easy, for any sized square may
be laid down upon paper and then measured off into
acres or parts of acres to suit the convenience, A map
of one’s land is a necessity nowadays, and it is not dif-
ficult to prepare one. It is the farmer’s diagram of
the location of his stock, equivalent to the shelves in a

122 The Primer of Irrigation.

store of merchandise. It tells him the location of his
crops, the nature of the soil, his ditches and all their
ramifications, and if anything goes wrong he can im-
mediately put his finger on the point of trouble and
go at once to correct it.

To prepare a map of the land measurements must
be taken, and these measurements are expressed in tables
universally adopted and can therefore always be relied
upon as uniform. To begin with, an acre of land,
whatever its shape, contains exactly 43,560 square feet,
and after an outline has been traced upon paper, lines
may be drawn from side to side and these lines crossed
by other lines drawn from top to bottom. The map
will then be covered with little squares which may be
any part of an inch in size, but representing a given
quantity of land; say one inch square on the paper
represents an acre of ground; then if you have a farm
of 100 acres your map will be ten inches square, if the
land is a square, but whatever the shape of the land it
will contain exactly 100 square inches. Not a very
large map, but very convenient, for on it may be ex-
pressed the exact location of crops, even to a small cab-
bage patch, ditches, farm buildings, orchards, vines,
etc., etc. Of course any scale to the acre may be se-
lected instead of one inch. If the farm is large then
make the scale one-half inch to the acre or even less, or
if small make the scale two inches or more, to allow
of the least details.

If it is desirable to make an accurate estimate of
the amount of land in different fields under cultiva-
tion, the following table will be of assistance:

10x 16 rods equals 1A. 70x 69.5 yards equals 1A.
8x 20 rods equals 1A. 220x198 feet equals 1A.
5x 32 rods equals 1A. 440x 99 feet equals 1A.
4x 40 rods equals 1A. 110x369 feet equals 1A.

5x968 yards equals 1A. 60x726 feet equals 1A.
10x484 yards equals 1A. 120x363 feet equals 1A.

age

es.
’
é

= QSL apvye

SHOWING METHOD OF MAKING Map oF LAND—Page 122.

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Laying Out of the Land—Method of Planting. 128

20x242 yards equals 1A. 240x181.5 feet equals 1A.
40x121 yards equals 1A. 200x108.9 feet equals 1A.
80x 60.5 yards equals 1A. 100x145.2 feet equals 1A.

100x108.9 feet equals 4 A.

25x100 feet equals .0574 A.

25x110 feet equals .0631 A.

25x120 feet equals .0688 A.

25x125 feet equals .0717 A.

25x150 feet equals.109 A.
2178 ~—sq. feet squals .05
4356 sq. feet equals .10
6534 sq. feet equals .15
8712 sq. feet equals .20
10890 = sq. feet equals .25
13068 sq. feet equals .30
15246 — sq. feet equals .35
17424 = sq. feet equals .40
19603 sq. feet equals .45
21780 _—sq.. feet equals .50
32670 _—sq. feet equals .75
34848 sq. feet equals .80
In measuring land there are three distinct opera-
tions to be performed: ‘Taking the dimensions of the
tract; delineating or laying down the same on a map,
and calculating the area or superficial contents. All
the tables applicable to land measurements will be
found in the Appendix, to which the reader is referred.
For ordinary purposes a knotted cord or tape-line
may be used. In measuring a simple figure, as a
square field, nothing is necessary but to measure the
length and the breadth, which, multiplied together, will
give the superficial area. Where fields are irregular
shaped, it is necessary to adopt some standard guiding
form, and from that measure the different angles, so
as to be able, from the dimensions taken, either -to
calculate the contents at once, or to lay down the form
of the field on paper according to the scale adopted,
and from that ascertain its dimensions and calculate

its contents.

The simplest and most accurate mode of ascertain-
ing the contents of all irregular figures is to throw

res toll ot a aslo a

124 The Primer of Irrigation.

them into triangles, and this method is usually employed
whether a small piece of irregular shaped land is to be
measured or a vast extent of territory. To find the
contents of a triangle all that is necessary is to mul-
tiply half the perpendicular by the base. And this re-
gardless of the shape of the triangle. In measuring
land in this manner, and by a little calculation, every
foot of land can easily be represented on paper.
TAKING THE LEVEL.

After the land is accurately measured, or measured
satisfactorily to its owner, taking the level of its sur-
face is the next thing in order, and in this there can
not be too much care taken, particularly where irri-
gation is practiced. Upon it depends the proper flow
of water in ditches, the flooding of land and adequate
drainage.

To explain it will be necessary to be a little ab-
struse, but the idea will be readily grasped by think-
ing. The earth is a sphere, that is, “round,” and all
places on its surface, whether a ten-acre tract or one
of ten thousand, are said to be “level” when they are
equally distant from the center of the earth, and “out
of level” when their distances from that center are not
equal.

Now, because the earth is a sphere, or round, every
level line drawn upon its surface from one point to
another, must be a curve and part of the earth’s circum-
ference, assuming it to be perfectly smooth, or at
least parallel with it.

The common methods of leveling are sufficient for
irrigation on an ordinary tract of land, but for long
canals and ditches miles in extent, the leveling must
be in accordance with the curved level line to corre-
spond with the surface of the earth equi-distant from
its surface. The usual instrument for leveling is the
road or mason’s level with telescope and compass, the
latter to get the bearings. For ditching purposes a

Laying Out of the Land—Method of Planting, . 125

“plumb-bob” level, a two-legged contrivance open like
the letter A with a line fastened at the top and ter-
minating in a pear, or “top” shaped piece of lead. In
the exact center of the bar across the A is marked a
notch, and when the point of the “bob” is at that
center notch, the line is level. Illustrations of this
and other contrivances for leveling land will be found
elsewhere, and referred to in the Synoptical index so
as to be easily found.

To continue the level line a series of poles are
necessary. T'hese are so placed that the one nearest
the eye conceals all the rest. To allow for inequalities
of surface, a notch is cut in the starting pole, or at
the point where the level line begins, and that point
must be level with it all along the line. A small spirit
level held to each pole, and the eye will demonstrate
the exact Jevel line for all practical purposes. This
method is sufficient for small areas, to lay the level
of a ditch, or its laterals, but in large tracts, of course,
a surveyor should be called in. Every farmer with a
hundred acres to level can easily do the whole survey-
ing himself by following this apparently crude method,
and be as accurate in his leveling as a professional sur-
veyor.

Where there are curved lines to be drawn on irreg-
ular surfaces, a hill or a knoll, for instance, being in
the way of a straight line, the mariner’s compass may
be brought into use to ascertain bearings, and a series
of straight lines drawn which will make skeletons for
the curves. In fact, it is no trick at all to draw a
level line around a hill, or curve a ditch in the shape
of a letter S or Z, by this simple method. All these
measurements should be traced on the map, for even
if not used immediately they will prove useful when
necessary to ditch, or irrigate.

126 The Primer of Irrigation.

The following table showing various grades per
mile will be useful as a basis of calculation in drawing
the level lines for ditches or general irrigation purposes:

1footin 15 is 352 feet per mile
1 footin 20 is 264 feet per mile
1 footin 25 is 211 feet per mile -
1 footin 30 is 176 feet per mile
1footin 35 is 151 feet per mile
1 footin 40 is 132 feet per mile
1 foot in 50 is 106 feet per mile
1footin100is 53 feet per mile
1 footin125is 42 feet per mile

Any desired grade or “flow” can be calculated by
remembering that there are 5,280 feet in a mile. By
dividing 5,280 feet by the number of feet in length of
the ditch, the grade or “fall” will be the result, esti-
mating one foot as the desired fall or flow of the water
in the ditch, and the desired fall or flow may be regu-
lated when drawing the level line by notching the
poles used in leveling.

ELEMENTARY INFORMATION.

To make this land leveling business clear to the
mind of the elementary reader, let it be supposed that
he desires to run a ditch from one point to another. He
has the letter A-shaped plumb-bob leveler, half a dozen
poles ten feet or so in length, and a carpenter’s spirit
level. With these he is prepared to run practically
level lines all over a hundred-acre tract of land.

At the starting point ascertain the “plumb” point,
that is, the spot over which hangs the lead bob exactly
in the middle of the cross-bar of the A, then plant
a pole, and at the height of the eye, say five feet, cut
a plainly visible notch, or make any kind of a mark
that can be seen from a distance. This is the standard
of the entire ditch.

Next, take another pole, your A level, and _ the
spirit level, and walk along the proposed line of ditch
any convenient distance to a point. Four rods or so
are not too far, less if there are obstructions to level

Laying Out of the Land—Method of Planting. 187

around. Lay the A level over the selected point and
ascertain the exact level of point two, as it may be
called. Now place the spirit level against the pole
about the height of the eye, and look along its top just
as if “sighting” a gun. Slide it up and down, if nec-
essary, until you find the notch in the first pole, with
the “bubble” in the spirit level exactly in the center,
and make a notch or mark in pole number two where
the top of the spirit level touches it.

A calculation is easily made, for the notch on pole
one is five feet from the surface of the ground, and by
measuring the height from the ground of the notch in
pole number two, any variation will mean that another
level point must be selected, or that there must be some
grading or digging.

The second level point having been established,
proceed with the third pole in the same manner, com-
paring it with the second pole, carefully noting the
figures on paper, and so continue until the work is
completed. Laterals may be run in the same manner,
and the entire parcel of land gone over, the results in
figures showing the slope or lay of the land for every
purpose. This leveling, if carefully and completely
done, will show numerous grades, or slopes in the same
parcel or tract of land, and the knowledge of this is
extremely valuable; in fact, necessary for irrigation
purposes, whether ditching or flooding. It is often
a very intricate matter to irrigate every portion of a
given field uniformly, and failure to do so always re-
sults in lack of uniformity in any crop sought to be
grown upon it, there being too much water on some
parts and not enough on others. It will be under-
stood that the waste of water and the loss in crop must
exceed by far the expense of leveling the land in every
direction. The chapter on irrigation will give details
of flowing water on irregular surfaces, and reference

128 The Primer of Irrigation.

to the synoptical index will point out comprehensive
illustrations.

Before concluding this portion of the chapter on
“Laying Out of Land,” it is proper to add by way of
information, that on July 28, 1866, the Congress of
the United States legalized what is known as the “met-
ric” or French system of measurements, and provided
that “It shall be recognized in the construction of con-
tracts * * * * ag establishing in terms of the
weights and measures now in use in the United States,
the equivalents of the weights and measures in com-
mon use.”

That portion of the “French” system relating to
land measurement is given here, in case any farmer
should fancy it in preference to the “English” sys-
tem, which has always been used:

MEASURES OF LENGTH.

Metric Denominations and
Values.

Myriametre....10,000 metres.

Equivalents in Denomina-
tions in Use.

6.2137 miles.

Kilometre...... 1,000 metres. 0.62137 mile, or 3,280 ft. 10 in
Hectometre...... 100 metres. 828 feet 1 inch.
Dekametre........ 10 metres. 393.7 inches.

Metre scnk cee chee: 1 metre. 39.37 inches.

Decimetre....1-10 of a metre.
Centimetre..1-100 of a metre.
Millimetre...1-1000 of a metre.

3.937 inches.
0.3937 inch.
0.0394 inch.

MEASURES OF SURFACE.

Metric Denominations and
Values.

Hectare....10,000 sq. metres.
ATE cee cetee 100 sq. metres.
Céntare. cs Socks 1 sq. metre,

Equivalents in Denomina-
tions in Use.
2.471 acres.
119.6 sq. yards.
1,550 sq. inches.

This metrical, or decimal, system is. not in com-
mon, everyday use; on the contrary, it is rarely found
except in Government reports.

The matter of fencing should not be omitted in
this place, and so estimated quantities in the conven-
ient barbed wire fencing are here given. The table

Laying Out of the Land—Method of Planting. 129

gives an estimate of the number of pounds of barbed
wire required to fence the space or distance mentioned,
with one, two or three lines of wire, based upon each
pound of wire measuring one rod (1644 feet) :

Pounds. Pounds. Pounds.

1 side of a square mile.320 640 900
1 rod in length........ 1 2 3
100 rods in length....... 100 200 300
100 feet in length........ 61/16 121/8 183/16

METHODS OF PLANTING.

It must not be supposed that this part of the pres-
ent chapter will exhaust the subject of methods of
planting. The subject is too large and important to
be treated in one place, and it is therefore distributed
in other chapters to follow. But it is all important to
consider the nature of the plant which it is purposed to
grow, and plant the seed in such manner that it will
have room to grow and develop its seed or fruit. If
the previous chapters have been carefully read the
reader will remember that great stress was laid upon
the fact that all plants are great feeders, and that
they are so by instinct, and to attempt to compel them
to abstain from their proper food, or limit their food
supply on the ground of economy or indifference, or
upon the supposition that they will grow anyhow, is
to reduce the product of that plant proportionately. It
is always a losing plan to restrict the food of plants,
for that means stunting their growth.

Now, whether the seed be sown broadcast, planted
in drills, or the young plant transplanted, care must be
taken that the roots have space to spread, or reach
out for the required food. If they have not then they
rob each other and fail to produce as desired. Plants
are cannibalistic in their customs and must not be
humored in the slightest degree.

There is a curious fact about the growth of plants
which may not be out of place here, inasmuch as it

130 The Primer of Irrigation.

will prove an addition to the reader’s information con-
cerning the peculiarities of the plant kingdom: Ex-
periment has demonstrated that the smallest seeds,
even, say the mustard or radish, sown in an absolutely
sterile soil will produce plants in which all the organs
are developed, but their weight after months does not
amount to much more than that of the original seed.
The plants remain delicate, and appear reduced or
dwarfed in all dimensions. They may, however, grow,
flower and even bear seed, which only requires a fer-
tile soil to produce again a plant of natural size.

In planting without providing room for the plant
to feed, or sowing, or planting too many of its fellows
in too close proximity, the soil is rendered sterile by
over-consumption, and the plants starve or fail to pro-
duce adequate crops. This well known fact, together
with the application of the experiment above cited, will
explain why, in rows of plants, there are spots where
the plants do not grow to perfection so far as producing
is concerned. They grow, it is true, but they are
dwarfs.

There is another thing to be considered also in this
connection, which is that plants are not all robust or
healthy in the same degree. One may be so situated as
to its environments as to be able to develop more
quickly than its neighbors, in which case it will “crowd
out” its neighbors, or absorb their food, which means
the same thing. Just as when two humans sleep in
the same bed, the healthy and vigorous one will absorb
the vitality of the weaker one, a well attested circum-
stance in medical annals.

Experience has demonstrated beyond controversy
that there is as much of a plant under ground as above
it, whether that plant be a tree or a cabbage, and
hence it is not difficult to gauge the proper distances
in planting, if perfection of growth be the desideratum.
Few, however, pay the slightest attention to this fact,

Laying Out of the Land—Method of Planting. 181

and hesitate to “prick out” the superfluous plants in
the radish or lettuce bed, and the consequence is they
wonder why their neighbor grows such fine cabbages
when they have the same soil and bestow the same care
upon them. They do not give them the same care; the
neighbor is economical, for he thins out his rows and
gives the remaining plants room to grow. This means
quality as well as perfection.

A Chinese gardener will grow vegetables so close
together that they will touch, and anyone watching him
will suppose that the thinning out process is not essen-
tial. But it is in his case as well as in all other cases,
the only difference being, the Chinaman knowing very
well that his plants will not grow if crowded together,
and that they must be thinned out. But he knows the
reason, and that reason is that they must have food in
sufficient quantities, so he gives it to them and makes
up for lack of space by supplying food. This is why
the Chinaman can be seen always dosing his plants
with liquid fertilizers. He never rests, but is always
at work “forcing” his vegetables to grow. Anyone can
do the same, but the average American farmer, with
his acres of land to the Celestial’s square feet, does not
deem it necessary to crowd his plants. Moreover, to
speak truly, forced plants are never as substantial as
those grown naturally, and this ought to be a sufficient
reason for so planting that every individual plant may
be surrounded by its own storehouse without encroach-
ing upon the preserves of its neighbors.

The following table will assist the farmer in
planting seed, bearing in mind always that the plant
is as large under ground as above it, whether it be a
tree or a cabbage. The distances are in feet, basing
the calculation as 43,560 square feet to the acre:

182

Distances No.of Distances
Apart. Plants. Apart.
ASMENSR ON ner ale ions 43,560 BX Brice statehernere
NOB XIYG voselnioie 2 19,360 SX RST ec irestls
Pais aula Lat See? 21,780 ORIG erettetertereis
ER ea eesleksioxs 10,890 VORVO Raion cae
Q2Yx24....... 6,969 pla <a la Ee pater
5 Ladi ge no 14,520 A OROL Dyan ctottsvers
yee ee tettcde ie 7,260 1B >. le ag: aie ek ee
DeMEXS ie econ e 4,840 aS el Es ea
314x314 3,555 spa Eicon ene
TLS Leersetnte st 10,890 TOXUG Ae thas cccneiees
ae, a a 5,445 Ag, Uy i a Bate ek
vos ta ae ere 3,630 18x18:c5:2508h
LS OE eta RE SE 2,722 162 alo ren ePeONy.
4I4x4¥4....... 2,151 SOKO. occhers cise ss
BP se tes 8,712 DAZE So ete oes
EK Eee eonie cc ts 4,356 ASD CA Oe tan OH Sa
PAE ale stain tels 2,904 QUO lah omecateiene ors
OD BRA Ne eh etraye ve 2,178 Ub SWE ota aavoc
MSI ERD ea evs ots ve 1,742 AO KAO screens
5IZx5YZ....... 1,417 SOX5O. att alee
Brose ween 1,210 BOx60: fens wee
Rise = Aa ae 1,031 GBx66 5 nese oes

To round out the above calculation, the follc wing
table of the quantity of seeds required in planting is

The Primer of Irrigation.

added:

Seeds,

Per Oz.
Asparagus . ... 1,000to 1,200
Beeti sock sae ce 1,200 to 1,500
Garrotixssc soar 20,000 to 24,000
Cabbage. ..... 8,000 to 12,000
Cauliflower . .. 8,000 to 12,000
Gelety2a = .-.: 50,000 to 60,000
Egg plant ..... 5,000to 6,000
Endive . ......20,000 to 24,000
Teettiree 4. ten 5 25,000 to 30,000
Oleraw ie ake Sk 500 to 600
COON: fice bese 7,000 to 8,000

Parsnip . ...

--- 5,000 to 6,000

Length
of Drill,
Per Oz.
50 feet
100 feet
200 feet
Transplant
Transplant
Transplant
Transplant
Transplant
400 feet
50 feet
200 feet
200 feet

eee

eee

eee

see

eee

Vitality,
Years.
4to
6 to
ito
4to
4to
3 to
5 to
8 to 10
5to 6
5to 6
1to 2
1to 2

AAanrnwoan

Laying Out of the Land—Method of Planting. 188

Radrweh ) cacene 3,000 to 4,000 100feet 4to 5
Salsity <. ccuses 2,500to 3,000 100feet 4to 5
SeinaCe ove eects 2,000to 3,000 100feet 4to 5
bomato casas About 20,000 Transplant 4to 5
NSIT ons yic.h'ain 8,000 to12,000 200feet 6to 7

The quantity of seed for the space specified in the
second column of the latter table is much too great,
but it is the conventional quantity and is given as the
maximum. In our garden culture all of the common
plants mentioned are susceptible to transplanting with
good results, even the onion; but, of course, in field
culture chopping out with a hoe is the most advisable
method to pursue in thinning.

CHAPTER XI.
LAYING OUT LAND FOR IRRIGATION.

If the author had his way about it, he would have
the land on each side of every main or large supply
ditch sloped down gently for at least one hundred and
fifty feet, and on that slope he would plant peas,
beans, corn, and melons and raise a good. profitable
crop without any or with very little furrow or surface
irrigation. ‘The seepage water would answer the pur-
pose of sub-irrigation, or infiltration, as will be ex-
plained in another chapter. This water aided by deep
cultivation and pulverization of the soil would be
sufficient to gratify his most ardent hopes.

At the bottom of each slope would be established
an open ditch or covered drainage system, and the
surplus water caught and utilized for surface or furrow
irrigation on the plat below. The land on the ditch
slope would be plowed and cultivated parallel with
the ditch line, and at right angles to it on the plat be-
low the slope.

This system of laying out the land is equivalent
to terracing but more convenient and natural, withal,
less expensive, for the ditches can be arranged to suit
the slopes of the land rather than the reverse. Should
the land be sufficient in quantity to make it worth
while and the topography permit, a series of slopes
could be provided for and every drop of the usually
wasted seepage water utilized. It is very pretty to the
eye and looks very nice and regular on paper, but the
author believes that although the ditches run everywhere
in the most profuse irregularity and ugliness, destruc-
tive even of the refinement required of landscape art,
yet there is nothing more beautiful to his eye than
a luxuriant crop of profitable plants. Experiment
and settled practice has demonstrated the utility and
value of this system all over the world. Corn, beans,

184

Laying Out Land for Irrigation, 135

peas, peppers, onions, even small fruits and crawling
berry vines growing to perfect maturity without a drop
of water from the clouds or by artificial application,
and as to the quality—well, they are imported into this
country from Europe and the American epicure pays
three times as much for them as for home productions
because he finds them better suited to his palate.
Every housewife knows that her window plants flourish
and grow luxuriantly by keeping the “saucer” of the
flower pot filled with water without any surface wet-
ting at all.

The system is as old as Egypt and Babylon, and
it is adapted to small farms and is an obviously
economical system of increasing the duty of water
without increasing its quantity, and it is more con-
ducive to the perfection of plant growth and life than
“over-dosing.”

DITCH-BANK IRRIGATION.

The system last referred to is really what may be
called “ditch-bank irrigation.” The object of it, of
course, is to use the water that seeps or percolates
from the banks of a raised ditch, which is sufficient to
moisten the slope of the bank and the soil for some
distance outward from the base. We find that this
system was in favor with the old Spanish settlers, who
opened a ditch from a stream on a grade so slight that
a very slow flow would result. The land on each side
of this ditch was thus moistened and almost every
variety of vegetables and small fruits were raised with-
out other irrigation.

To accomplish the purpose, the land is deeply
plowed, turning under a good covering of manure,
then harrow thoroughly until the soil is evenly settled.
After this the land is ready for the elevated ditch
from which the seepage water is to be obtained. This
is done by throwing back a few furrows to form a ridge
which shall be high enough to command the land un-

136 The Primer of Irrigation.

der it. The ridge is shaped evenly and the surface
raked over, a hoe being used to mark out a narrow
ditch. When the water is turned in the course of the
water may be regulated with a hoe and by a little cut-
ting and filling, so that the water will run evenly
along the entire length of the ridge.

In less than a week the soil along the ridge will
be in a suitable condition to receive whatever seed or
plant it is desired to grow; indeed, there will be as
much space along the base of the ridge as there is on
its slope which will be sufficiently moist. If the ground
is not too porous, the water will percolate slowly and
evenly and moisten the soil without cropping out at
the surface anywhere. By thrusting the hand into
the soil it will be found that the percolating water is
within an inch of the surface, but never quite reaches
it, due probably to surface evaporation. As will be
noticed in the case of sand, the surface may be dry
but water-soaked an inch or so below.

The number of ridges may be multiplied to suit
the quantity of surface it is desirable to irrigate in
that fashion, and they may be made large enough to
control a quarter or half an acre. Even though the
land at the base is perfectly flat, the water flows down
the slope and spreads out along the levels. Should
the land be sloping generally, the overflow from the
first or highest ditch may be troughed to a lower one
and so on indefinitely. Wooden troughs of four-inch
stuff nailed together in the form of a V, with two or
three cross-cleets at the top to prevent warping, are
very serviceable, and being about sixteen feet in length,
comparatively light, and therefore easy to handle, may
be made to reach any desired distance by overlapping.
Or, the overflow from a series of these ridge ditches
may be collected into one ditch and carried to small
fruits or joined with a larger stream. The simplicity
of the arrangement, though requiring some labor at

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Laying Out Land for Irrigation. 137

first in establishing the proper grade, fairly compen-
sates for that work and care, for during the rest of the
season the irrigation is automatic, that is, it goes on
uninterruptedly and without any assistance. All the
repairs needed will be a few strokes of the hoe, a
trifle of raking, and the land will always be ready for
any kind of crop or succession of crops. Care should
be taken not to puddle the bottom or sides of the ridge
ditches, as in case of a reservoir. On the contrary the
water should occasionally be shut off and the ditch
raked up to open the soil, for the object of these ditches
is not to store or hold water, but to enable the water to
seep or leach out into the soil.

There is never any danger of the soil becoming
soggy, for the quantity of water is small, regulated to
suit the demands of the plants, and to allow fcr a
slight evaporation.

DEPRESSED BEDS.

Growing out of the ditch-bank irrigation is the
depressed or sunken bed system, which is quite similar,
the water being fed from ridge ditches, but instead
of percolation the water is run directly over and upon
the soil after the manner of flooding. The land is not
sloped but is flat, or level, a small flow, however, being
desirable rather than objectionable. It is adapted to
very light and unretentive soils and for shallow root-
ing plants like strawberries.

The land is laid out in rectangular checks, or any
other desired form, and around the sides of the checks
are elevated ridges upon the top of which are laid
ditches in which the water flows slowly and quietly.
The water is admitted to the checks from several
points at the same time and distributes itself over the
surface uniformly, slowly soaking into the soil.

In the hot summer months when it is desirable to
maintain the growth of shallow rooted plants, it is
an admirable system, and is enhanced in its effects by

138 The Primer of Irrigation.

spreading over the soil a mulch of rotten straw, or
coarse manure under which, protected from the sun,
the water slowly spreads with very little evaporation.
It possesses more beneficial aspects than mulching and
sprinkling, for the reason that the water is retarded by
the presence of the mulch from reaching the roots of
the plants, where it is needed, and evaporation is much
more rapid.

For the hot, dry season, where there is no danger
of over-saturating the soil, the depressed bed is avail-
able for all kinds of vegetables, small fruits and flow-
ers, the use of it showing marvelous results.

The system is in common use in Europe, where
the heat is not excessive, and where a light sandy soil
is under cultivation. It is the system adopted by the
market gardeners in the sand hills south of the city of
San Francisco, where the vegetable gardeners have
transformed large areas of apparently worthless land
into terraces, and on these have arranged depressed
beds in which enormous quantities of succulent vege-
tables are grown for the city market. The water is
raised by windmills and pumps from wells sunk in low
spots, and delivered to small flumes which run from
the windmill towers to the opposite hillsides. The
water is flowed upon the highest terrace and conveyed
thence by means of troughs and small ridge ditches
from terrace to terrace and all the beds filled.

In all cases of surface or ditch irrigation the land
must be laid out to suit the flow of the water, which is
necessarily down hill, so to speak. If the land is not
smooth on a level or slope, it must be leveled or
graded by means of a scraper or other device for re-
moving uneven portions and hillocks. If the land is
too uneven to be irrigated uniformly, then sub-irriga-
tion is the only remedy, or piping water to the tops of
the ridges, or by establishing a reservoir on the highest
spot, and thence running ditches in every direction

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Laying Out Land for Irrigation. 139

after tracing or laying out the courses with the leveler
as related in another and previous chapter.

As much care must be taken proportionately in
field culture as in the case of small kitchen gardens,
_the principle being the same.

To put land in shape to irrigate it should first be
plowed as deep as possible and then cut into beds of a
larger or smaller size, depending upon the quantity of
land to be irrigated and the amount of water at the
disposal of the farmer. This may be done by means
of a drag constructed in the shape of the letter A,
from eight to twelve feet and more at the bottom, run-
ning to a point at the top. The land is dragged by
drawing the A-shaped contrivance point first across
the field from side to side. The wide spreading ends
of the drag gather in the loose earth, clods and other
rough material and heap them up behind in the shape
of a ridge. These beds may be made from sixteen to
eighty feet wide and ten to forty rods long; it all
depends upon the quantity of water at hand to fill
them.

After the field has been laid off into beds, the
ground between the ridges must be leveled if uneven
or humpy, and for this purpose a scraper will be serv-
iceable. By it the humps should be scraped into the
low places, and then a harrow may be used and the
leveling process finished with a board leveler, well
weighted down. This is nothing more than a strong
thick plank weighted with stones and dragged back
and forth over the beds until they are in a perfect con-
dition to receive water uniformly upon the surface.
The ends of the beds should come up close to the main
ditch, or to the large lateral ditch, so that the water
can be turned on in full volume. These beds may be
irrigated one after the other by flooding, or by furrow
irrigation. Indeed, there is no limit to the manner
of irrigating, the great desideratum being to spread

140 The Primer of Irrigation.

the water uniformly over the entire bed. It will be per-
ceived that the system is similar to that of the smaller
depressed bed-irrigation, except that the ridge ditches
are not used, the ridges around the large beds being
used to retain the water and to mark out the land in
such shape and sized plats as to correspond with the
quantity of water on hand. The flow of water must
be sufficient so that it will rapidly cover the bed, and
if that is deficient then the beds must be made smaller,
otherwise the plants at the upper end of the bed will
flourish and produce well, whereas those at the lower
end will be sickly and produce little if anything. This
often happens in the case of corn, potatoes, etc., when
the water runs either too rapidly or too slowly into the
furrows. The slope of the land should be such as to
provide a quick rush of water all along the line, and
its standing in the furrows to slowly soak into the
soil. For this purpose the source of the water supply
must be considerably higher than the land to be irri-
gated, and the quantity delivered large enough to fill
quickly. Too slow a flow and too small a quantity will
soak the upper end of the bed and give the lower part
too little.

One important thing to be guarded against in
laying out the land for irrigation is to avoid the wash-
ing out of the soil by the action of the flowing water.
Inasmuch as the land irrigated is always under culti-
vation and loosely put together after the action of the
plow, it is very easily washed into gullies, and every
gully means a lessening of fertility. There is not so
much danger in this respect when the land is covered
with a heavy crop and flooded, because then, the plants
will retard the rush of water and prevent damage by
washing. But in furrow irrigation, the furrow soon
may become a deep gully which the plow and cultivator
can not remove, and every subsequent application of
water will enlarge. To obviate this it is good farm-

Laying Out Land for Irrigation. 141

ing to make the furrows short by damming with a
quantity of earth, and when one furrow—the first one
—is well filled, remove the temporary dam and let the
water flow down into another short furrow. This will
be the opening up of a succession of reservoirs which,
being small, will not be liable to cause any damage,
and will permit a speedy watering of the entire row of
plants.

CHAPTER XII.

THE USE OF WELLS, STREAMS, DITCHES AND RESERVOIRS
TO DISPOSE OF THE TREMENDOUS SUPPLY
OF WATER.

Statistics show that the mean annual rainfall of
the world is thirty-six inches, which is about 50,000,-
000 cubic feet per square mile of the earth’s surface
per annum, a quantity of water which is amazing when
reduced to gallons so as to bring it more readily within
the average comprehension.

A gallon of water, United States standard, weighs
eight and one-third pounds and contains 231 cubic
inches. As there are 17% 28 cubic inches in a cubic foot,
a simple calculation will show that the annual rainfall
on every tract of land equal to 640 acres amounts to
374,026,000 gallons, or, reducing it to weight, 1,558,-
442 tons of water, being about 2,435 tons per acre. It
will, of course, be understood that all this water is not
equally distributed, but it all falls upon the earth
somewhere and is taken up by the soil in the same pro-
portionate amount as by the oceans and seas. The
calculation might be made more accurate by assuming
that the surface of the earth is about one-third land
and two-thirds water, and that, therefore, only one-
third of this enormous quantity of water is taken up by
the land, but we are dealing with averages and the rec-
ord must stand as written.

This tremendous supply of water must be disposed
of by nature in some adequate manner, for if allowed
to stand and accumulate the earth would soon be sub-
merged. Fortunately, Dame Nature disposes of it,
except when an inundation somewhere sweeps away
towns and country, showing that she herself is overbur-
dened with the supply. The rain falls and is carried

142

The Use of Wells, Streams, Ditches, Etc. 148

off the land so far as the surplus that is not drunk in
by the ever-thirsty soil is concerned, by means of
brooks, rivulets, streams, rivers and mighty waterways
into the ocean for transformation by evaporation into
more rain. Ai large portion of it remaining on the
land also evaporates, that is, transformed into vapor,
which hangs in the atmosphere, invisible except to
touch, when the weather is “damp,” as is said, or
gathers into clouds which empty their contents back
upon the earth. So far, the action of evaporation and
rainfall is equal and the equilibrium or eternal balance
of nature is maintained.
SURFACE WATER.

But an enormous portion of the fallen rain does
not return into the atmosphere, whence it came, to re-
peat its beneficial and grateful performance; it pene-
trates into the soil, percolates through a myriad of
pores, cracks and crannies, until it accumulates beneath
the surface of the earth, sometimes at immense depths,
and forms subterranean streams and reservoirs. Some-
times, when the soil is unyielding, the percolating water
does not attain the dignity of a subterranean stream
or reservoir, but is held in the grasp of the soil above
some impervious or impenetrable stratum of rock or
hard pan, and becomes what is known as “surface
water,” a water table which throws off moisture to be
carried to the surface by capillary attraction.

It is a maxim in physics, “nature abhors a vacu-
um,” and so whenever there is a vacant place the water
fills it, and thus there is a never ending supply of
water from rain or melting snow which is practically
rain in another form. The fact that there are rain-
less, arid regions does not alter the fact, for somewhere
beyond them in the mountains is the supply of water
the rainless belt should receive, and it sinks beneath
the arid lands waiting to be drawn up to the surface
by the ingenuity of man, it being prevented from do-

144 The Primer of Irrigation.

ing so of its own accord by insurmountable obstacles
in the soil. ¥

The method of reaching these subterranean de-
posits of water, underground reservoirs and water ta-
bles, is by what is commonly called “a well.” When
a well is dug down into the water table or surface
water, say from four to six feet in diameter or any
other size deemed adequate to insure a good supply
of water, and from ten to 100 feet in depth, and curbed
with stone or mitred plank, and a windlass and bucket
arranged at the top, or a common suction pump, a cer-
tain amount of water supply is assured. For domestic
purposes, perhaps to irrigate a small garden patch,
where labor is of little consideration, a well with the
above pumping apparatus will serve, but few farmers
will rest content with this ancient system of procuring
a water supply, and if anyone aspires to cultivate the
soil and irrigate he must largely extend his plant.

QUANTITY OF WATER NEEDED.

To estimate the quantity of water that the irriga-
tion farmer must provide, it is necessary to go into a
few details as to the quantity required to raise a crop.
That quantity he must have or go out of business.

To irrigate a few acres successfully it may be
necessary to have a supply of water running up into
the hundreds of thousands of gallons. Taking rainfall
as the standard of water needed to grow a crop, we find
that one inch of rain on an acre of ground is equiva-
lent to 27,154 gallons, and for the purposes of irri-
gation, that is, to give the ground a good wetting, at
least two inches of water are necessary, more being re-
quired in some localities.

Professor King has made the following estimate
of the quantity of water required during the growing
season in various localities:

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The Use of Wells, Streams, Ditches, Etc. 145

Wisconsin: 44s s/s sae 34 inches per acre
Califovming ss «6 sii: 'iste's stein 71% to 20 inches per acre
Colorado ....... . beh daha 22 inches per acre
BONG Thy. ds ok Wane tildant 48 inches per acre
France and Italy........ 50 inches per acre

To still further go into the details of the quantity
of water required to grow a crop to maturity, Professor
King gives che following table of amounts of water
necessary to produce the certain plants dry:

Pounds of Water to Each
Pound Dry Product.

AGY COED 2 ia icicle Dehn atislgeillerdtials aa)4 o's 309
PRD Leben ss Gs Las ea) Sav a aclcw seat his 233
REOVCIOWER Si ibasds. ccled cde emeie Seth iinet 452
REEL OO Visca dai Sw icA MEAT a thiGl Silat aslo shen I a pred 392
RAEN te cite a icpr «at te tale as suuelobe arabe aun ara ake 552
BY beh PCM hi Lik al) ates Pi latath lain ale ia Bh aint 4v?
MERC a es ETS cia S i teil g ete ene aie 422
MOVs Cake tik) IS Sle) ag Win bate niat Sei aye ened wee 353

This enormous quantity of water which must be
provided for the needs of plants is not an alarming
amount when it is considered that it may be obtained
very cheaply by modern machinery where the water
supply is adequate and a proper arrangement of ditches
and reservoirs is made to economize it, the universal ten-
dency being always toward waste.

WHERE OPEN WELLS ARE A SUCCESS.

Ordinary open wells are more successful in elay
and stone than in sand, there being far less liability of
the water running out, the bottom of the well being a
retaining reservoir, which may be greatly enlarged by
tunneling out to any safe distance into the water table
or water stratum. Where the water stratum is in sand
it is better to use screen points, that is, tubing with
perforated ends, which admit the water but keep out
the sand. Several of these screen points may be run

146 The Primer of Irrigation.

down into the water-bearing sand stratum at a suffi-
cient distance to prevent one robbing the other, and
all be connected with a suction pipe. Experience tells
that these screens should be run down to the bottom
of the water-carrying sand if possible, and that in
any event they should be sized according to the depth of
the strata.

To accomplish this purpose successfully in wells .
an open well large enough for two men to work in
should be sunk down to the sand and curbed to pre-
vent caving. Then by driving ordinary gas piping as
a casing for the screens and boring with a common
auger, the screens may be lowered to any depth, or if
the water-bearing sand is very deep a succession of
screens may be put down on top of each other to en-
large the water supply.

Assuming the water supply to be adequate for the
purposes of reasonable irrigation from a well, the next
question is how to raise the water in the most eco-
nomical manner. Economy is wealth in irrigation
more than in any other business. Horace Greeley
boasted that he raised the finest potatoes in the country,
but they cost him about $2.50 each, and his milk cost
him the same price as the finest imported champagne
wine.

WINDMILL IRRIGATION.

Aside from human muscle and ox or horse-power
drawing water in the ancient fashion, and still practiced
in Asia, the simplest and least expensive method of
raising water is by windmill. A sixteen-foot windmill
connected with a storage reservoir will raise water
enough to irrigate fully ten acres. But the windmill
could not deliver the amount of water demanded if the
supply were used at the same time as the pumping,
hence the necessity of constructing a reservoir in which
to store the water. With this reservoir the windmill may
be made to pump constantly and provide a supply of

The Use of Wells, Streams, Ditches, Etc. 147

water against the time of need. One with a capacity
of several millions of gallons may be constructed with-
out great expense, as will be described on another

Instead of a windmill, a centrifugal pump may
be used which will raise water to a height of about
fifty feet at a cost of less than 30 cents per million
gallons. These pumps are geared to be operated either
by steam or gasoline engines. Where there is plenty of
fuel or coal is accessible, steam power is advisable, but
where fuel is scarce or expensive the use of gasoline is
naturally more economical.

In central Asia, which includes Persia and the
surrounding countries, the water of the brooks and
mountain streams seeps through the porous conglom-
erate formation and disappears deep in the earth,
forming subterranean streams. Owing to the nature
of the soil, canals and ditches would not be of much
utility, and hence recourse is had to a system of irri-
gation by means of a group of deep wells dug at the
base of the mountains. These wells are connected to-
gether by underground galleries which terminate in a
large well, which answers the purpose of a reservoir.
Along down the valley some distance from the large
well are established a series of dry cisterns about 150
feet apart, the bottoms of which are lower than that
of the well reservoir. The depth of these cisterns di-
minishes gradually until the last one is reached, the
depth of which may not exceed eighteen inches.

All of these wells and cisterns are connected to-
gether by galleries large enough for a man to pass
through in a stooping position. This arrangement of
wells and cisterns with their connecting galleries is
sufficient to supply an open canal which carries water
to the valley, the whole length of the irrigating sys-
tem ranging from two to thirty miles. Direct conduits
and piping have been used, but discarded owing to the

148 The Primer of Irrigation.

tremendous depth of the wells and the fact that the
water is seepage water, not collecting fast enough to
be piped. Sometimes water is run into these subter-
ranean reservoirs and the water supply thereby aug-
mented largely.

This system of connecting a number of wells with
tunnels or galleries has been tried in the United States
and has proved satisfactory in providing an increased
water supply by means of an underground reservoir.
Deep cisterns have also been tried for the same pur-
pose, but the most common practice is to run a tunnel
or gallery out from the bottom of a single well, in
fact several of them, if the formation will permit. If
sunk on high ground a flow of water may be secured
from below by piping, otherwise pumping must be re-
sorted to, which is the case when the wells are very
deep.

All the rising subterranean waters are essentially
artesian, whatever the depth of the bore of well which
strikes the vein.

An artesian well is nothing more than one
branch, end or leg of a tube or pipe, the other end, or
intake, of which is at a greater or less elevation above
the outlet. The fact that such wells are so called from
the city of Artois, in France, where deep flowing or
spouting wells were first sunk or bored, has nothing to
do with the characteristics of the water supply, pro-
vided it rise in the well, flows over the mouth or spouts
up into the air. In such cases it is evident that the
water is not what is usually called surface, seepage
or drainage water, although there is very little differ-
ence.

The value of the artesian well, which is bored deep
into the earth, lies in the fact that its elevated source
is constantly being replenished with a supply of water
greater than that used for irrigation or other purposes.
In the case of water from a saturated soil, or water

The Use of Wells, Streams, Ditches, Etc. 149

that has percolated down through porous ground
through cracks and crannies to find reservoirs, the sup-
ply depends upon the amount of rainfall or seepage.
In ordinary wells, to draw water by constant pumping
for adequate irrigation is to soon exhaust the stored
supply, or ground water, there being no source to re-
plenish it.

But in the case of artesian wells in the arid re-
gions the source of the subterranean water which rises,
flows over the mouth or spouts up into the air, is in
a region where the precipitation of water in the form
of rain or snow is much greater than can be utilized,
or the underlying water plane is supplied from the per-
ennial flow of large rivers or streams fed from a never-
failing watershed.

It is essential to artesian water that it be confined
under pressure beneath a cover. All water in porous
soils, if the pores are to be filled to saturation, must
rest upon a floor of practically impervious material.
Underground water has a slow motion on account of
the resistance of friction, and accumulates, assuming a
nearly horizontal position along its upper surface, as
it does in an open pond or reservoir. This is its na-
ture. Now, if an overlying impervious bed has an in-
clination steeper than the inclination of this water
plane, its dip may bring it into contact with the water.
Down grade from the line of meeting of the water
plane with the under surface of the more steeply in-
clined impervious cover, the conditions of confinement
under pressure exist, and beyond this line of contact
or meeting the ground water will be artesian—that is,
when it finds an outlet it will rise, seeking to attain
the portion or level its surface would have were it not
for the obstacle in the shape of the overhanging rock
or impervious bed in its way.

When this impervious covering is perforated by
boring a well, the question whether there will result

150 The Primer of Irrigation.

a flowing well, ora mere rise to some higher level with-
in the bore hole, will depend on what the level of the
ground surface may be. If at that point the ground
surface happens to be above the grade plane of the
confined underground water, there can not be a flowing
well.

TAKING WATER FROM STREAMS AND RIVERS.

There are four varieties of natural water courses,
the waters of which, when used for the purpose of irri-
gation, require different machinery or appliances to
control.

First—The slow current, to control the water of
which all that is necessary is a simple sluice gate that
may be opened or closed by any contrivance which can
be raised or lowered or moved to and fro sideways to
admit or stop the flow of water or regulate its quantity.
At a point above the level of the land to be irrigated a
three-sided box is sunk, the bottom of which is below
the regular surface of the water and the top above the
surface of the leveled bank.

The end toward the water is fitted between two
uprights on each side of the box, which form grooves
to permit the slide to be moved or pushed down to con-
trol the supply of water. Or, the “gate,” as it is proper
to call the sliding end of the box, may be in two parts
hinged at each side and swinging open in the middle
like the gates of a transportation canal, care being
taken to have the two wings of the gate open up stream
so that the pressure of the water will not throw them
open automatically.

These two simple principles of an intake and
shutoff gate is the basis of all contrivances for admit-
ting water from a slow moving stream, whether the land
to be irrigated consist of 100 or 1,000 acres. There
are many varieties of them, some in iron and steel and
constructed of massive masonry to accommodate an

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The Use of Wells, Streams, Ditches, Ete. 151

enormous flow of water, but all of them are substan-
tially based upon the idea given above.

Second—Rapid current streams, or mountain tor-
rents, require a dam to reduce the current before it en-
ters the water gate, or else the latter would be soon
torn out or undermined by the swirl of the waters.
This is the object of the dam: to create a smooth,
placid sheet of water, similar to the surface of a pond
or reservoir, and from it admit water in through the
water gate. This dam, if the current is very swift,
may be constructed at right angles with the bank, that
is, straight out into the stream. This will form a
breakwater, a quiet harbor, so to speak, and the water
wil become still inside of it.

Third—Dry rivers.. Dry river beds are common
everywhere in the arid and semi-arid regions. They
are often alluded to as “rivers with their bottom on
top,” being dry nearly always except during the rainy
season, when a greater or less body of water flows in
their channel, according to the quantity of rainfall
within reach of the watershed which supplies them.

Although surface-dry for eight or nine months of
every year, there is in most cases an underground sup-
ply of water sufficient to supply an enormous quantity
of water by sinking cribbed reservoirs and pumping.
For the ordinary purposes of irrigation these streams
must be dammed to create a reservoir which will retain
the water when it flows, and back it up high enough
to reach the head gates of the irrigating ditches along
its banks. These streams are not always as peaceable
as they seem, for they are often converted into raging
torrents that carry away every obstacle in their path.
Hence the damming of them requires the highest en-
gineering skill and the most substantial material to
dam up the water, for no one can tell whether the
stream will run a small quantity of water or inundate
the country around about.

152 The Primer of Irrigation.

An arroyo is the Spanish for a small cut or open-
ing between low hills, and refers to a small stream or
rivulet that sometimes flows through it. These water
courses are not streams, properly speaking, but rather
waterways, for they have no subterranean or under-
_ ground water, and what does flow in or through them
is adventitious or accidental, depending upon the quan-
tity of rainfall.

These arroyos are quite common in all hilly land
in the West and Southwest, and sometimes reach the
dignity of mountain torrents, but in a few days they
run dry and the water is lost. Much of this water may
be saved for irrigating purposes in a variety of ways.
Damming is not advisable generally, for the dry stream
may become an irresistable torrent and sweep every-
thing out of its path. A partial or wing dam in most
cases will hold the water for several weeks, perhaps
three months, and permit it to slowly seep down into
the soil for the benefit of the land below, or, where the
lay of the land on the hillsides is favorable, running
deep furrows parallel with the slope will restrain the
water from flowing too rapidly down the watershed,
and thus also permit it to seep slowly into the soil,
and if followed up will eventually result in creating a
water table into which shallow wells may be sunk for
pumping purposes.

Where the land is sloping below a hill or series
of hills deep furrowing with a sidehill plow at inter-
vals of say six feet from the top to the bottom of the
hill with a succession of rough furrows at the bottom
will save up or store enough water to irrigate by infil-
tration many acres of land for corn, potatoes, melons
and vines generally. Experiments demonstrate that
this process will equal two irrigations of an inch each,
and by careful, constant cultivation a good crop of
corn or potatoes, even melons, peas and beans, may be
grown without any irrigation, the subsoil being moist

The Use of Wells, Streams, Ditches, Ete. 158

and kept so by deep tillage while the crop is grow-
ing.

Varieties of head gates, the direct drawing af water
from rivers and streams and damming are not given,
for the reason that such appliances are not within the
control of the individual irrigation farmer, but are
under the management of the State, the federal Gov-
ernment or of water companies. The idea is all that
is necessary in this article, and from the idea given
the farmer may apply the principle to ditches and
reservoirs over which he has control on his own land.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF IRRIGATION.

The main object of irrigation should always be
borne in mind; that is: nature having withheld from
plants the moisture necessary to their growth, it be-
comes necessary to supply the omission. When that
object has been attained, the work of the irrigator ends,
and to continue farther would be detrimental to the
soil, and injurious to plants instead of beneficial.

Given a certain tract of land, and a water supply,
the question which confronts the ‘irrigation farmer is:
How shall the water be applied to the best advantage?
It must occur to him that there can not be one fixed,
rigid system of applying water to the soil, for he can
perceive by looking about him that there are widely dif-
ferent varieties of plants, and opposite conditions of
soil which preclude a uniform system of irrigation.

Scientific writers, and practical men, those who
have studied the subject from the earliest ages, and in
every country, have suggested more than a dozen dif-
ferent systems, but practical irrigators of modern times,
men who have acquired experience by practical experi-
ments, some of them costly, in our sixteen arid and
sub-humid States, have settled upon four distinct sys-
tems of irrigation as amply sufficient for every condi-
tion of soil and climate, for economically supplying
plants and soil with life-giving moisture.

Let the reader recall what has already been said
on the subject in previous chapters, that except in the ~
case of aquatic plants, it is not water or rather wetness
that is essential to the perfection of plant life, but
moisture. True, it is from water that moisture is de-
rived, but when water is converted into moisture it is
no longer water, but plant food. When a man eats
meat and vegetables, he is not eating oxygen, hydrogen,

154

The Science and Art of Irrigation. 155

nitrogen, carbonic acid, and the like, he is eating, how-
ever, combinations of those chemical substances, com-
binations which he, himself, can not create by devour-
ing the chemicals themselves in an original state. To
attempt to do so would be his speedy death, notwith-
standing the theories concerning the value of dieting
on certain artificial. chemical combinations known as
“health foods.” 5

Water is poured into or upon the soil; gravity
draws it downward; the particles of earth seize upon
what they require, and the surplus water continues to
descend until it reaches a water table, or is carried off
through drainage appliances. Then capillary action be-
gins, and the moisture ascends, and it and the nutritive
elements it has gathered from the soil is seized upon
by the roots of plants and devoured, that is absorbed,
and the plant grows and waxes perfect upon the meat
with which it is fed.

The four systems of irrigation referred to are as
follows:

First—FLOWING, or ditch irrigation, where the
water is run over the land through ditches or furrows
intersecting the land to be watered.

Second—FLOODING, where the water is made to
cover the land entirely at any desired depth, and is
either allowed to remain stagnant, or stationary, or
possesses a slight current.

Third—INFILTRATION, or seepage, in which
the water is carried to the roots of plants by means of
open ditches, or through subterranean waterways, in
which case it is termed SUB-IRRIGATION.

Fourth—ASPERSION, or sprinkling, in which
the water is applied in a shower, or as an imitation
rain. Watering with a common garden sprinkling pot,
or rubber hose, will give an idea of this system.

The first of these systems constitutes irrigation in
the strict sense of the word, wherever water is utilized

156 The Primer of Irrigation,

as a fertilizer of the soil, or an agent of humidity or
moisture. The latter system relates to watering small
garden plants, and flowers, and is commonly applied by
means of some sprikling apparatus suitable to the size
of the garden patch, and the quantity of water to be
applied. It is not serviceable in hot dry regions and
seasons because of rapid evaporation which makes it
less economical than the others.

The choice of these systems, excluding the last, is
subordinated to the nature of the soil, and topography,
or “lay” of the land, the species of plants and the kind
of culture, the quality and level of the water, and par-
ticularly to the disposable volume of the latter. In
fact, two principles based upon the volume, or quantity
of irrigating waters, regulate their use: The utilization
of the maximum quantity of water obtainable to irri-
gate a given surface, or an increase of the irrigable sur-
face to correspond with the maximum quantity of
water.

The first principle is applicable to the sub-humid
sections where there is a certain amount of rainfall in
the winter months with dry summers, or a “dry season,”
like the Pacific Coast States, New Mexico, Arizona, and
portions of Texas, or snow in winter as in Colorado,
Wyoming, and the other northerly States.

In these localities, the rain and snow store in the
soil a greater or less volume of water, which serves not
only to fertilize it, but to keep it in a condition which
will enable vegetation to either continue to grow with-
out stopping, or to sprout in the early spring without
preliminary irrigation.

In the warmer regions, however, there are dry
belts, where the rainfall is so slight as to be unservice-
able to perfect a crop, and in these belts little will grow
without irrigation. To these localities may be applied
the second principle.

Between these limits, principles, or conditions, are

The Science and Art of Irrigation. 157

grouped numerous variations in plant growth, in aid
of which irrigation supplies the means of rationally
utilizing water for crop growing purposes. These vari-
ations will be taken up under the explanation of the
four systems alluded to.

FLOWING, DITCH AND FURROW IRRIGATION.

On a naked tract of inclined, or sloping land, water
follows the heaviest grade with an increasing speed or
flow. When the same tract is covered with growing
plants, the flow of water is retarded by the resistance
of the plants, until an equilibrium is established, which
requires more or less time according to the steepness of
the grade and the character of the plants, and then the
water flows with a uniform velocity, the same as if the
land were naked. When that equilibrium has been
reached, reason tells the irrigator to stop the water
supply or the surface will be cut into gullies.

When the grade is very slight, the water, being un-
able to attain sufficient velocity, is lost in the soil before
it can cover the entire tract.

In the former case, the zone of irrigation must be
narrowed, and in the second, the lateral or distributing
ditches must be brought closer together. When the sur-
face soil is undulating, or irregular, the water spreads
out unevenly, in which case the distributing laterals
must be brought still closer together, and arranged to
correspond with the irregularities to avoid gullying.

Flowing is adapted to land the slope or grade of
which is between four and two per cent per running
yard. On steeper grades, irrigation is effected more
economically by arranging a series of levels or plateaus.

On feeble grades, the quantity of water increases
by accumulation and remains longer in a stagnant con-
dition, but in general, by this system of irrigation the
water is more fully aerated and its fertilizing power
increased.

158 The Primer of Irrigation,

On large fields, water flowing over steep grades
being more rapid, the ditches or water furrows should
be more numerous, to enable the soil to gather from the
water whatever fertilizing material it holds in suspen-
sion.

Where the grade is very slight, drainage may be.
necessary to carry off an excess of water. After culti-
vation is always necessary as soon as the soil is in a
suitable condition, from twelve to twenty-four hours
being sufficient time according to the climatic condi-
tions of heat and cold.

In all cases of ditch and furrow irrigation, it must
be remembered that the less the number of distributing
ditches or furrows, the less the quantity of water turned
into the soil.

IRRIGATION BY FLOODING.
(Submersion.)

In the system of irrigation by flowing, whatever
method be adopted, running water over the land, or
drawing it from ditches through furrows, the best con-
ditions for utilizing water are realized, that is to say,
so far as movement, aeration, double use, and facility
of distribution are concerned. It is possible to avoid
direct contact of the water with plants, thus retaining
essential atmospheric influences, and also regulating
the temperature of soil and vegetation. In this latter
case, it is reasonable to suppose that even in the arid,
hot regions, the application of cold water direct from a
mountain stream, or surface well, would check vegeta-
tion, an effect which is always deleterious to all grow-
ing crops.

But there are circumstances when flooding or sub-
mersion of the soil is not only convenient but more
beneficial, inasmuch as it supplies the soil with mois-
ture to a greater depth, thus furnishing deep rooted
plants with food material. Reference to alfalfa will
make this clear.

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The Science and Art of Irrigation. 159

Irrigation by flooding is simply submerging a
given tract of land, by covering it with a sheet of water
more or less deep, and allowing it to remain upon it a
certain time, to “soak” into the soil before drawing it
off to use on some other tract.

On flat or level ground, preparations for submer-
sion are simple and easy. It suffices to smooth the sur-
face by reducing knolls and filling cavities or hollows
by means of a plow, cultivator, or road scraper, and
then throwing up ridges of earth or dikes around the
edge of the tract to retain the water.

It is an essentially economical method of irriga-
tion, and is adapted to land and plants which do not
require continuous or periodical applications of water.
Its advantages are that it irrigates uniformly; utilizes
all the water applied, it being absorbed except the small
fraction lost by evaporation. Again, it tends to enrich
the soil more than any other system by giving the vari-
ous organic and inorganic solutions suspended in the
water time to be deposited upon and carried into the
soil. Lastly, it insures the destruction of insects and
their larvae injurious to plants.

: Opposed to its advantages are the following de-
ects :

The plants are submerged either totally or par-
tially, and the essential atmospheric influences sus-
pended ; the surface of the land is cut into dikes which
interfere with adequate cultivation, and the consump-
tion of water is much greater in a given time than
when the water is flowed upon the land. Exceptions
might be made to include alfalfa, sugar beets, and
heavy root crops—gross feeders—the proper flooding
of which could not be detrimental, but on the con-
trary beneficial. It is, moreover, essential in rice cul-
ture, and highly beneficial in vegetable gardens, fruit
culture and in vineyards.

160 The Primer of Irrigation,

NATURAL SUBMERSION.

Irrigation by flooding, though produced by arti-
ficial means, is effected by the operations of nature in
many regions of great fertility and abundant harvests.
Countries of immense extent are fertilized by periodi-
cal, or rather annual submersions without which the
soil would be absolutely barren.

Such countries are Egypt, which is fertilized by
the regular flooding of the river Nile; the llamas,
pampas, and steppes of South America, which are
boundless natural pastures, maintained by the periodi-
eal overflow of numberless streams and rivers, and
whose fertility and plant growth could not be per-
petuated by artificial irrigation through ditches, be-
cause of the absence of grade to allow flowing. In the
zone bounded by the dikes and river bed of the Rhone,
between Avignon and the sea, in France, the lands are
submerged through their whole extent during the win-
ter months. Cereals, alfalfa, vines, fruit trees and
vegetables grow to perfection without other fertiliza-
tion and with very little cultivation. The damages
from these annual inundations, though not slight, are
regarded as of little consequence when compared with
the benefits derived from them.

Other regions might be specified if it were neces-
sary to advocate the benefits of land flooding. We
might go back into the misty ages of antiquity and.
point to the wonderfully fertile regions around the
Kuphrates and Tigris, and depict the glories of ancient
dynasties that reached the pinnacle of earthly great-
ness through the fertilizing of land by flooding, and
show how those powerful dynasties crumbled into dust
when the lands were no longer thus fertilized, but this
is intended to be a practical work with barely enough
sentiment to make it readable.

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The Science and Art of Irrigation. 161

ARTIFICIAL FLOODING.

It is possible for man to imitate or copy nature,
even to surpass nature, for he can control his water
supply, whereas that of nature is uncontrollable to a
great extent and destructive—a combination of utility
and damage.

There are two methods of artificial flooding or
submersion of land:

If the irrigation water provided for ditch or flow-
ing is not all exhausted by that process, it is run upon
land especially prepared for submersion, and allowed
to remain upon it stagnant for a certain length of time,

~longer in winter than in summer, until it is all ab-
sorbed. Or, when there is at hand a greater quantity
of water than is needed for ditch purposes, it is allowed
to flow over the tops of the dikes, in proportion as fresh
water is added, and then the water becomes flowing
water to be utilized upon a series of submergible fields.

In the first case, that of stagnant or still water
charged with mud or other fertilizing material and food
supplies, the matter is deposited upon the soil, which,
in the case of sandy soil, or light loams, fertilizes and
consolidates them into consistency.

In the second case, where the climate is frosty in
winter, plant life in the soil is protected; mud and
soluble materials are deposited in less quantities, and
the atmosphere, or oxygen in the soil is not completely
intercepted for the benefit of weeds and deleterious
plants.

LAYING OUT THE LAND.

The best arrangement of a tract of land designed
for submersion, is to divide it into sections, or basins, by
means of dikes or ridges, which may be thrown up by
the plow. ach section, fed by the ditch, retains its
water, the same being allowed to run into it laterally
until it stops, and becomes stationary or stagnant. In

162 The Primer of Irrigation.

this way the humidity in the soil is equalized or ren-
dered uniform.

On large level tracts, or where the subsoil is im-
pervious, the sections or basins may be enlarged. In
that case the flow into the basins should be hastened so
that every portion of the basin be covered simulta-
neously, otherwise the humidity would not be uniform.
The only limit to the size or extent of these basins is
the supply of water and the facilities for flowing it
upon the soil. Several openings may be made from
the distributing ditch to hasten the process, and the
length of time the water is to remain upon the soil is
gauged by its permeability. The soil should not be
saturated unless a system of drainage is provided. This
can only be determined by testing the soil after the
water has been run off or is all taken up. If sodden,
there is too much, if after a few hours it will not pack
in the hand, it is ample. If the quantity of the flow
of water justify it, a number of basins may be sub-
merged simultaneously by openings made through the
ridges or dikes.

Submersion without dividing the land into basins
causes a great loss of water. During the daytime
it is possible to regulate the flow of water, and with a
plow, furrows may be run in various directions, or a
hoe is often sufficient to direct the water uniformly
over the surface. But at night, it is not so easy to con-
trol the course of the flow, particularly on large tracts
of land. Night irrigation of this kind is practised,
but the crop appears luxuriant in spots, which shows
lack of uniformity in the application of the water.

As to the size of these basins to be submerged, the
lay of the land and the water supply must be the guides.
There are irrigated lands with submerged basins from
the extent of a small garden patch up to a hundred-acre
tract in alfalfa.

The Science and Art of Irrigation. 168

In extensive tracts, particularly cereals, beets, etc.,
flowing and ditch irrigation would be speedier and more
economical than submersion, and in many cases more
advantageous, particularly in the case of shallow rooted
plants. Thus flowing is preferable in the case of barley,
but submersion would be beneficial in the case of peas,
the former spreading out its roots near the surface,
and the latter thrusting them down deep into the soil.
So, potatoes will not stand submersion, but beets can
scarcely be drowned out. In rice culture, as has been
said, submersion is essential.

Should the land have a slope or grade impossible to
level, care must be taken to provide a lower dike suf-
ficiently high to overcome the height at the top where
the water supply enters, for in such case, the water at
the top of the grade would barely cover the soil, but flow
over the top of the lower dike and thus become flowing
water and not stagnant or stationary.

Professor Schwerz, in his treatise on practical
agriculture, thus refers to the advantages and the
disadvantages of submersion:

“By inundating the soil it is easy to shield a
field from any unfavorable temperature (heat or cold).

“The preparations for inundation are generally
inexpensive. The food elements held in solution by
the water have ample time to be deposited upon the
soil. Insects injurious to vegetation, and which are not
destroyed by ordinary irrigation, are totally destroyed,
er the same may be said of noxious weeds in arid
soils.

“On the other hand, many serviceable plants are
drowned by prolonged inundations; herbs are rendered
less hardy to changes of temperature, and hay and for-
age plants generally are of inferior quality. Inundation
is deleterious at the flowering period of plants, though
they can be irrigated beneficially in other modes. Fin-
ally, to inundate a large field rapidly throughout its

164 The Primer of Irrigation.

entire extent is to consume an enormous amount of irri-
gation water.”

From these considerations, the scientist draws the
conclusion that, “The choice between inundation and
ordinary irrigation must lie in favor of that ordinary
irrigation, although in turfy, tough soils, or one very
porous, inundation is more advantageous,”

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SCIENOB AND ART OF IRRIGATION—-INFILTRATION
OR SEEPAGE.

Irrigation by infiltration or seepage is effected, fol-
lowing the configuration of the soil, by means of flowing,
or sleeping water seeping or soaking into the soil from
ditches, canals, or other waterways at or beneath the
surface of the land. The water spreads, soaks, seeps
out fanlike into the soil from the sides and bottom of
the ditch or canal, and descends in pursuance of the law
of gravity, or ascends in accordance with the law of
capillary motion toward the surface, where it evaporates
unless its course is stopped by breaking up the soil.

Water descending by the force of gravity continues
on until it meets with what is commonly called “ground
water,” with which it mingles. If it does not encounter
ground water, or a water table, it expends its energy by
descending as far as it can as water, then it is converted
into moisture and begins making its way to the surface
through capillary motion. Infiltration rests upon the
principle of the permeability of the soil, and hence, this
method of irrigation is not always so beneficial as those
which have been already mentioned, for it consumes a
large quantity of water without supplying the soil with
a uniform humidity. There is this exception, however ;
when the flowing water in the trench, ditch, or under-
ground conveyance reaches the intended root zone and
there spreads out or seeps into soil where it can be di-
rectly utilized. This is one of the advantages of sub-
irrigation, a system which can not be ignored for many
Teasons.

SUB-IRRIGATION.

Sub-irrigation is a variety of infiltration which pos-

sesses many advantages over surface irrigation where

166 The Primer of Irrigation.

wastage of water is an object to be avoided. By this
system, land too elevated to be reached through other
means is transformed into fertility. In the case of hill
land it is admirable for cereals, and also on lands where
weeds abound. It lends an invaluable aid to special
plant cultures, such as grapes, olives, oranges and citrus
fruits generally, and in gardening. It enables steep
lands to be cut into terraces which irrigation water could
not reach or in which it could not penetrate to a suf-
ficient depth. In addition to these advantages, the ap-
plication of underground water to arid or waste land
covered with gravel or sand, permits the propagation and
cultivation of productive plants which would otherwise
perish through dryness of subsoil. Finally, a well ar-
ranged system of sub-irrigation operates as a drainage
system, and thus a double purpose is served.

The nature of the soil is of more importance than
the configuration of the land in sub-irrigation. In this
respect, hard, impenetrable soils, and those too open
and porous should be avoided for general infiltration
purposes. Experience alone is able to guide the irrigator
in establishing any system of deep ditches, the main
point to be attained is always to provide for moistening
the soil uniformly.

FURROW IRRIGATION.

Applied to cultivated land, furrow irrigation is
allied to infiltration. Running water into furrows be-
tween the rows of plants and then cultivating over is a
very common method of irrigation by infiltration, and
is suitable for all shallow rooted plants, corn, potatoes,
and tubers generally. The after cultivation by which
the surface soil is pulverized, forms a mulch which re-
tains the moisture below for a long period. It is also
adopted on a large scale in orchards, vineyards, and
nurseries ; for small fruits, vegetable and flower gardens,
wherever, in fact, deep irrigation or sub-irrigation,

The Science and Art of Irrigation, Ete. 167

flooding, or flowing would be useless, or inefficient. It
is well to provide that the water or surface wet be pre-
vented from spreading as far as the stalks or bodies
ot the plants, for that means rotting, restricting it to the
service of the roots. This renders this method of irriga-
tion more efficacious than direct irrigation for the reason
that the humidity is imprisoned around the roots where
it is needed and evaporation retarded.

It is in the kitchen garden that infiltration attains
marvelous results, particularly in the culture of root
plants. In fact, it is the only system of irrigation which
enables plants to obtain the greatest quantity of nutritive
elements from a given surface. The soil is never at
rest, and where the climate is favorable, one crop after
another may be grown all the year around, and even in
climates where the farmer is satisfied with one crop each
season he may easily raise two. It is the equivalent to
hothouse culture so far as growth is concerned, but the
plants possess a quality unknown to forced cultivation.

WINTER IRRIGATION.

Infiltration or sub-irrigation is an admirable system
for what is known as “winter irrigation,” when the water
supply is more abundant than is the case in the dry
or growing season in humid climates. Water is run
into the underground conduits to fill the soil with mois-
ture, and then by the further storing up of the water in
excess, surface irrigation becomes practicable when it
comes to planting, and plants are supplied with moisture
until their first true leaves are formed, by which time
their roots are in moisture laden soil and they grow to
maturity with very little after irrigation, unless shallow
rooted, in which case surface irrigation is always necessary.

There are three atmospheric and meteorological
conditions which should be considered under the name
of winter: In the arid and semi-arid regions of the
South and Southwest and on the Pacific slope, where

168 The Primer of Irrigation.

the Kuro Siwa or Japanese ocean current creates a per-
petual spring climate, what is known as the winter sea-
son is the growing period generally for cereals and gar-
den products—it is the “wet season.” If there be any
rainfall at all it begins about November and ends in
April. Sometimes the rainfall is not more than five
or ten inches, perhaps fifteen inches, an amount so
small to a farmer in the humid regions that he would
not venture to move a plow, but eight inches is con-
sidered sufficient to raise a reasonable crop without
irrigation, provided there is constant cultivation. In
such regions every drop of water is utilized and care
taken to prevent evaporation.

In such a climate the farmer dry plants, that is,
he puts his seed into the ground when the latter is as
dry as powder, plowing it up previously or plowing his
seed under. There being no moisture of course it does
not sprout, but lies in the soil as safely as in his barn
bin. But when the first rain comes, perhaps only half
an inch, his seed is up in a few days, and then begins
cultivation to prevent evaporation. ‘This is continued
during the entire season, after every shower, large or
small, so that his crop matures very well on eight inches
of water from the clouds, aided, however, by dews and
mists, which, as has been said in a former chapter, is
quite considerable.

Here winter irrigation is of the most incalculable
benefit for the deciduous plants which spring into life
in March and April, small fruits, orchards and the
like, for it fills the soil with moisture, and when a trifle
of surface irrigation is added the plants continue grow-
ing with profusion and produce profitable crops.

In the totally arid regions where there is no rain-
fall at all, nothing but aggravation mists, or heavy, foggy
dews, nothing can be grown without irrigation of some
kind, and experience has demonstrated that surface ir-

The Science and Art of Irrigation, Etc. 169

rigation can not very well be performed unless there is
an ocean of water at hand to be wasted in evaporation,
for the climate is usually hot. Now, if the soil can be
moistened by infiltration through subterranean conduits,
that moisture will remain in the soil for an indefinite
period and may be added to by subsequent irrigations.
The fact is, that this system of sub-irrigation furnishes
an artificial water table which provides capillary attrac-
tion something upon which to operate.

The same results may be attained by running water
into deep open furrows, care being taken to cultivate
over immediately, and then infiltration or seepage will
begin operating, and whatever excess there may be will
find its way into the soil in all directions, from a higher
field to a lower one, and from one slope to another, for
instance. .

The second climatic condition is where the region is
eold and frosty, precluding winter growth, and without
very much snow or other precipitated moisture. Here
sub-irrigation prepares the soil for spring cultivation,
and sufficient water is retained for surface irrigation
when needed. It should be observed that constant and
deep soil cultivation is as much necessary in such a
region as in an arid or semi-arid one, the rule being
that the roots of plants must be provided with adequate
moisture regardless of surface conditions.

The third condition of climate is where the rains
and snows of winter are comparatively heavy, equal to
the rainfall in the sub-humid sections, but the cold is
too great to permit any sort of plant life. In such
case winter irrigation is as much of a necessity as in
the arid and semi-arid regions because the necessities
are the same. There is a cessation of water precipita-
tion in the spring of the year, or else the precipitation
during the growing season is not sufficient to mature

170 The Primer of Irrigation.

a crop, hence there must be water enough stored up in
the soil to meet the coming drought.

IRRIGATION BY SPRINKLING.

Water sprinkling is practically artificial rain in a
small way. In an arid climate it is of trifling advantage
unless other means of irrigating are employed, or unless
there is a thick growth of vegetation which shades the
ground, or “mats,” as in the case of strawberries, ete.
It is adapted to garden culture, however, and in horti-
cultural cultivation generally it is of the highest excel-
lence. Where water can be conveyed in pipes, with
hydrants placed at intervals to admit of hose attach-
ments, there is no better system of irrigation, though
in this, as in all others, the soil must be kept open to
retard evaporation, otherwise constant applications of
water are necessary to keep plants growing.

Where water is not obtainable from pipes and
hydrants, a tank on a two wheeled cart, with a pro-
jecting sprinkler is commonly used. In ordinary vege-
table gardens hand sprinklers are used, the water being
run into a convenient reservoir, which may be a barrel
sunk into the ground, and the water dipped out. With
one or with one sprinkler in each hand, the irrigator
walks along the rows, slowly sprinkling the plants with
water until it runs off the ground as in a rainfall. Many
plants are benefited by this system of irrigation. Flow-
ers, small bush fruits, strawberries, and even trees, the
spraying of water upon which washes the leaves and
freshens them, or as it is sometimes expressed, “gives
them a drink.”

In market gardens in proximity to cities, hydrant
water is plentiful and this is used for sprinkling or
any desired system of irrigation. Lawns are watered
by means of a rubber hose with all sorts of attachments
intended to scatter the water over the largest space.
Where windmills are in use and elevated tanks common,

The Science and Art of Irrigation, Etc. 171

all the advantages of hydrant water may be secured at
small expense, and the same is the case where the
farmer is so fortunate as to have an elevated acre or
two of ground in which to dig a catch reservoir. There
are some doubts as to the proper time during the day to
irrigate crops or plants by sprinkling. Some contend
that the evening or the early morning is the best time
while others, again, contend that it does not make any
difference. It does make a difference, when one stops
to think. In the early morning the water is chilled after
the hours of the night, and when water is applied after
sundown it becomes cold and where the water is colder
than the plant it is not beneficial, but stops growth. To
recur again to the everlasting Chinaman, whose ideas are
founded on centuries of success in growing anything he
attempts, he can be seen religiously pouring water on
his plants, even the most delicate, while the hot sun is
shining down upon them with a burning heat. One
looks in vain for the plants to droop and wither under
such treatment, for they keep on growing vigorously
and luxuriantly under the influence of the heat and
the watery vapor engendered by the heat of the sun.
There can be no doubt that by the constant or regu-
lar application of water to the soil, in quantities to equal
evaporation, the ground will be maintained in a moist
condition favorable to plant growth. Moreover, there
is always less water required for a second application
than for a first one, and the quantity diminishes with
each application, until a modicum of water will be
reached and a profitable crop raised economically. Where
there is no water in the subsoil, or at least none attain-
able by capillary motion, irrigation creates an artificial
one which may be drawn upon by aeration of the soil
by deep cultivation. Where there is a water table al-
ready within serviceable distance of the surface, irriga-
tion may be so regulated as to keep the soil open and

172 The Primer of Irrigation.

aerated by the flowing of water through it, and when
that object has been attained, the labor of irrigation will
have been reduced to an economical minimum and pro-
duction astonishingly increased.

We shall have more to say on the subject of sub-
irrigation in a special chapter devoted to the system.

CHAPTER XV.
SUB-IRRIGATION—DRAINAGE.

Infiltration, or seepage, as a method of irrigation is
included in this chapter because it is practically sub-
irrigation.

The drainage here referred to is that system of
carrying off the surplus or excess of water through un-
derground conveyances, when the same is connected
with a system of sub-irrigation. Drainage proper will
furnish matter for a special chapter on the subject.

Irrigation by infiltration, or seepage, is effected
through following the configuration of the land, by
means of flowing or sleeping water seeping through or
into the soil from ditches, canals, or pipes, uncovered or
covered, but located below the surface of the ground.
The water spreads out, seeps or soaks out from the con-
veyance fan-like into the soil from the sides and bot-
tom of the ditch, canal or pipe, and, following the law
of gravity, descends or ascends in accordance with the
law of capillary attraction.

Infiltration rests upon the principle of the per-
meability of the soil, and hence, this method of irriga-
tion is not always as beneficial as those already
mentioned, for the reason that it consumes a large
‘ quantity of water without supplying the soil with a
uniform humidity.

Unless, however, and here are two occasions when
infiltration is more economical and beneficial: When
the water in the trench, or ditch, or underground con-
veyance is running water, and when it reaches the roots
of the plants intended without spreading out where it
can not be utilized.

The advantages of underground or sub-irrigation
are too numerous to be ignored. By this system, land
too elevated to be reached by water through other means

178

174 The Primer of Irrigation.

may be transformed into fertile tracts. In the case
of hill land it is admirable for cereals, and also on lands
where weeds abound. It lends an invaluable aid to a
series of special cultures, such as grapes, olives, oranges
and citrus fruits generally, likewise in gardening. It
enables steep land to be cut into terraces which irriga-
tion water generally could not penetrate to a sufficient
depth. In addition to these advantages, the application
of underground water on arid or waste land covered
with sand or gravel, permits the propagation and cul-
tivation of profitable productive plants which would
otherwise perish through dryness of sub-soil. Finally,
a well arranged system of sub-irrigation operates as a
drainage system as well as for irrigation.

The nature of the soil is more important than the
configuration of the ground in sub-irrigation. In this
respect, hard impenetrable soils should be avoided for
irrigation by infiltration. Experience alone can guide
the irrigator in establishing his system of deep ditches,
the main point being always to provide for moistening
the soil uniformly.

Furrow irrigation applied to cultivated land is
similar to infiltration. Running water into furrows
and then cultivating the soil over them is a very com-
mon method of irrigating by infiltration, and it is suita-
ble for shallow rooted plants, corn, and tubers gen-
erally. The pulverized earth forms a mulch which ob-
viates rapid evaporation and enables the water to seep
into the soil in every direction before drying out. It
is also adopted on a large scale in orchards, vineyards,
nurseries, for small fruits and in flower and vegetable
gardens where deep irrigation or sub-irrigation proper
would not be effective. In all such methods of irriga-
tion it is well to provide that the water or surface wet-
ness be prevented from extending as far as the plant
proper, and restrict it to the service of the roots. It is
considered more efficacious than direct irrigation, for the

Sub-Irrigation—Drainage. 175

reason that the humidity is imprisoned around the roots
and evaporation is perceptibly retarded.

It is in the kitchen garden, applied to the culture
of root plants, that irrigation by infiltration attains
marvelous results. It is the only system of irrigation
that enables plants to obtain the greatest quantity of
nutritive matter from a given surface. The soil is never
at rest; one crop may immediately succeed another,
growth continuing all the year around without interrup-
tion. It is, in the hot arid regions, equivalent to hot-
house culture, so far as luxuriance of growth is con-
cerned, but the crops possess a quality of excellence
unknown to forced culture.

SUBTERRANEAN CONDUITS.

Although infiltration is sub-irrigation, many per-
sons limit the system of sub-irrigation to the conveyance
of water through underground pipes, tiles or conduits.
This method of irrigation is very ancient in its applica-
tion to special cultures, or to utilize liquid fertilizers.
When the volume of water is limited, the soil too porous
for surface applications, the method of applying water
to the roots of plants through subterranean conduits is
very successful in its results, but only, let it be said,
for very profitable plants. In general, the great ex-
pense attendant upon the installation of a system of
underground conduits has prevented the common use
of this system of irrigation, ordinary infiltration as
above described having been found satisfactory.

But the constant pouring of water upon the soil in
many of the older irrigated districts in the arid region,
has resulted in creating a water table near the surface,
so near in fact that formerly fertile tracts of land have
been converted into swamps. Hence, drainage has be-
come a problem necessary to be solved if fertile lands
and profitable orchards are to be saved from destruction,
and it is gradually dawning upon the minds of irriga-

176 The Primer of Irrigation.

tors that where there is a system of sub-irrigation there
is also a system of drainage ready at hand.

The writer advances the proposition founded on
long experience in other countries of similar soil, climate
and meteorology as the arid and semi-arid lands of the
west, that sub-irrigation and drainage may well go to-
gether, and that if tiling or other media be so arranged
in underground conduits, they will serve a double pur-
pose, one highly economical and productive of good
results. The conditions, indeed, are identical. The
water passing through the drain pipes is surplus water,
which may quite naturally be used over again as is the
surplus water from a surface ditch, or that from over-
flowed land.

Nearly a hundred years ago the scientist Fellen-
berg put in at the agricultural establishment of Hofwy],
near the city of Berne, a system of sub-irrigation
through subterranean conduits, for the purpose of
moistening the fields in dry periods, when the spongy
soil of the gardens commenced to dry and crack, and
when the turf was not sufficiently packed to permit sur-
face irrigation.

These underground conduits were so arranged as to
serve two purposes: to carry off drainage water, or to
retain it for moistening the soil. To accomplish this
end the pipes were cut at fixed points by a mass of clay
which was traversed by a drain which served as a com-
munication between the ends of the conduit, and which
could be closed by means of a movable plug or valve.
To cause the water to ascend or flow into the soil, it
sufficed to stop or plug up the tubing below the point
to be irrigated, and the water flowing through the drain
rose to its level and flowed into ground by infiltration.

The idea was approved in England, and in 1839
Fellenberg’s system was adopted, and irrigation by in-
filtration came into common use, largely, however, for
the purpose of flowing liquid manures through pipes to

Sub-Irrigation—Drainage. 177

fertilize the sub-soil of arable land. The system was
afterward enlarged and developed into a system of sub-
irrigation where surface irrigation could not be prac-
ticed. It was carried to the United States and is now
quite common where water is scarce, and in orchards,
vineyards and for deep rooted plants generally.

SUB-IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE COMBINED.

In every properly arranged system of irrigation the
ditches or other conveyers of water are equivalent to
open drains devised for the purpose of flowing water
from the surface along lines and in directions carefully
surveyed.

According to the common understanding, drainage
means carrying off an excess of water from swamps
and cold, over-moist soils for the purpose of reclaiming:
them, or converting them into fertile fields. But since
irrigation plays so important a part in farm economy
and profitable plant culture, indeed, since it has become
an absolutely essential element of success in the arid
and sub-humid regions of the United States, and is
gaining ground in the humid regions, it has been dis-
covered through costly experience that drainage and
irrigation are inseparable systems.

Originally, the pioneer farmer on arid and semi-
arid lands, finding none at all or very little water or
even moisture in the sub-soil, disregarded drainage if
he ever even thought of such a thing, and went on pour-
ing water upon the soil and into it faster than it could
evaporate.

The surplus accumulated little by little, until after
a few years he discovered that his vines, trees and even
small fruits were beginning to die at the tops. Investi-
gation disclosed the curious fact in an arid region, that
there was too much water in the soil; that a water table
had formed, in some cases within two and four feet of
the surface, and that no means of drainage having been

1% The Primer of Irrigation.

provided, this water table was constantly rising, and in
the course of a very few years his land would become a
valueless swamp. A ridiculous thing in a rainless
region, but one that was quite common.

Again, the advent of an enormous ditch or canal
was hailed with joy. It meant water, and water in the
arid regions, it must be confessed, means everything.
As years went on, the water in the canal was insidiously
working its way through the sub-soil by infiltration or
seepage and dissolving the deleterious alkalis in the soil
through which it passed, carried the solution down to
the low lying lands, saturated them and evaporating,
left a whitened soil dead, so far as useful vegetation
was concerned. Quite naturally there was much con-
sternation, and various remedies were thought of. Beets
and sorghum, and other gross feeding plans, were
recommended as alkali destroyers. Then ditches were
dug to carry off the seepage water from the bottom
lands or to prevent further infiltration from the canals.
An unconscious recognition of the necessity for drains.

Still the insidious infiltration went on, and by and
by barren black or white patches began to appear higher
up the sloping land, until seepage water became the bane
of the irrigation farmer. Then came the idea of cement-
ing the great ditches to prevent seepage, a good policy
where water is to be transported long distances but if all
ditches were cemented there would be no infiltration and
many lands would revert to an arid condition and
pioneering would have to begin over again. The great
aim of converting arid lands into fertile, moistened
soil would be defeated if seepage or infiltration were to
be stopped entirely.

Out of this condition grew the idea of drainage
systems which it was supposed would more or less ob-
viate the alkali trouble, but this also deprived the land
of seepage water from canals and ditches in which the
water was good irrigating water, and so wasted it.

Sub-Irrigation—Drainage. 179

Scientists came to the rescue and gave the patent
opinion that the good water became bad by associating
with the deleterious elements in the soil, picking them
up in solution and earrying them along down to the
lower levels, and then backing up, on the principle that
it is the nature of water to seek its own level, carried up
the deadly ingredients to the surface, and there
abandoned them in a cowardly fashion and evaporated,
leaving alkali and other impurities behind to destroy
vegetation, ruin fertility.

But this did not dishearten the farmer, for if one
tract of land ceased to be productive by reason of an
excess of alkali deposits, he selected a virgin tract out of
his numerous broad acres and went on as before. But
now he is confronted with the alkali fiend on all sides
in certain regions and seeks a remedy against it. The
demand now is for small farms, every foot of which
may be made productive, and be more profitable than
a large ranch cultivated in patches.

Years, nay, ages ago, in other arid regions than
those of the United States, the same difficulties en-
countered by the western irrigation farmer were ex-
perienced and sought to be overcome by means of drain-
age. It was soon discovered that by drainage alone, the
vegetating stratum above the drain pipes no longer pre-
sented its natural cohesion, but dried and cracked into
fissures to such an extent that surface irrigating water
cut gullies into the soil through which it rapidly dis-
appeared on its way to the drains to be wasted or to
obstruct the drain pipes. These inconveniences were
grave in the case of small irrigating ditches, but were
aggravated when the main supply ditch or canal crossed
the line of drains. A remedy was sought by giving the
drains a steeper incline to create a strong, rapid current
through the pipes, or by using light conduits with ver-
tical wells or tubing at certain fixed points, up which the

180 The Primer of Irrigation.

excess water might rise and thus regulate the flow, or
again by isolating the drains and the irrigating ditches.

In drained fields two experiments were tried:

First. The drains were buried only about four
inches below the turf, and the surplus water allowed
to spread out through open joints of the tiles, or through
openings expressly made for the purpose, within reach
of the roots, whereas, in drainage exclusively, the
drains operated contrariwise by drawing the water away
from the roots. By this method none of the land was
overlooked and irrigation could be effected at any time,
and liquid fertilizers could be introduced whenever de-
sirable. The pipes were easily laid in an ordinary fur-
row opened by a plow, and could be multiplied economi-
cally to any extent.

Second. The second process was to lay a certain
number of drains along the line of the steepest grade
and connect them with a transverse collecting pipe or
conduit, in the center of which was arranged a vertical
tube or well of wood or tile, up which the water ascended
and flowed over into a main ditch from which the sur-
face could be irrigated in the usual manner. Each
transverse collecting drain corresponded with a princi-
pal flowing ditch, and to suspend irrigation all that was
necessary was to throw open the front or end of each
discharge drain where it entered the transverse collect-
ing drain.

The vertical tubes or wells were vent holes pro-
vided with sluices which could be worked from the top
in any desired convenient manner, whenever it was de-
sired to drain without irrigation or irrigate without
draining, or whether it was desired to hold the water at
a given level in the soil to furnish seepage water or
irrigate by infiltration.

The principle of these methods is identical with
that of ordinary irrigation, which, after all is said, is

Sub-lrrigation—Drainage. 181

the seepage or filtration of water from above down
through the soil, and the absorption by the soil of the
elements held in suspension or solution by the water.
Carbonic acid is disengaged by flowing over the surface,
is partially decomposed by the plants and absorbed by
them, and the remainder passes into the soil. Oxygen,
after subjecting what it reaches to the phenomena of
combustion, which explains the fertilizing effects of
irrigation, is less abundant in water filtered through the
soil than in that which flows over the surface, while, on
the contrary, carbonic and sulphuric acids increase in
quantity. By seepage or infiltration from below upward,
mineral matters, lime, chalk, potash, ete., are not pre-
cipitated mechanically, but deposited in the sub-soil un-
less the water be saturated, which is too often the case
in the alkali lands, but which is more or less obviated
by combining this system of drainage with irrigation.
At all events it reduces the quantity of the deposit
of deleterious mineral salts to a minimum. In
addition to that desideratum it is possible to
wash the alkali out of the soil by permitting the —
saturated water to drain off and carry with it
the alkali in the sub-soil or near the surface, top
washing of course carrying the surface alkali down
within reach of the drains. It is like cleansing a
sponge of its impurities. Dip an impure sponge in a
basin of pure water and squeeze. The water becomes
impregnated with the impurities of the sponge. Throw
away that water and fill the basin with clear water and
dip in it the sponge and squeeze as before. By and by
the water running from the sponge is clear, showing
that the latter contains no more impurities.

If it be true, as the majority of the scientists main-
tain, that the use of irrigating water is all the more
beneficial when vegetation is most flourishing and
luxuriant, and that the nutritive elements in the soil

182 The Primer of Irrigation.

are directly absorbed by the roots, it is apparent that
the oxydizing and purifying action of drainage com-
bined with irrigation must be the means of supplying
vegetation with the necessary plant food, either through
the infiltration of the water into the region of the roots
or by intermittent flowing over the surface from the
vent wells.

The system is quite simple, expense alone being
probably the only disadvantage, but even then, if the
land must be drained, the laying of tiles, if with a view
of also irrigating, will divide the expense.

By an arrangement of valves or plugs managed
from the vertical vent wells, the pipes are closed at the
point where irrigation is desired. Then, the water
flowing through the drains is stopped at the closed valve,
escapes through the loose joints of the tiles, and if per-
mitted, will make its way to the surface. When one sec-
tion has been sufficiently irrigated in this manner, the
valve is opened, and another one further down is closed,
and the soil in that section irrigated in the same man-
ner. To drain without irrigating, all the underground
valves are opened and the water flows through the
secondary drains into the main, or transverse collecting
drain, to be carried off entirely or into a reservoir for
further use unless too alkaline.

-To wash the soil, repeat the process of irrigation
and drainage several times successively until tests show
a weak solution.

This system of irrigation and drainage may be
adapted to any condition of soil, or to any topography.
Indeed, the principle of the siphon may be connected
with it. Regard, of course, must be had to the nature
of the plants to be irrigated when it comes to regulating
the depth at which the tiles are to be placed, or the
height to which the water is to be permitted to ascend
in the soil. Where the land is flat the tiles may be laid
on a light grade, the source of the water supply above

Sub-Irrigation—Drainage. 183

the tiles regulating the velocity of the current of water
and the height to which it can be raised in the soil. In
such cases, a fifty or a hundred-acre tract may be sub-
irrigated by infiltration until it is in a fit condition to
cultivate for any crop without any flowing over the
surface. In sloping land the pipes should be laid paral-
lel with the slope to insure uniformity of distribution,
at, say, four feet below the surface for ordinary culture,
with transverse collecting pipes at intervals, so as to lay
out the land in sections, each one of which may be
irrigated in turn. Practically, the system means the
creation of an artificial water table managed at will.

A query arises here: Will not the water rising in
an upper section of land through the drain pipes also
descend to the section below at the same time in obedi-
ence to the law of gravity?

The answer is that water as such certainly will
descend and much faster than it rises. But moisture
will not. In irrigating the upper section of a tract of
land through drain pipes, the water is under pressure
which overcomes gravity. Again, the soil will absorb the
water as fast as it rises and not until it is saturated
will it give any of it up, and then the surplus will be-
gin to flow downward, but when that moment arrives the
irrigator opens the valve and removes the pressure, suf-
fers the saturated land to drain off and moisture alone
is left, which, as has been said, does not drain down-
ward, but ascends toward the surface in obedience to
the law of capillary attraction.

SURFACE, SUB-IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE COMBINED.

It is possible to combine surface, sub-irrigation and
drainage by the same system of underground conduits
or tiles, and for that reason drainage should always be
arranged with a view of making a treble use of it.

The line of irrigation is always along the line of
drainage, which is evident from the fact that drainage

184 The Primer of Irrigation.

is nothing more than disposing of the excess water that
flows through the soil. There is no other way for it to
reach the drain tiles except through the soil, and this is
true whether the soil is arid or a swamp. The flow of
irrigation water is necessarily in the same direction as
the drainage water, and hence it is economy to com-
bine them.

If the water source is high enough above the field
to be irrigated or drained, a sufficiently large reservoir
or retaining ditch should be provided. From this, what
may be called the “velocity water,” is to be supplied.
That is, the water naturally flowing downward toward
the drain pipes can not rise to the surface except by
seepage or infiltration, and then only when the lower
drain courses are closed at their intersection with the
transverse collecting drain. But water let in from an
elevated source, unites with the drainage water and
forces it to the surface or to any desired height, even
above the surface if necessary or required.

Now, by closing the exits of the drain tiles at any
point, the water may be forced up through the vertical
vent wells or tubes and allowed to flow into distributing
ditches through which any part of the land may be
surface irrigated, and a double use of the drainage sys-
tem be effected. It is a convenient and profitable mode
of irrigating small, shallow rooted plants, strawberries,
for instance, and the tubers like potatoes that will not
stand water soaking. Likewise it is adapted to the
kitchen garden and floriculture.

It is an admirable system for what is termed
“winter irrigation,” where the water supply is more
abundant in the winter months than in the dry sea-
son. Sub-irrigation is practiced to fill the soil with
moisture, and then by storing the water, surface irriga-
tion becomes practicable when planting time arrives,
and when plants show their first true leaves. By that
time their roots are in moist soil and they grow to ma-

Sub-Irrigation—Drainage. 185

turity with very little after irrigation unless shallow
rooted.

There are three classes or conditions of atmos-
phere or meteorological conditions existing in the great
west, however, which should be understood whenever
mention is made of “winter.”

In the arid and semi-arid regions of the south and
southwest, and on the Pacific slope where the Kuro
Siwa or Japanese ocean current creates a perpetual
spring climate, what is known as winter is the growing
period for cereals and garden products. In these lo-
calities the seasons are commonly divided into “wet
season” and “dry season,” winter as it is known else-
where being unknown. If there be any rainfall at all,
it usually begins in October or November and ends in
April. Sometimes the rainfall for the season ranges
from four inches to ten, sometimes reaching fourteen
inches, the latter quantity being sufficient to raise a fair
crop of grain without irrigation, but in the case of
corn and vegetables constant cultivation is required.

In these regions winter irrigation is beneficial for
deciduous plants, which overcome their winter sleep
and spring into life in March or April, small fruits,
orchards and the like, for it fills the soil with moisture
at a greater depth than the rainfall can reach, and when
a trifle of surface irrigation is added, they grow and
produce profitably.

In the absolutely arid regions where there is an
absence of rain, or less than five inches, frequently as-
suming the form of what is known as a “Scotch mist,”
nothing can be grown in the way of profitable plants
without irrigation of some kind. Now, if the sub-soil
can be charged with moisture it will be retained for a
long period if the surface soil be kept open and highly
pulverized to serve as a mulch, and with a little irriga-
tion it will perform wonders of plant growth. More-
over, by constant infiltration, an artificial water table

186 The Primer of Irrigation.

will finally be created which will become perpetual with
periodical additions. In irrigation there is always more
water put into the soil than is necessary for plant
growth, and the excess water, allowing for evapora-
tion, must flow down into the subterranean receptacles.
If there be a sloping field above, then it will perform the
duty of a storage reservoir for the lower one, and the
escaping water may be caught and utilized as has been
already described.

The second climatic condition to be observed is
where the region is cold and frosty in winter, but with-
out much snow or other precipitated moisture. Here,
winter sub-irrigation prepares the soil for spring culti-
vation, and sufficient water is retained for surface irri-
gation when needed to enable plants to start. Colorado
and western Kansas, with portions of western Nebraska
and eastern Wyoming, are illustrations.

The third condition is where the snows of winter
are very heavy, equal to the rainfall in humid regions,
but the summers are dry. Northern Utah, Montana,
Idaho, Nevada and the Dakotas may be placed in this
category. In such regions, winter irrigation and drain-
age go together naturally. The soil is aerated, main-
tained in a friable, tillable condition, and almost as soon
as spring opens plowing and planting may begin. The
soil is charged with water which, if excessive, must be
drained off, and if insufficient, the drainage pipes are
closed and a uniform saturation induced.

CHarTteR XVI.
SUPPLEMENTAL IRRIGATION.

When the subject of irrigation is broached one
immediately thinks of an arid region or one in which
the ordinary rainfall is inadequate to raise a crop to
maturity or to raise one sufficiently profitable. In such
regions irrigation is practiced all the time, from the
planting of the seed to the maturity of the plant, and
even afterward it is necessary to again irrigate for the
purpose of fitting the soil for cultivation for the plant-
ing of another crop. The rainfall is totally disregarded.
Irrigation is a necessity.

But in the humid regions where there is an ade-
quate rainfall, or at least from thirty to forty inches
of rain precipitated upon the soil during the year, irri-
gation has until quite recently in this country been
looked upon very much in the light of an unnecessary
luxury, a refinement of agriculture suitable for gentle-
man farming and not to be encouraged when it comes
to general farming. The idea of irrigating in the
humid regions is growing stronger, however, and it
will not be long before irrigation will be as common in
Massachusetts and New York as in Arizona. Indeed,
it must come to that or the humid States will be com-
pelled to go entirely out of the business of crop rais-
ing, for the productions of the soil in the irrigated
regions are so enormous that the humid or rain farmer
will not be able to compete. This irrigating in the
humid regions where there is an abundant annual rain-
fall is what is termed “supplemental irrigation,” in-
asmuch as it supplements the rainfall or makes good its
deficiencies and uneven distribution during the periods
of the year of the growing season.

Supplemental irrigation, though quite recent in

187

188 The Primer of Irrigation.

the United States and even now looked upon with dis-
favor, has been practiced in Europe for centuries
where the rainfall is sufficient to raise crops without
irrigation, as in our humid regions. Germany, France,
Italy and the British Isles have practiced it with profit
and success, and to fail to irrigate is to be guilty of
bad husbandry and careless of profits.

To state the proposition of supplemental irrigation
broadly, it removes the element of chance in all farm-
ing that depends solely upon the water precipitated
from the clouds naturally. No farmer guesses at his
seed, but selects the best variety with the greatest care,
even experimenting with a small quantity before trust-
ing his entire harvest to the probability of failure. So
also does he choose his implements, his stock, and he
prepares his soil in the most approved and certain
manner, but when he considers the probabilities of the
element favoring him with bountiful returns he shuts
his eyes and draws for trumps when he might have the
winning cards in his own hands by the exercise of his
common sense.

There are times when the skies are as brass and
the earth like a burning furnace, then his hopes are
blasted and he grieves. There are also times when the
rain comes just right and the earth laughs with a har-
vest. Then the farmer rejoices and says: “We have
had a good crop.” But if he will stop to consider and
look back a few years, go over his ledger of balances,
he will discover that in the space of five years, for in-
stance, he has had three bad crops and only two good
ones. Why? The only answer is: There was not rain
enough to mature the crops; there were several dry
spells right in the growing season when the plants
were seriously injured and no amount of after rainfall
—nay, a deluge—could restore them their lost vitality.

It is not the desire of the author to argue in favor
of supplementary irrigation in the humid regions, for

Supplemental Irrigation. 189

that is bound to come to the wise farmers, but there
are many who may not yet be assured of the neces-
sity of it, or to whom the knowledge of it has not yet
come, and to whom he will only say: How much better
it would be if a farmer could plant with the certainty
that every crop would be uniformly abundant, and
that, too year after year without a single break.

He :an accomplish this by simply utilizing the
surplus water which he watches go to waste without
raising a hand to stop it or to store it up against the
time of dire need. Itrains, says the rain farmer, there-
fore why pour more water on the soil? True, but there
is a story to tell which will illustrate that sort of argu-
ment better than pages of theory. It is an old one to
the middle-aged, perhaps threadbare, but new in this
connection, for which reason it will bear repeating.
This is the story, or, rather, anecdote:

A stranger once traveling through Arkansas one
fine day came across a rain farmer sitting in the
sunshine at the door of his cabin fiddling away for dear
life on a cracked fiddle. Dismounting, the traveler
passed the compliments of the season and_ looked
around to take in the situation. It happened that a
large hole in the roof of the cabin caught his eye.

“\Why do you not mend the hole in your roof?”
inquired the stranger.

“?*Tain’t wuth while, stranger; *tain’t a-rainin’.”

“Well, when it rains you will have to mend it,”
said the stranger, sarcastically.

“Dunno about thet, mister ; it mought be too wet to
fix when it are a-rainin’.”

It seems strange to unaccustomed eyes to see an
irrigation farmer of the far west pouring water on his
soil with the rain falling in torrents.

A Bostonian who was passing through the Sacra-
mento valley in California in a comfortable Pullman
car during a heavy rain noticed a farmer busily en-

190 The Primer of Irrigation.

gaged in irrigating his land without noticing the down-
pour.

“Just look at that fool watering his land when it
is raining so hard.”

“He’s no fool,” said his companion, who happened
to know something about irrigation, “but a wise man.
He knows that the effects of the rain will last about
three days, but that the irrigation water is good for
two weeks.”

IRRIGATING IN A HUMID REGION.

The experience of Dr. Clarke Gapen, at one time
superintendent of the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the
Insane, may do much toward clearing away any doubts
the reader may entertain as to the wisdom of irrigating
in a humid region. Says the doctor:

“For two years the garden crops on about ninety
acres of land were almost a total failure, the loss not
only depriving the inmates of the institution of fresh
vegetables, but it was a financial loss. In the spring
of the third year I suggested to the Board of Trustees
the extension of our water mains into the garden and
into certain lands which it was proposed to use for
garden purposes, consisting of about 150 acres. This
was agreed to, and we proceeded to lay about 4,000 feet
of water mains out into the farm. As there was some
delay in completing the work, our irrigation was not
begun until some time in June. We had in the mean-
time, however, planted a portion of the land in fruit
trees and berries, and the remainder was planted in
vegetables. As soon as the pipe laying was completed
the water was turned on and irrigation of the entire
tract begun.

“The following results show the profit of the un-
dertaking:

Beets, 4 acres, 1,960 bu. at 30c.......-..... $ 588.00
Cabbage, 15 acres, 1,498 bbls. at $1........ 1,498.00

Supplemental Irrigation. 191

Cauliflower, 3 acres, 81 bbls. at $1.50...... 121.00

Cucumber, 34 acre, 184 bu. at 60c......... 110.00
Lettuce, 34 acre, 101 bbls. at $1........... 101.00
Water and musk melons, 7 acres, 16,000 at 3c 148.00
Onions, 3 acres, 245 bbls. at 75c........... 183.75
Peas, 5 acres, 250 bu. at $1.25............ 323.75
Radishes, 3 acres, 304 bbls. at $2.......... 608.00
Tomatoes, 6 acres, 1,360 bu. at 30c......... 408.00
Turnips, 15 acres, 3,000 bu. at 30c......... 910.50
Potatoes, 25 acres, 3,000 bu. at 30c........ 900.00
Greens, 2 1-3 acres, 500 bu. at 25c.......... 125.00
Rhubarb, 1% acre, 261 bbls. at 50c.......... 130.00

otal for S014) acres: 51.).2icivleiec 3 skein «9% $6,478.40

Total for 116 CTR 4 el Seis oe wal laeee 73.57

“While it is conceded that this does not show an
excessively large yield, it must be borne in mind that
is far greater than the average yield in the regions
round about during the same season, and that irriga-
tion was begun very late in the season. Moreover, the
ground was newly broken and had never before been
used for vegetables.

“The cost of laying the pipe was about $1,500, or,
say, $10 per acre. The land before the pipes were
laid would have been regarded for agricultural pur-
poses as at a high price at $100 per acre; it now has a
producing value to the institution of $500 per acre.

TWO METHODS OF APPLYING WATER.

“In applying the water at the hospital we used
only two methods—the ditch and the flowing. In both
cases the water was conveyed in large ditches meander-
ing in conformity with the contour of the ground,
running often by very circuitous routes to the desired
points. There it was diverted into furrows made b
what is called ‘middle breakers, or double mold board
plow between the rows of corn, potatoes, cabbage or

192 The Primer of Irrigation.

whatever the planu; or by the flooding method it was
spread out over a leveled space ten to fifteen feet in
width, with ridges six to eight inches high, thrown up
to separate these spaces from each other, and occasional
cross-ridges if the slope of the ground was steep. We
kept the slope of the land constantly in mind and we
found it always best to always begin at the lowest point
and work up or backward. In irrigating the orchard
we ran a furrow on each side of each row of trees and
allowed the water to run slowly throughout its length.
For orchard purposes we find two irrigations sufficient,
one early in the spring and the other just as the fruit
begins to ripen. As the trees grow the irrigating fur-
row is run farther and farther away from the trees.”

Dr. Gapen is of the opinion that irrigation has a
much larger future in those portions of the country
where the rainfall is reasonably large than even in the
dry regions, because there is a larger supply of water
which can be utilized and, of course, can be utilized
to a greater extent. Long continued experiments in
the direction of supplemental irrigation have indeed
demonstrated beyond any doubt that crops may be
doubled and quadrupled. The irrigation system
adopted at the institution of which Dr. Gapen is super-
intendent required from 100,000 to 200,000 gallons of
water per acre during the growing season. He esti-
mated that at least two inches of rainfal were neces-
sary for even a light irrigation, approximately 55,000
gallons, being at the rate of 27,154 gallons of water for
one inch of rain, and that to give two good wettings
to the soil at least 220,000 gallons, or about eight
inches, should be given each acre. This was modified
to about 100,000 gallons per acre for each wetting.
More water, however, could be used to advantage, for
the reason that in humid regions a 70 per cent satura-
tion by bulk will give the best results.

As to the expense of the supplemental irrigation at

Supplemental Irrigation. 193

the Illinois institution, above referred to, it cost $3.00
per 1,000,000 gallons to deliver the water at the point
required. At this rate the cost of delivering 100,000
gallons, the amount necessary to irrigate one acre,
was only 60 cents per acre for two good wettings. This
expense was much greater than that incurred by ordi-
nary pumping or lifting, for the reason that there was
maintained a pressure of fifty pounds, which required
high pressure pumps. The piping was the best grade
of cast iron pipe, laid entirely below the frost line,
using three, four and six-inch pipe, which cost from
20 to 30 cents per foot.

With a farm located on the bank of a stream, or
with an inexhaustible well, it is not difficult to under-
stand that the expense would be much less. The fact
remains, however, that with the most expensive appli-
ances supplemental irrigation is productive of double
profits, and therefore it is a system not to be rejected
without at least a trial of its merits.

A)

CHAPTER XVII.

QUANTITY OF WATER TO RAISE CROPS.
(The Duty of Water.)

The amount of transpiration through the leaves of
plants will furnish an approximation of the quantity
of water needed by them before they can attain perfect
maturity. That amount of water in the shape of
moisture they must have, and if they can not obtain it
by natural means, through rainfall, ground water,
capillary action, dew, or moisture from the atmosphere,
it must be supplied by artificial means through irriga-
tion, else the farmer may as well retire from business,
unless he admires a useless expenditure of labor year
after year.

It is alleged by men of the highest scientific stand-
ing, men who have made irrigation agriculture a pro-
found study, and have performed a multitude of practi-
cal experiments to demonstrate the verity of their propo-
sition that about forty inches of water whether rainfall,
or evenly distributed artificially, is the proper and
essential quantity to successfully grow a crop from the
planting to the harvest. Some claim that a lesser
quantity will be sufficient. Thus, Professor King found
that he could use 34 inches for the growing season in
Wisconsin. In California from 7% to 20 inches will
answer the purpose; in Colorado, 22 inches; in India
48 inches are necessary, and 50 inches in France and
Italy. All these calculations are based upon the
quantity required per acre during the growing period
of a crop, which is estimated at about 80 or 90 days. —

It is well for the reader to grasp the immensity of
such volumes of water, and to enable him to do so, a
few mathematical facts will not be out of place.

194

Quantity of Water to Raise Crops. 195

One inch of water covering an acre of ground,
equals 27,154 gallons, or 1,086,160 gallons per acre for
the season upon the basis of a supposed total of forty
inches. The weight of this amount of water at 8 1-3
pounds standard U. S. weight to the gallon, is
nearly 4,526 tons. Weight will be used instead of
measure in order to make comparisons.

Let us take potatoes as an illustration, and on them
base a simple calculation. According to the laws of
most of the States, a bushel of potatoes weighs sixty
pounds avoirdupois. At the rate of three hundred
bushels per acre, which is a very large yield to the
acre, the weight will reach 18,000 pounds, or nine tons. _

In the case of sugar beets, the production runs all
the way from fifteen to thirty-five tons per acre.

Now, it has been calculated that potatoes and beets
contain from 80 to 90 per cent of their weight in
water, or its equivalent, and at 90 per cent, to give
them the benefit of the largest possible quantity of
fluidity, an acre of potatoes would contain about 84%
tons of water, and an acre of beets about 32 tons.

It is impossible to believe that this small quantity
of vegetable extract required the distillation in the
plant of 4,526 tons of water in ninety days, and the fact
is that it does not. In a former chapter it is said that
moisture, or water in the shape of moisture, is taken
into the plant by way of the roots, and after being
utilized in the economy of the plant, it is discharged
through the medium of the leaves; that is to say, trans-
pired through the stomata or mouths of the leaves.
Indeed, there is no other way by which water can enter
into the plant. It is a solvent for plant food, and the
plant having absorbed the food, rejects the water by
transpiration.

The reader will find in Chapter V an experiment
made by Professor Williams of Vermont with an acre of

196 The Primer of Irrigation.

forest containing 640 trees averaging 814 inches in
diameter and 30 feet in height, having an average
of 21,192 leaves on each tree to transpire water during
ninety-two days.

It was discovered by careful experiment that such
an acreage of trees drew from the soil and evaporated,
or transpired by way of the tree leaves, 2,852,000 pounds
of water during ninety-two days, or 1,426 tons, the
evaporation or transpiration being calculated as going
on twelve hours per day, inasmuch as it is almost im-
perceptible at night. This leaves a very large balance
of the 4,526 tons unconsumed by the trees, and even
assuming that the leaves transpired water during twen-
ty-four hours there would still be 1,674 tons to the good
unutilized by vegetation.

Carrying the calculation still further, let it be
assumed that the evaporation from the soil was 1,000
pounds per hour and that such evaporation occurred
every hour of the twenty-four, and there would be still
remaining unutilized for any known purpose 570 tons
of water. There would remain a much larger quantity,
for the estimate of evaporation could not exist in a for-
est, and not under any circumstances at night. More-
over, evaporation from a freshly plowed soil does not
reach 1,000 pounds per hour, even without vegetation to
retard it.

Recurring to the sunflower experiment (Chapter V).
An acre of sunflowers three and a half feet high, esti-
mating 10,000 of them to the acre, which would be
crowding them, with their great broad leaves, would
transpire during twelve hours every day for ninety days
810 tons of water drawn from the soil. It will be per-
ceived that the 4,526 tons of irrigating water or rain-
fall are still practically intact, and it may occur to the
mind of the ordinary reader that forty inches is alto-
gether too much water to put on or into the soil for
any profitable or needed purpose. If not, what becomes

Quantity of Water to Raise Crops. 197

of it? It is not utilized by vegetation of any sort.
Even sugar cane, which possesses an insatiable thirst,
would repudiate such gluttony.

The fact is, about three-fourths of this water is
wasted—fed to run-off, seepage and drainage. It is
put into the soil to kill the plants eventually instead of
nourishing and giving them life.

Government experts say that out of a possible forty
inches of rainfall 50 per cent of it is lost in running
off or out of the land, and 25 per cent disappears
through evaporation. If this is correct, then there are
left ten inches to be utilized by the crop, whatever it
may be, and according to our calculation that amount
is ample for plant growth from the planting to the
harvest if irrigation is practiced as it should be.

There is this to be also considered, that rainfall
does not mean a precipitation of a certain number of
inches of water during the growing season when needed
more than at any other time, whereas irrigation does
mean that very thing. Taking four months of the
year as the growing period, that is to say, May, June,
July and August, where summer is the seedtime and
harvest, or January, February, March and April on
the Pacific Coast and semi-tropical regions, the mean
monthly precipitation of water at forty inches per an-
num’ would be one-twelfth of the annual supply, or
three and one-third inches, a total for the entire grow-
ing period of thirteen and one-third inches.

When it comes to crop requirements averages are
to be disregarded, but assuming it to be true that the
forty inches of rainfall are evenly distributed during
the growing season, as above specified, then a crop can
be grown to maturity on thirteen and one-third inches ;
indeed, it can not be imagined that the entire annual
rainfall is precipitated upon the soil during the four
months specified unless rice culture be contemplated.
With thirteen and one-third inches of water distributed

198 The Primer of Irrigation,

through the growing season the soil receives 1,508 tons
of water per acre, which, by referring to the cases of
the forest and the sunflowers above given, will more
than satisfy the requirements of those plants; in fact,
nearly two acres of sunflowers can be amply provid-
ed for.

Now, what becomes of the remaining twenty-six
and two-thirds inches of the assumed forty inches?
The 3,018 tons of water on our acre? In the opinion
of the writer that water has gone down to raise the
ground water uncomfortably close to the root zone,
where it will do damage, has run off or drained off.
It is certainly wasted unless the excess is. intended to
irrigate several more acres further down some slope, or
is to be pumped out from wells and used over again.
In that case, why put so much water on the soil if
agriculture be the object and not the water supply
business ?

It is not safe, however, to rely upon thirteen and
one-third inches of rainfall during the growing sea-
son. Farmers know to their cost that then the rain
possesses a very retiring disposition, and the skies are
brazen for long periods, long enough, sometimes, to
either ruin the crops or to stunt them and produce only
a small percentage of what was expected from their
early start and growth. In other words, the growing
season is also the season of drouths, except in those re-
gions where winter is the growing season, there being
no frosts to retard vegetation. Yet, strange to say, even
with all the uncertainties of summer moisture good
crops are sometimes grown and that on a small per-
centage of the annual rainfall. With irrigation sup-
plying the deficiency of rainfall there is a certainty of
a good, profitable crop every year.

What has been said thus far relates to land which
contains natural moisture or a water table, a supply
of water which is brought up to the surface by capillary

Quantity of Water to Raise Crops. 199

action or by accretions from heavy rains, and where the
soil is wet enough to require a system of drainage to
carry off the surplus. It is easy to perceive that under
such conditions plants will draw moisture from below
by means of their tap roots and thus supply themselves
with plant food to make up for any deficiency of pre-
cipitation. Where those conditions prevail, irrigation
becomes supplemental and is not only useful but es-
sential in the humid regions to overcome the possible
damage likely to occur during the period of drouths.
To dose the soil with water having a water table near
enough the surface for the tap roots of plants to reach
would be a waste and of no benefit to plant life, as
will be readily believed when it is understood that too
much water is as detrimental to plant life as too little.
Where there is moisture in the subsoil, and even a
modicum of rainfall during the summer months, the
author would suggest that if the deficiency amounts to
six inches, or four inches, or thirteen inches, such de-
ficiency be made good by an artificial application of
water at regular intervals, one surely just at the period
of flowering and the last one just before the ripening
of the fruit, or at the period when they are said to be
“in the milk.” At that time a chemical transforma-
tion is taking place in the economy of the plant, and
it must be supplied with the material to continue it,
else it will shrivel and die of old age before ripen-
ing.
The same observations may be adapted to those
semi-arid regions where the frosts of winter prevent the
existence of plant life, and the rainless summers de-
mand irrigation as necessary to raise a crop of any kind.
There are fall rains and winter snows, and by keeping
the ground open to their reception the moisture can be
retained for a long enough period to start the infant
plant well on its way in the spring, but after the first
true leaves are formed irrigation must begin and con-

200 The Primer of Irrigation,

tinue during the growing period, for there is no rainfall
to be depended upon as an aid to agriculture. Under
such conditions plants do not require any more moisture
than in any other region, and hence it is stated as a
broad proposition that the same quantity of moisture
that will raise a crop in the humid regions will also
raise one in the semi-arid districts, where winter is a
bar to winter growth.

In what are designated as “arid and semi-arid” re-
gions, with a,semi-tropical climate, although there is
very little rainfall, it is surprising how far the small
precipitation will go toward maturing a crop without
the assistance of artificial applications of water. Five
inches will raise a crop planted in dry ground before the
rains come, and by careful and continual cultivation of
the ground that crop will be profitable enough to make
it worth while to plant. In favorable soil one inch of
water will wet the ground down about eighteen inches or
two feet, and the first rain penetrating to the seed that
has been plowed under “dry” will cause it to sprout
within three or four days. From that time on until the
crop matures, in March or April, if the rain begins in
December or January, the farmer cultivates plants that
can be cultivated and harrows his wheat and barley to
keep the soil open as much as possible. There may not
be any moisture in the subsoil—on the contrary it may
be as “dry as a bone” for a hundred feet down—but
the crop grows, and with few inches of rain it reaches
maturity. Of course, it is not luxuriant vegetation,
nor is the wheat and barley as high as a man’s head.
But it produces enough for his stock and his vegeta-.
bles, unless sugar beets and deep-rooting plants fur-
nish him with a good supply. Some of these “dry
farmers” say they are satisfied with eight inches of
rainfall and consider fourteen inches a “wash out.” In
such regions the summer months, from May to No-
vernber, and sometimes into December, the skies are

Quantity of Water to Raise Crops. 201

cloudless and not a particle of rain falls. Then irriga-
tion is an absolute necessity, and it is practiced so as
to continue the growing season all the year round and
to produce a succession of crops without any cessation.
There is undoubtedly more evaporation from the soil
than in the humid regions, but that is diminished by
deep cultivation and pulverization of the soil. Plants,
however, do not require any more moisture than in any
other region, and when the quantity consumed by the
plant during its period of growth is carefully gauged
that is the amount of water to give the soil, with
about 25 per cent added to the account of evapora-
tion.

After all is said the quantity of water to be given
the soil artificially is governed, in a great measure, by
the nature of the soil. In Chapter V, “Relations of
Water to the Soil,” this subject is treated and the
reader is referred to that chapter for the facts and
figures. There is one axiomatic proposition which is
here repeated in this connection because it is the key
to the whole matter: “The more water the soil contains
in its pores the greater the evaporation.” Plants are
like the human body—gorge it,even with the most nour-
ishing foods, and it becomes sick; give it too little to
keep up its system and it becomes anemic. With just
enough, an equilibrium is maintained and health is se-
cured as a matter of course. This idea is what the
author seeks to convey in calling attention to the fact
that what a plant needs is the amount of provision
to make for it; all beyond that is superfluous, a waste
of material, not productive of any beneficial results.

CHapter XVIII.
MEASUREMENT OF WATER.

If we fill a gallon measure with water we know
that we have 231 cubie inches of water which weighs
eight and one-third pounds. That is the United States
standard. We also know, because it is easy to measure
it, that a cubic foot of water weighs sixty-two and one-
half pounds and measures 1,728 cubic inches, equal to
seven and one-half gallons.

When it comes to measure water for irrigation
purposes it is difficult to ascertain the exact quantity
measured, owing to arbitrary standards of what the
measure should be. Besides that, the various States
and countries are not agreed upon a universal stand-
ard of measurement, so that when one reads of fifty
inches being required to raise a crop, his measurement
may mean a much less number of inches if measured ac-
cording to some other standard. Ten thousand gallons
of water by accurate measurement may be run into
a reservoir, and in twenty-four hours or less that num-
ber of gallons will be materially reduced, but the loss
can be accurately estimated, and so can the exact quan-
tity run out of it for any purpose be measured almost
to a drop. But in the case of taking water from a
running or flowing stream or ditch, various difficulties
stand in the way of accurate measurement.

In measuring water from streams, ditches and run-
ning or flowing water, generally three standards, or
“units of measure” as they are called, have been agreed
upon. They are the inch, the cubic foot per second,
and the acre-foot.

THE INCH.

The “inch” as a unit of water measurement origi-
nated with the placer miners of the West and was

202

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Measurement of Water. 203

adopted by irrigators when water came to be used upon
the land for the growing of crops. It is the volume of
water which will flow through an inch-square open-
ing or orifice with a certain other volume of water over
and above it te'give it what is known as “pressure.” Both
the opening as to size and the depth of water above it
are regulated by the laws of some of the States, and in
many localities it is regulated by custom—that is, by
agreement. The definition given in the laws of Colo-
rado will furnish an idea of what constitutes an inch:

“Water sold by the inch shall be measured as fol-
lows, to-wit: Every inch shall be considered equal to
an inch-square orifice under a five-inch pressure, and
a five-inch pressure shall be from the top of the orifice
of the box put into the banks of the ditch to the sur-
face of the water.”

Of course, this opening may be larger than one
inch square; for instance, six inches, or twelve inches,
but in that case the inch will become multiplied into
#s many inches as there are inches in the opening. At
six inches the volume of water would be thirty-six
inches, and at twelve inches there would be delivered
144 inches of water. A simple and usual way to meas-
ure the inch and retain the pressure is to make the
opening one inch wide and any number of inches long
—a slot, so to speak; over this slot is arranged a sliding
board that can be moved back and forth any number of
inches of actual measurement with a carpenter’s rule.
By this device there will always be the required volume
of water, or pressure, above the inch orifice.

Many irrigators roughly measure the quantity of
water delivered from a ditch, or canal, by calculating
the number of square inches in a cross section of the
ditch and calling the result so many inches of water,
but this is not a safe rule to follow, for pressure and
the velocity of the stream of water are not taken into

204 The Primer of Irrigation.

consideration, and they make a vast difference some-
times in the quantity of water delivered. The orifice
measurement under pressure is the most accurate and
gives better satisfaction.

The inch, however, as a standard of measurement,
or unit, is of very little use except for the measure-
ment of small quantities of water. It may be adapted
to the distribution of water from small main ditches
or their laterals.

CUBIC FOOT PER SECOND OR “SECOND-FOOT.”

Owing to the inconveniences of the “inch” as a
unit of measurement, and the limitation on the me-
chanical device for measuring it, the cubic foot per sec-
ond or “second-foot”’ has been adopted as better adapted
to the measurement of both large and small quantities of
water; indeed, it is made the legal unit in most of the
arid States and Territories in water contracts and for
defining the amounts appropriated from streams. But
although made the unit of measurement it is used in
connection with the inch—that is, a cubic foot per sec-
ond is distributed to farmers according to the number
of inches it is supposed to contain. This is fixed by law
and the following table will show the variations in the
number of inches contained in a cubic foot per second:

In California, Idaho, Nevada and Utah fifty min-
ers’ inches equal one cubic foot per second, measured
under a four-inch pressure from the center of the orifice.

In Arizona and Montana forty miners’ inches equal
one cubic foot per second, measured under a six-inch
pressure from the top of the orifice.

In Colorado 38.4 miners’ inches equal one cubic
foot per second, measured under a five-inch pressure
from the top of the orifice.

A second-foot is a cubic foot which passes 2 given
point in a ditch or canal in one second of time, and to
measure the number of second feet it is only necessary

Measurement of Water. 205

to multiply the number of seconds of time by the cubic
feet of the stream to ascertain the total quantity of
water. ‘T’o make this clearer, let the reader imagine
a small stream filling a square conduit or box one foot
wide and one foot deep. This gives a stream the face
or sectional area of which is one square foot. Now,
if the water runs through this conduit or box at the
speed of one foot per second of time, that will measure
exactly one cubic foot per second, or one second-foot.
If the water moves at a higher speed, as, for example
five linear feet per second, the volume will be five cubic
feet per second. If the conduit or stream is five feet
wide and twenty feet deep, the area of its face is 100
square feet, and the water flowing one foot per second
will give a volume of 100 cubic feet per second or sec-
ond-feet ; if it runs two feet per second, then the volume
will be 200 cubic feet per second of time.

In measuring the flow of a stream it will be under-
stood from the foregoing that the width, depth and
speed or velocity are calculated. Streams, however,
are very irregular in their measurements and the veloc-
ity of the water is not fixed. For instance, the water
flows more rapidly in the center or where it is deep;
along the shore where it is shallow the friction against
the bank and bottom retard it quite perceptibly. More-
over, the water flows more rapidly below the surface
than at the surface. In such case it is estimated that
the place of the greatest motion is about one-third of
the distance beneath the surface, this being the locality
where the water is least impeded by friction.

It is manifestly impossible for one to stand at the
delivery point of the water, watch in hand, and calcu-
late the number of second-feet that flow, hence a simple
way of measuring the whole stream is quite common.
A line, say 100 feet, is laid off along the bank and each
end of the line is marked by a stake. Then a light float
—a chip will answer the purpose—is cast into the

206 The Primer of Irrigation.

stream above the upper stake and the exact time it
passes is noted, and also the exact time it passes the
lower stake. If the float requires twenty seconds to
travel between the two stakes, then the velocity of the
water is assumed to be five feet per second. Other
floats are necessary, for the stream runs with unequal
velocity, but the average speed together with the aver-
age measurement is taken as the basis of a calculation
and the number of second-feet determined from that.
Thus, if the width averages twenty feet, the depth four
feet, the cross sectional area is eighty square feet. Then,
if the rate of flow is two feet per second, we have a
volume of 160 second-feet.

THE ACRE-FOOT.

The preceding water measurements are restricted
to flowing water for irrigating purposes. There are
numerous methods of measuring the volume of water
more accurately than in the case of the chip, and it may
be said that by means of submerged floats, current
meters with electrical attachments, and other con-
trivances and calculations based upon scientific princi-
ples, very little water will escape the notice of the com-
pany who has it for sale, and the farmer may be sure
of receiving all he is entitled to for his land. By-and
by it will be possible for the irrigation farmer to esti-
mate exactly the quantity of water required by his
plants, and that amount he will be able to give them
with accuracy and without any waste or excess.

It is becoming the practice to store unused water
during the periods when there is an abundant supply—
that is, to lay aside in reservoirs enough to meet any
possible contingency of drought or insufficient supply
when most needed. The standard of measurement of
water stored in reservoirs, the unit of quantity, is
designated as “an acre-foot”; that is, an amount of
water which will cover one acre of ground, or 43,560

Measurement of Water. 207

square feet to a depth of one foot. This will give, of
course, 43,560 cubic feet, or 325,851 gallons. One
cubic foot per second flowing constantly for twenty-four
hours equals nearly two acre-feet, and from this it is not
difficult to convert cubic feet per second into acre-feet
and estimate the quantity of water to be stored in
reservoirs for the use and requirements of crops. The
reservoirs themselves may also be measured in the same
manner as a tank, but allowance must be made for
evaporation and absorption.

To further explain the technical units of measure-
ments into quantities, the following table is given:

One second-foot equals 450 gallons per minute.

One cubic foot equals 7.5 gallons.

One second-foot equals two acre-feet in twenty-four
hours flowing constantly.

One hundred California inches equal four acre-feet
in twenty-four hours.

One hundred Colorado inches equal five and one-
sixth acre-feet in twenty-four hours.

One Colorado inch equals 17,000 gallons in twenty-
four hours.

One second-foot equals fifty-nine and one-half acre-
feet in thirty days.

Two acre-feet equal one second-foot per day, or
.0333 second-feet in thirty days.

One million gallons equal 3.069 acre-feet.

Taking water from streams and ditches open to the
atmosphere and its changes, rapid evaporation, seepage
and absorption, is always attended with an enormous
waste, the consequence being that the farmer never
knows and no man can tell him whether he is giving
his crops the quantity of water they absolutely require.
He can not tell how much of the water applied to the
soil is utilized by the crops, or is carried off by drain-
age, seepage, infiltration to some portion of the land

208 The Primer of Irrigation.

where it is not needed and generally lost for useful
purposes. He knows, however, that so much water is
measured out to him and that he pays for the amount
that runs through the head gate, whether it is of any
practical use to him or not. The returns from his crops
do not represent as much as he hoped, for the expense
takes away a very large slice of his profits. His water
tax may represent one-third of his receipts, and though
he may be well aware that he never received the water
he pays for—that is, it never was utilized by his crops—
there is no way out of his embarrassment, he must pay
or quit. His farm belongs to him—that is, he has the
deed to it—but he is paying rent on it all the time.

CHaprer XIX.
PUMPS AND IRRIGATION MACHINERY.

In Chapter XII is given a calculation of the amount
of water precipitated upon the earth’s surface and
carried into the soil. The amount is enormous, and
if not carried off in the variety of ways mentioned
would soon reduce the surface of the globe to an un-
inhabitable morass. Moreover, if the annual precipita-
tions were uniform in all places there would not be
any necessity for irrigation or anxiety about drouths
and an insufficient water supply.

We know it to be a fact that all this tremendous
annual mass of water poured from the clouds upon the
land, or at least a great percentage of it, is carried into
the soil, where it filters and seeps down by the force
of gravity as far as it can, or until it encounters some
obstruction, and if it can not run, seep or drain off
back into surface conveyances it remains stationary,
waiting for an exit.

The water from rivers and streams is a very small
quantity compared with the quantity beneath the sur-
face. It is, in fact, the “run-off” from rain, snow or
saturations of the soil that is utilized in ditch and
canal irrigation, and that run-off varies in amount
from a flood to a thread-like, meandering stream, which
is an aggravation as a source of irrigation water. Of
course, there are exceptions in large streams, the great
waterways of the country, some of them the main
arteries of commerce and apparently inexhaustible in
water supply.

We have not, however, reached the full limit of
land cultivation by irrigation, and when the vast re-
gions yet unreclaimed, but the most fertile in the

209

~ 210 The Primer of Irrigation.

world, shall have been put under water, or, rather, be
ready for water, as a scientist recently observed, ““Where
is that water to be got?” ‘The fact is that it would re-
quire the services of several Mississippis to supply the
demand, and even then in a dry season there would be
a deficiency. It was owing to the fact that there was
not surface water enough, and that the reclamation
of arid and semi-arid lands had, apparently, come to
a standstill, that the Government has interested itself
in the subject of reclamation by irrigation and turned
its attention to the construction of gigantic dams,
reservoirs and the sinking of wells to secure an ade-
quate volume of water for the purpose of building an
empire of fruitfulness in what has always been consid-
ered an unfertile and dreary desert.

That there is an abundance of water beneath the
surface of the earth is beyond controversy. There is
not a desert spot on the globe which, lurking down
below its burnt exterior, does not contain natural reser-
voirs of water in abundance. Even the midst of Sa-
hara is beginning to blossom like a rose with water
brought from beneath its sands with very little trouble,
and in our own country the great American desert is
becoming a vast green pasture and orchard of thriving
trees and vines through a little scratching of the sur-
face to obtain the life-giving moisture that never fails
to be where it is wanted.

All this leads to the subject of wells, but as that
matter has been gone over in a fairly full manner, and
as this book is not intended to be scientific or techni-
cal, but a primer of irrigation, the methods of digging
wells, their variety and history may very well be omit-
ted and this chapter limited to the means of extracting
the water from them.

PUMPS.

The only suitably economical method of raising

water from a lower to a higher level, as from a well,

Pumps and Irrigation Machinery. 211

is by means of a pump. When pumps were first in-
vented or used it is difficult to say, and, moreover, it
is of very little moment to know the exact date or the
inventor's name. It is quite certain that if he were
able to return today and view the innumerable varie-
ties of them, and their tremendous capacity, he would
not be able to recognize the principles he sought to put
in a practical form.

SUCTION PUMPS.

The ordinary pump is the suction pump, con-
structed upon the principle that water will fill a
vacuum to the height of 33.9 feet vertically at sea
level. The piston of this pump fits tight in a smooth
cylinder and has a small valve in its upper end which
opens upward. The piston is lowered as far as the
piston rod will permit, the valve opening to allow it
to descend easily. Then the piston is lifted up by
means of a level to the full length of the piston rod,
the valve this time being closed. By repeating this
up and down motion a vacuum is created in the cylin-
der of the pump—that is, the atmosphere is extracted—
and if there is any water it begins to come up and can be
made to overflow through a spout placed at the surface.
Now, water can not be “sucked” up in this manner more
than 33.9 feet in a perfect vacuum, and as a perfect
vacuum, that is a reservoir absolutely free from at-
mospheric air, the estimated height at sea level to which
water can be drawn by means of a suction pump does
not exceed twenty-eight feet.

The altitude above the sea level and various at-
mospheric conditions reduce this suction lift materially.
for instance: 1,500 feet above sea level the suction lift
is 25 feet; 1,500 to 2,000 feet, 2414 feet; 3,000 feet, 23
feet; 4,000 feet, 22 feet; 5,000 feet, 21 feet ; 6,000 feet,
201/, feet ; 7,000 feet, 20 feet ; 8,000 feet, 19 feet ; 9,000
feet, 18 feet; 10,000 feet, which is as high as pumping

212 The Primer of Irrigation.

for irrigating water will probably go, water can be
sucked up only 17 feet. Some engineers say that 20
per cent less would be a factor of safety in putting in
a pump.

These pumps can do a great deal of work if kept
constantly at it. Take a suction, single-acting pump
that is, one with only one cylinder, having a cylinder
five inches in diameter, and a six-inch length of stroke,
and it will deliver one-half a gallon per stroke. The
faster the man who works the pump makes the strokes,
the more water the pump will deliver. At ten strokes
per minute, which may be called “leisurely,” he would
be able to raise 300 gallons an hour, and by doubling
the diameter of the pipe or cylinder, he would increase
the capacity of the pump four times and deliver two
gallons per stroke. By using horse power such an ordi-
nary pump may be made to raise six times as much
water, and with a longer lift, one of ten feet, one horse
power, an ordinary pump is able to raise 200 gallons per
minute, an amount sufficient to give an acre of ground
half an inch of water in ten hours.

WINDMILLS.

Animal power is not commensurate with irrigation
on anything but a very small scale, as for a small kitchen
garden with a few small fruits. Other power must be
brought into requisition to attain profit in gardening
or general agriculture, where irrigation is practiced.
The most common and economical power, though vari-
able at times, is the wind. It is utilized by means of a
windmill, which may very properly be called a “wind
engine.”

The origin of windmills, like that of numerous
other things of benefit to mankind is lost in the ob-
scurity of time. About the twelfth century they came
into practical use in Holland for the purpose of drain-
ing and grinding grain. This mill was of a very unique

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Pumps and Irrigation Machinery. 213

construction, with a shaft called the wind shaft, which
carried four arms or whips on which long, rectangular
sails were spread. The whip carrying the sail was often
thirty to eighty feet long, so that the tips of the sails de-
scribed a circle sixty to eighty feet in diameter. These
sails came down close to the ground, and every one who
has read the adventures of Don Quixote will not be sur-
prised that his encounter with the windmill on the sup-
position that it was a cruel giant ended disastrously.

There is now at Lawrence, Kan., the ruins of what
is said to be the first windmill of this type erected in
the United States. It was erected by an English com-
pany at an expense of $10,000 upon the Holland plan.
Since that time the windmill has become a thing of
beauty and power, and for cheapness it is within the
reach of every farmer, and is one of the most economical
aids to irrigation that can be devised.

It is indeed the simplest appliance for raising water
known, and as showing the capacity of a first-class
modern windmill, the following table is submitted as
founded on experience and positive guarantee. The
“size” mentioned in the first column means the diam-
eter of the wheel, and the “lift” expressed at the top
of the columns refers to the distance of the piston to the
point of delivery:

Size .120,106 2.75 80,070 1.84 49,742 1.14
Feet. 10-ft. Lift. 15-ft. Lift. 25-ft. Lift.

POb 2 is ha Sq.ft. Acres. Sq.ft. Acres. Sq.ft. Acres.
TORS saales 37,161 85 24,775 57 14,768 34
1 eee 66,765 1.53 44,510 1.02 26,134 .60
a ee 85,982 1.97 57,321 1.31 34,757 .79

The table represents the number of square feet and
acres the windmill will irrigate one inch deep per
average day’s work of ten hours. It is conceivable that
a sixteen-foot mill will irrigate at least twenty acres of
land, and by running double time, as some do, will store

214 The Primer of Irrigation.

up water to supply deficiencies caused by lack of wind.
At the rate of supply indicated, every acre will receive
its inch of water on alternate five or ten days, which,
during a growing season of ninety or one hundred days
means ample to raise almost any sort of crop, provided
small furrow or tight trough conveyances are used, and
after cultivation practiced.

When it is considered that an inch of water on an
acre of ground means 27,154 gallons, it will be easily
comprehended that such a windmill working out of the
growing or irrigating season will store abundant water
in a storage reservoir. It means the storage of at least
five million gallons that may be used for winter or fall
irrigation and furnish an abundant supply for stock
and household purposes.

As to the cost of such an irrigating outfit, exclusive
of the cost of the well and reservoir, the following are
the ruling prices complete, ready to put up and begin
pumping:

Ten-foot mill, $62; twelve-foot, $97 ; fourteen-foot,
$133 ; sixteen-foot, $195.

Of course, the purchaser must first find the water
with which to irrigate, and plenty of it. He should
avoid doing as did a friend of the author, who dug a
well 108 feet deep, with about six feet of water at the
bottom. After putting up a twenty-four foot mill, he
began making preparations to flood forty acres of
ground. In less than two hours his pump ran dry,
and on investigating he found that the well was dry
and it took eight hours for it to fill up again.

RESERVOIR.

The reservoir should be located on the highest point
of land it is desired to irrigate, with the bottom of the
reservoir above it if possible. Then plow deep around
the line to avoid earth seams under the embankment.

Pumps and Irrigation Machinery. 215

The interior should be plowed and scraped toward the
line of the embankment and harrowed until the earth
becomes finely pulverized. This bottom should then be
carefully and thoroughly puddled. If hard pan or clay
can be found, then dig down to it and establish the bot-
tom of the reservoir on it as a sure foundation for a
water-tight receptacle.

The height of the embankment depends upon the
amount of water capacity, but it should not be less than
four by ten feet wide at ground level, and two feet wide
at the tip. The inside slope should be gradual, to pre-
vent washing by ripples or waves, and it may be sodded
or seeded down to grass until a stiff sod is formed, which
will prevent any washing away of the earth.

The outer embankment may be steep or nearly per-
pendicular, but as there will always be some seepage, it
would be wise to make it slope gently and use it for
raising garden truck, small fruits, or whatever else the
farmer may fancy in the way of ornament or profit.

As to size, that must be governed according to the
irrigator’s needs. An acre of reservoir would not be
too much to accommodate a good windmill, and this ac-
cording to the measurements already given, may be
made to contain half a million or a million gallons. If
the stored water is to be used frequently, then the size
of the reservoir may be lessened.

For stock purposes, a smaller reservoir may be
constructed below or away from the larger one, and into
this smaller one the water can easily be run as needed
for a change or freshening; the excess of unused water
may be run upon any plowed ground to soak into the
soil, for after all is said, where there is moisture in the
soil, the labor of irrigation is easy and the quantity of
water required very much reduced. After once filling
the reservoir it should never be entirely emptied, for if

216 The Primer of Irrigation,

the bottom is permitted to dry it will surely crack and
then, when refilled, the water will drain out.

TANKS.

It is well to have a tank of some kind to provide
against sudden dearth of water from lack of wind, or
stoppage of machinery for repairs. With a reservoir
however, the necessity of a tank is not so apparent
unless the water is to be used for household purposes.
In many kitchen or truck gardens, it is recommended to
sink a barrel or square tank at various places, say, at
the head of the beds where gross feeding plants are
raised. Beets, carrots, onions, etc., with radishes and
lettuce, or salads of any kind, like plenty of water, and
when they need it they must have it. It is not always
profitable to run water in a furrow over a long stretch
of soil to give a few vegetables the trifle of water they
may happen to need. The waste is too great to be worth
while. Hence tanks come to the rescue and the water
may be raised from them by means of a hand pump.

In large fields, where drainage pipes or tile are
laid, and a system adopted which will merge or unite
the tile into one basin or large cross drainage tile, it has
already been said that by sinking openings through the
soil in the nature of wells down to the subterranean
tile and stopping up the outlets, the water may be made
to rise to the surface or near it and be utilized by means
of pumps, or through ditches or flumes if the land below
is down grade, or lower than the source of supply. In-
stead of a cross drainage system to catch the surplus
water, tanks may be sunk and the drainage tile made to
end in them.

For windmill purposes to store water for house-
hold uses, tanks may be purchased ready made in cy-
press, pine or iron at from about $8 for a 70-gallon
tank to $100 for a 5,000-gallon one. These tanks are
made all the way up to 100,000 gallons capacity.

Sumps and Irrigation Machinery. 217

HORSE POWER OUTFIT.

Pumps are arranged so as to be worked by horse
power, using one or two horses. The one-horse power
pump is fitted for a 3-inch suction pipe and a 21-inch
discharge pipe. This will deliver 53.9 gallons per min-
ute. The two-horse power outfit is fitted with a 4-inch
suction pipe and a 3-inch discharge pipe, the capacity
of which is 102.9 gallons per minute. The cost of the
one-horse power is about $210 complete, and the two-
horse power, $240.

Some prefer the horse power outfit to the windmill,
because they do not consider themselves at the mercy
of the shifting and variable winds of heaven. On the
prairies and near the sea coast, however, the windmill
is. preferred as the winds are nearly constant, at least
they blow with sufficient force and long enough to sup-
ply all the water needed. Wind at fifteen miles an hour
is strong enough to work a windmill up to its full
capacity.

GASOLINE ENGINES.

The gasoline engine for pumping purposes is grow-
ing in favor, owing to the cheapness of the fuel and the
capacity and simplicity of the engine. An engine that
costs about $100 will furnish about 134 horse power,
consume one gallon of gasoline in ten hours of steady
work and supply 4,000 gallons of water. Other gaso-
line engines ranging up to a water delivery of 10,000
gallons and more an hour may be purchased at reason-
able cost, and will do an enormous amount of work at a
trifling expense. These engines are suitable in the
barren regions where wood and coal can not be had for
fuel without great expense.

OTHER PUMPING POWER.

Where conditions will admit of them, steam, hot
air and even electricity are brought into requisition for

218 The Primer of Irrigation.

pumping water to be used in irrigating land. Coal.
wood and other fuel, however, must be at hand in un-
limited quantities, for all such power is a voracious
feeder—the more power the more fuel.

All the appliances and machinery for irrigation are
being reduced to simplicity and the saving of water.
Open canals and ditches with their loss of 50 per cent
of water are becoming things of the past. Economy
of use is now the rule, and the farmer who understands
the needs of soil and plants makes a good profit out
of his farm, whereas he would cultivate it at a loss
without that knowledge. Raising crops for market for
profit has become a matter of dollars and cents, and a
penny saved is a penny earned in agriculture as well as
in the mercantile business.

To save water is the great aim of irrigators, and
where there were once open leaky ditches and canals
there are now cemented water conveyances. On _ the
large farm, as well as on the small one, it is beginning
to be understood that gorging plants with water and
saturating the soil is not the proper system for growing
crops for profit. The lessons sought to be imparted in
this book, if well learned and followed, can not fail to
be of benefit to every farmer who reads it. The essen-
tial principles only are given; each farmer must apply
them for himself, for he can not have an apostle at his
elbow all the time to guide and direct him when he is
on the point of making a mistake,

CHAPTER XX.
IRRIGATION OF PROFITABLE CROPS.

The crops a farmer should raise on his land with
profit to himself depend upon numerous conditions,
many of them variable. No matter what his desires
may be, no matter what his neighbor may do or raise,
or how much he may succeed, every farmer is a tub
that must stand on its own bottom. He must say to
himself: “What is my land fit for? What are my
means of cultivation, my water supply? What does
the market demand, and how can I reach that mar-
ket without paying out all my profits in transporta-
tion ?”

If all the conditions are unfavorable to the raising

of crops with profit to himself, the author’s advice to
him is to raise nothing in the way of crops for mar-
ket, but raise all the produce possible on your land
and feed it to stock—cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry. There
is always an unvarying demand for these products of
the farm, and though the market may be glutted some-
times, yet on the whole, all the year round, the farmers
always come out something ahead.
_ It appears to be the destiny of a farmer to al-
ways try experiments, put seed into his ground, and
then toil and perspire to make it grow to maturity,
and then get nothing for his pains. A farmer will put
certain seeds into his ground, and, as this appears to
be inevitable, the only thing that can be done is to
help him realize on his expectations.

CEREALS.
Every farmer plants wheat. He is bound to do
so or feel that he is not really a farmer.
This grain should always be sown on high ground
and not in a deep, mellow soil, for it is not a deep-
219

220 The Primer of Irrigation.

rooted plant. In the arid and semi-arid regions,
where the rains do not fall until late in November
or beginning of December, the wheat may be plowed
under after sowing the surface, and this at any time
during September and October. It is good dry farm-
ing to do so, and even if the grain is to be irrigated
the effect is to have a good stand by the time water is
put upon the land. The first rain that comes sprouts
the seed and sends it up three or four inches, where
it is ready for another rain or for an irrigation. It
is the same with all other cereals.

This system would never do, however, in a moist
soil. In such a case the soil should be carefully plowed
shallow and harrowed and the seed drilled in, about a
bushel to the acre. If the ground is surface dry it
should be flooded, say two inches, then in twenty-four
hours harrow and drill in the seed. Do not roll land
where irrigation-is practiced, because it is liable to
cake, and this means evaporation. When the grains
are up two or three inches it is good to run a light
harrow over the field. It loosens the soil and does not
harm the grain, even if it does pull up a few plants;
there is always too much sown, anyway. Twenty to
thirty days apart will be enough irrigation—the first
one when the grain is five or six inches high, say two
inches, and a month after that one inch. In hot
climates it is beneficial to give a third irrigation when
the grain is heading or when it is in the milk. The
condition of the soil, as well as that of the plant, must
be considered and the quantity of water gauged ac-
cording to that. Digging down six inches will tell
the condition as to moisture, and breaking off a stalk
or two tell the condition of the plant. If “well” the
stalk will be juicy and damp to the touch. If dry,
yellowish, and breaks easily, give it water as soon as
possible:

Irrigation of Profitable Crops. 221

The Chinese and the Japanese plant their grain
in ridges about twenty inches apart and use only about
ten pounds per acre. But an acre will produce more,
at least just as much, as when drilled or sown broadcast.
One grain of wheat will “stool” out into sixty, and
sometimes eighty, healthy stalks in this way. There
are some small farmers who plant wheat along the
borders of their vegetable and small fruit beds and give
it careful cultivation. If planted farther apart, so as
to admit of the passage of a cultivator between the
rows and cultivated like corn, the result is most aston-
ishing. The fact is that when a bushel of wheat can
be grown in as small a space as a bushel of corn or
potatoes there is no reason why wheat should not be
grown in that manner, at least on small farms. One
thing to be considered where wheat is concerned is
that an excess of water spoils the food value of the
grain. For feeding or forage purposes it does not make
so much difference, as water in abundance increases
the nutritive elements in the husk.

BARLEY.

Barley is the standard crop for forage, or “hay,”
in the arid and semi-arid regions. It will grow on
almost any kind of soil, and being a deep-rooted plant
it does not depend so much on irrigation as wheat. It
will grow a good stalk and form a good head for hay
with six inches of rainfall and produce good, market-
able grain with ten inches and no irrigation.

The soil should be plowed deep and well pulver-
ized, then drilled im either in the fall or spring, or
sown broadcast. To raise it to perfection, and it re-
pays the labor of doing so, it should be given water
when about four inches high and another irrigation
when the heads are in the milk. It is a very profitable
crop to raise for brewing purposes, the demand for
malting barley being constant and increasing. More-

222 The Primer of Irrigation.

over, the price is much better than that for wheat. It
will grow two miles above the sea level and flourish
in alkali soil that will kill a sugar beet.

OATS.

Oats, fall or spring planted, require plenty of
water and attention, or they will refuse to grow. There
is one exception, however, and that is the case of the
“oat hills’ in southern California, where a crop of
fine oats springs up spontaneously every spring. The
stalks grow as high as a man’s head, with well rounded
heads, juicy and succulent. Just before the fall rains
the ground is cleared of the old stalks, a treetop or a
harrow dragged over it roughly, and then left to itself;
the grain comes up in about three days after the first
rain of the season and does not require any irrigation
at all. The origin of this singular exception to the
rules relating to oats is in the old padres of the mis-
sions, who, when traveling about on their ponies for
many hundreds of miles, always carried a bag of grain
at their saddlebow, and when they came to a spot that
looked fertile they scattered the seed with a blessing
that it might grow. For over a hundred years this
grain grew and there was no man to harvest it, so it
ripened and returned back into the soil whence it
came, and now, to this day, it keeps on sprouting and
never ceasing, the soil below being dry and the seed
sprouting when the moisture reaches it.

However, many farmers irrigate oats frequently
under the supposition that they need more water than
any other cereal, and the proof of it is that the crop is
enormous when well irrigated.

RYE.

This is a hardy annual that will grow to full ma-
turity and give a good harvest with very little care and
irrigation. A medium irrigation when about half

Irrigation of Profitable Crops. 228

grown and another when heading is sufficient. Culti-
vation, however, should be deep and the soil well pul-
verized.

OORN.

Corn is a deep-rooted plant and hence the soil
should be plowed deep and care taken that there is
moisture in the subsoil. There is no need of surface
moisture, wherefore deep furrow irrigation, with after-
liberal cultivation and soil pulverization, will produce
a fine crop.

A side hill where there is seepage water is most
favorable for all the varieties of corn. In some in-
stances small fields of corn on a side hill have pro-
duced marvelously by merely filling a ditch at the
top of the slope and allowing it to seep down into the
root zone. On flat land, with subsoil moisture, one
watering when the plant is tasseling will be ample.

In the arid and semi-arid regions corn is plowed
under dry, as is the case with wheat and other cereals.
Five or six grains are dropped in every third furrow
a good step of the plowman apart and left to itself
with a good deep cultivation when about a foot high,
the earth being thrown over against the stalks.

Corn does remarkably well in deep, rich soil, but
will grow very well in any soil provided the roots can
reach moisture. The manufacture of starch in the
plant ecomony demands great drafts upon the chemical
laboratory of the soil. The bottom of the stalk of
a young shoot of corn is as sweet as sugar cane, which
is proof that the plant is drawing its food far below
the surface, and that it is preparing to manufacture
the starch which is afterward found in the ripened
grain.

Corn grows better in ridges than in hills, even
when not irrigated. In all cases the earth must be
pulled up around and close to the stalks, not only for

224 The Primer of Irrigation.

the purpose of mulching against evaporation of the
moisture, but to shield the process of converting sugar
into starch, a process quickly stopped by exposure to
the elements or to desiccating atmospheric air.

All of the foregoing cereals may be grown for
forage, and if cut when in the milk they are productive
of good flesh on cattle and will grow at the rate of
from four to six tons to the acre. Where dry farming
is practiced, and the season is unfavorable for the per-
fection of the grain, the plant is cut for fodder or
hay and fed to the cattle, and in the case of corn it is
fed green to milch cows.

RICE.

This is an amphibious plant; some call it aquatic.
However that may be, the ground is prepared for it
as for wheat, by thorough tilling and pulverizing. The
rice is sown about eighty pounds to the acre and then
harrowed and rolled. Left to itself, it sprouts and
grows up to about five inches without showing any
aquatic properties. But the farmer then puts about
an inch of water, perhaps two inches—that is, covers
the field under one or two inches of water—and as the
plant grows he adds more water until the field is buried
six to ten inches deep. The plant grows vigorously,
and when the grain is in the milk the water is run
off, and by the time the rice is ripe the ground is dry
enough to harvest. It is harvested very much the same
as wheat—put into bundles and piled up to be cured
and ready for the separator or thresher.

In its wild state rice is essentially aquatic; the
plant roots never find themselves in anything but mud.
From time immemorial the Chinese have treated it
as a semi-aquatic plant, and if any one has ever tried
to raise it like wheat the author has not been able to
learn. Perhaps it might be so grown and produce a

Irrigation of Profitable Crops. 225

new variety and be an addition to our valuable list of
cereals.
COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS.
OISER WILLOW.

The oiser willow is used in the manufacture of
baskets and its culture may be made very profitable
if near the market of a large city or basket manu-
factory.

Some years ago Mr. G. Groezinger, a vineyardist
near Yountville, Napa County, Cal., sent to Germany
for some cuttings. He received about fifty and planted
them along one of his lateral ditches, which always
contained water, more or less of a good supply. The
cuttings took root and grew beautifully, and the next
year he pruned the plants down to stumps and planted
the cuttings all along the ditch for several hundred
feet. They grew bunchy, with thick clumps of long,
slender branches drooping over the ditch and made a
delightful shade. Calling the attention of a San
Francisco basketmaker to them, the latter bought the
supply on the ground and sent men out to prune the
plants. They cut off the long branches and cast them
into the ditch to soak in the water, and in a week or
so came out again and stripped off the bark, leaving
slender, white, pliable branches, which were speedily
made into fine, marketable baskets of all sizes and
shapes. After the fourth year of his planting the
original cuttings Mr. Groezinger received more than
$1,500 per year income from the cuttings, the pur-
chaser doing all the work of harvesting them.

The plant will grow in any climate, provided it
has abundant water during the growing season. Along
a ditch is its habitat.

FLAX AND HEMP.

. These two textile fabric plants, so to speak, may
be raised to perfection by irrigation. They require,

226 The Primer of Irrigation.

however, a moist soil, and for that sub-irrigation
would be the proper system of irrigating them. They
are deep-rooted plants and may be planted in drills or
beds. Both plants are profitable for their fiber and
for their seeds, the latter yielding up to twenty bush-
els per acre about a ton or two tons of fiber. The lat-
ter must be soaked in a ditch or other receptacle to
separate the fiber from its hard envelope.

HOPS.

This plant should find a place in every garden
and on every farm, if not for market purposes at least
for household uses. It is very easily grown, being a
deep-rooted perennial which needs a moist subsoil.
The plant is propagated from cuttings, three eyes to
each piece planted. At least four inches is the proper
depth to plant the cuttings, and they will speedily
come up and spread runners out in every direction.
They should be pruned down to a few and then poled.

COTTON AND TOBACCO.

These two valuable products belong to field cul-
ture on an immense scale. Cotton may well be said to
be “king” and tobacco its “heir apparent.” There
are no two plants in the world so necessary—that is,
cotton for its economical uses and tobacco as an article
of luxury. Cotton is a deep-rooted plant requiring a
moist soil. Where irrigation is necessary the soil is
irrigated preparatory to planting the seed and once
again when the balls begin to form. The plant needs
very little care, and in that respect it is the very oppo-
site of tobacco.

Tobacco requires a soil very carefully prepared.
The plants are raised from seed in frames and set out
the same as cabbage and tomatoes, carefully puddled
in and the rows irrigated by a small stream until the

Irrigation of Profitable Crops. 227

plants take root, which they will do in a few days.
Frequent and thorough cultivation of the soil is neces-
sary, but water must be applied sparingly, one irriga-
tion during the middle period of growth being suffi-
cient, provided the cultivation is thorough and the
subsoil moist. When the soil is dry and warm, irri-
gation may be applied every ten days after the first
month of growth. In the arid region top or leaf spray-
ing is necessary, but tobacco is not recommended as a
plant profitable in arid soil, it thriving best in a warm,
moist climate.
STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION.

It may be of interest to know the amount of the
foregoing profitable plants produced in the United
States. The following is an approximate of quantities
as nearly as can be ascertained from the means of in-
formation:

Wheaten ti cee un. oa. 753,460,218 bushels
PREIEY sale! L522 a a delsiat swe 178,795,890 bushels
12) 0) CSS Sgn Ris 736,808,724 bushels
Bee ed Oiak sfelordeasoeN v 30,344,830 bushels
BTR LE ick. hee aed 2,522,519,891 bushels
LCS a eS 283,665,627 pounds
POO ORR woo eee 5,384,000,000 pounds
LI i or a 500,000,000 pounds
PROBA uy ht ae latse belts 0's'6.< 20,000,000 pounds (about)
Wlaxseed Psa db Re Sh 5,000,000 bushels (about)

The total value of which was in the neighborhood
of two thousand million dollars ($2,000,000,000).

CHAPTER XXI.
IRRIGATION OF PROFITABLE PLANTS.

It has been impressed upon the mind of the
reader in the preceding chapters that plants draw
their food from moisture and not from water.
True, moisture comes from water, but the mean-
ing sought to be conveyed is that moisture is a
food solution, a preparation for nourishing the plant—
its “pap,” so to speak. When water is applied to the
soil it attacks the various soluble salts, both organic
and inorganic, and causes a chemical change to take
place, or, rather, a series of chemical changes, and
in that way the elements in the soil are converted into
food. There are fermentations, transformations and
many radical changes effected, until the water con-
verted into moisture can not be recognized as water
at all or any more than vinegar, wine or potatoes can
be called water, although they contain water as an
element in their composition, as an ingredient.

This fact can not be overestimated, because on its
understanding hinges the art of irrigation. There
are air plants which have no rooting in the soil, yet
they could not live without moisture. There are also
plants which flourish in the desert, where the soil is
entirely dry for a hundred feet below the surface, yet
these could not live without moisture. The question
is, Where do they get it? They certainly do not re-
quire water, for there is none within reach of their
roots or leaves. They obtain it from the atmosphere,
and this atmosphere is an element that must be reck-
oned with by every irrigator. We know that there is
always a certain quantity of moisture in the atmos-
phere, which is better known by the name of “hu-
midity,” and this humidity can be easily measured.

When the atmosphere is charged with 80 to 100
per cent of moisture, or humidity, that moisture is

228

Irrigation of Profitable Plants. 229

precipitated upon the soil in the form of rain, snow,
ete. From 50 per cent to 80, when the air is cool,
we have dew, fog, etc., visible to the eye. When the
air is warm, however, the moisture is not perceptible
to the eye, but it is there nevertheless.

Now, with the atmosphere weighing or pressing
upon the earth’s surface about fifteen pounds to every
square inch, there is not a nook, cranny or opening that
it does not penetrate, and it carries with it the moisture
it contains, and when it comes in contact with any ab-
sorbent, as the soil undoubtedly is, it leaves its moist-
ure there. It is for this reason that it is insisted upon
so strenuously that the farmer must keep his soil open
to the air—the soil should be aerated as much as pos-
sible. This done carefully and constantly, the labor
of irrigation is rendered easier, and its effects more
perceptible; likewise less application of water will
prove adequate to the raising of any plant.

The necessity for this aeration of the soil is the
same in the cereals alluded to in the last chapter as
in the root plants and tubers. In the case of cereals,
however, taking a wheat field as an illustration, it is
impossible to cultivate the soil because the plants cover
the surface of the ground closely. What can and
should be done is to till the soil as deep as possible be-
fore planting and harrow after the plants are up, say
two or three inches. If any other sort of cultivation
is attempted the wheat and other grain must be cul-
tivated as in corn, by being planted in rows. The
production per acre would be greater than when sown
broadcast or drilled, but that method is not convenient,
at least it is not in vogue in the United States, and
probably never will be in large field culture, it being
easier and less laborious to flood the soil with water
to create the requisite amount of moisture.

But in the case of vegetables, roots and tubers

280 The Primer of Irrigation.

there is no excuse for not aerating the soil, since these
plants can not be planted so close together as to en-
tirely cover the ground, except in the last stages of
their leaf growth, when the crop is assured. Running
ground vines even may be cultivated almost to the
point of ripeness, and when, as in the case of water-
melons, cucumbers and the like, or strawberries, the
vines have covered the ground, a few rills of water
permitted to find their own way beneath is better than
a flooding, for the latter is apt to reach the stalks or
stems and either rot them or bake the ground and
choke off the air, thus killing the crop or injuring it
materially. All this can be provided for at the last
run of the cultivator, or stirring of the hoe, by leaving
small furrows or depressions here and there for the
water to run in as channels when cultivation is no
longer possible without tearing up the plants.

VEGETABLES.

Potatoes and tubers generally favor a moist, cool
soil, although in the arid regions under a very hot sun
they grow to perfection and to an immense size. A
15-pound Irish potato or a 30-pound sweet is pleasant
to look upon, but not so well adapted to culinary re-
quirements as those of a smaller and more convenient
size. With too much water or an abundant supply
potatoes become watery, for they are gross feeders—
gluttons, in fact—and they must be restrained.

It is not desirable to plant potatoes in hills where
irrigation is practiced; better plant in rows on level
ground and then run water in a furrow between the
tows, which may be from three feet to four feet apart;
the closer the rows the better, for then the vines will
shade more surface and retain the moisture longer.
In the rows plant the eyes from two to two and one-
half feet apart. In the arid and semi-arid regions it

Irrigation of Profitable Plants. 231

is a good plan to plow under every third furrow, the
plowman dropping several cuttings at every long step
in the furrow. Of course, the soil must be well tilled
preparatory to planting, and in a moist condition, then
well harrowed and pulverized afterward. When the
plants are up about an inch or two, run the cultivator
through, or a small plow would be better, so that a
small furrow can be left between the rows, the earth
being thrown up against the plants. When the plants
are up a foot and tubers begin to form, run water
through the middle furrow for an hour or so and the
next day run plow back and forth, throwing the earth
over on the wet soil to form a ridge. The day after
level the ground with a cultivator and let it alone for
a week. After this, one more irrigation when the tu-
bers are about the size of a hazelnut, or filbert, will
be sufficient to mature the crop. The soil should al-
ways be kept open and the moisture near the surface,
for the potato has a tendency to crowd out of the soil.
In the arid regions a singular peculiarity of the early
potato is to grow to maturity before the plant is ready
to flower. This is owing to the rapid underground
growth and is of no consequence except that the tubers
are all the better for absorbing the nourishment that
should go into the flowers. Sweet potatoes have this
curious habit also. One case which has been called to
the attention of the author is that of a 2-rod row of
sweet potatoes. The vines refused to grow more than
an inch or two above the ground; they did not become
vines at all, but grew straight up as far as they grew
at all. Thinking they needed water, they were irri-
gated liberally, and every few days for three months
water was applied and the soil kept loose. Wearied
with the efforts to make these vines grow, a wise
neighbor was called in, and after studying the mat-
ter for a few minutes and listening to what had been

282 The Primer of Irrigation.

done to encourage their growth he took a spade and
dug down into the head of the row, unearthing a 30-
pound sweet potato or yam. Continuing this explora-
tion all along the row, at least 100 sweet potatoes were
dug out varying from thirty pounds down to five
pounds. The growth had all been under ground, the
tubers taking all the nourishment, leaving none for
the tops. Cooking disclosed the fact that. they were
very coarse and rank, unfit for human food but pleas-
ant to the palates of a pair of hogs which devoured
them with a relish and asked for more in their pe-
culiar language.

For tubers generally, keep the water away from
them and give them moisture. This may be done by
permitting the furrow water to soak into the soil and
then throwing it over toward the plants. Sub-irriga-
tion is very favorable for the growth of tubers, and
when the land is drained and the soil kept well open
and finely pulverized there need be no fear of failure
to raise a crop. Sandy loam is the best soil, although
rich, well manured ground, consisting of mixed clay
and sand or loam, is productive of good crops, but the
richer the soil and the warmer, unless there is very
quick, almost hothouse growth, is liable to cause rot
or other diseases peculiar to tubers.

Sweet potatoes may be grown to perfection, that
is they will grow to be sweet potatoes out of which the
sugar will bubble when baked, if planted in almost
pure sand. This, of course, in the humid regions, for
an arid sandheap would cook the cuttings before they
had a chance to sprout.

Turnips, beets, carrots, parsnips, salsify and other
root crops will grow in any kind of soil if properly
tilled and well irrigated, but if succulence is an ob-
ject plant the seeds in rich, black loamy soil, plowed

Irrigation of Profitable Plants. 238

deep and well pulverized. They may be irrigated at
any time the ground shows dryness by cutting a deep
furrow within a foot or eighteen inches of the plant,
taking care not to let the water reach the crown or
rot will ensue. Flooding should not be practiced ex-
cept in the case of field beets, and then only when
the leaves shade the ground. Clean and thorough
cultivation is necessary, and in the case of small roots
moisture rather than water should be supplied by run-
ning water in a furrow at least twelve inches distant
and then drawing the moist earth over toward the
plant the next day, covering the furrow immediately
upon completing the irrigation to prevent evaporation
and baking of the soil.

THE KITCHEN GARDEN.

Here is where irrigation can be made to shine
like a gem in a barren waste. Our markets are filled
with tasteless vegetables, unfit for table use. Without
flavor and stringy, the housewife buys them every day
because they represent green things and look plump,
as if filled with succulence. But they are like apples
of Sodom, or like the book St. John ate—sweet in his
mouth and bitter in his stomach.

The soil of a kitchen garden must be rich and ex-
tremely well tilled. It should be thoroughly broken
up and pulverized after plowing under well-rotted
manure. Fertilizers are unobjectionable, certainly, but
they do not tend to open the soil as does ordinary
barnyard manure. Besides, it is better to furnish
the soil with the elements out of which the plant can
manufacture its own food than furnish it with ready-
prepared material. They know what they want better
than man, and if it is not ready at hand they manu-
facture it. As is said in a preceding chapter, a plant
and the elements in the soil constitute a perfect chem-

234 The Primer of Irrigation.

ical laboratory, and any attempt to interfere with
nature is apt to “boggle” the creative power of the
plant. It does not want help; it must have material.

For the purposes of irrigation the land should be
level and slightly elevated to permit the flow of water.
Rather than flood the ground, as is a common practice,
it would be better to run a number of close furrows
and then turn the earth over as soon as the water
stops running. This will moisten the ground and put
it in better condition; moreover, it will give infiltra-
tion and capillary action a chance to operate and create
moisture.

The salads and radishes require a good supply of
water and this may be given them by small furrow irri-
gation and hoeing or cultivating over, or the rows may
be sprinkled. If sprinkling is begun it must be con-
tinued, for the roots will come up near the surface for
the moisture. These plants, however, are short-lived;
a few weeks and they are ready to harvest.

Sub-irrigation is better adapted to celery than any
other system. With rows of tiling ten or twelve feet
apart, or less, any number of plants can be grown on
an acre. By planting close, a few inches apart, and
irrigated plentifully they are self-blanching, though to
reap all the benefit of garden culture the old way of
planting in furrows and drawing the earth up around
the plant is the better method where flavor is desired.
If the celery patch is small, a circular or cylindrical
shade of cardboard or straw matting may be put around
the plant. Lettuce is treated in this way to make it
grow up long and blanched, which gives the well-
known “salade Romaine.”

Beans and peas are deep-rooters, the former grow-
ing deeper than the latter. Both love a sandy loam and
may be planted in drills, the rows about twenty inches
or three feet apart. If the soil is dry they should be

Irrigation of Profitable Plants. 235

irrigated between the rows when the first true leaves
appear, and at least twice more before the flowers ap-
pear, at which period they should receive a plentiful
supply of moisture. Once a week is not too often for
irrigating these and all other leguminous plants.

Tomatoes may be well soaked when young and
then left to themselves, giving them about three irri-
gations at regular intervals until the fruit sets. Too
much water will cause them to run to vines, and,
moreover, cause rot. Where there is any rainfall dur-
ing the period of growth after the first irrigation, cul-
tivate constantly and suspend water applications.

Melons and cucumbers require warmth, and hence
if the water be cold the plants will be set back, par-
ticularly if young. Good soil moisture is all that is
necessary with thorough cultivation, and when the
vines cover the ground careful flooding will be bene-
ficial. Keep the earth up around the plants and the
water away from them, as they need plenty of air.

In the case of cabbages and cauliflowers the young
plants should be puddled in and this followed by @
good furrow irrigation close to the plants, followed by
cultivation, throwing the earth against the stalks.
After the plants show signs of heading, irrigate in fur-
rows between the rows and the next day or so culti-
vate the moist ground over against the plant, or with-
out touching it if possible.

It would require a volume to detail all the plants
useful as food that may be grown in the kitchen gar-
den. The main object of this book is to give the out-
lines of irrigation, and not how to plant, or specify
varieties of plants. The rules to be observed are gen-
eral, but in every case they may be adapted by using
good judgment. Thus: When the sun is hot, if irri-
gation is necessary run the water in furrows, not so
close to the plants as to wet the stalks or crown of

£36 The Primer of Irrigation.

the roots, then by cultivation the moist ground may
be thrown close enough to the plant roots to enable
them to reach it. If the day is cloudy and no indica-
tions of a hot sun, less care is required. Then it does
not make any difference whether the plants are wet
or not, but they must be hoed or the earth must be
loosened around them to prevent hardening or baking,
which is always detrimental in the case of every plant,
whether hardy or tender.

To ascertain whether there is moisture enough in
the soil, do not wait for the plant to tell you by droop-
ing or twisting its leaves. Then it may be too late
and the plant will have stopped growing, or the sub-
sequent crop will be poor. Bore or dig down into the
soil say one foot, and if the earth feels damp, or will
slightly pack in the hand when squeezed, there need
be no immediate application of water. But if com-
paratively dry, so that it will not soil a clean hand-
kerchief, water must be applied, and the best way is
to furrow the ground in small furrows and run the
water in rills, cultivating as soon as possible; or if the
plants are large, like sweet corn, cabbages, beets, par-
snips, etc., cut a large furrow between the rows and
tun it full of water, permitting seepage, infiltration
and capillary motion to carry it to the right place, the
root zone. Whether it is doing its work properly can
be ascertained by thrusting the hand down near the
plant, the soil being supposed to be pulverized suffi-
ciently to reach at least three or four inches down; if
not, it must be made so.

Nothing has been said about weeds, because the
supposition is that no farmer will permit a weed to
grow on his land. Two plants can not very well grow
in the same place, and in the case of the weed it will
destroy the plant as quickly as vice will a man of
good morals. As the story goes: A man planted

Irrigation of Profitable Plants. 287

pumpkin seeds with his corn, but the corn grew so
fast that it pulled up the pumpkin vines. The reader
is at liberty to doubt this story, but the idea of it is
to avoid trying to make two plants grow in the same
spot.

CHAPTER XXII.
ORCHARDS, VINEYARDS AND SMALL FRUITS.

If there is no water in the subsoil of an orchard,
no ground water, or water table, as it is called, it will
be advisable to create an artificial one. One great
drawback in orchard cultivation in the arid and semi-
arid regions is, that the moisture does not penetrate to
a sufficient depth to enable the deep roots to derive
any benefit therefrom. The consequence is that where
the moisture occupies a shallow beit the small feeding
roots are forced to come to the surface, or near enough
to the surface to receive all the desiccating effects of
a hot sun, and a dry atmosphere. As trees require
their natural food as well as plants of the most suc-
culent nature, it will be readily perceived that these
surface roots will soon exhaust the nourishment they
require and then the whole tree will feel the effects.

The finer and more highly flavored the fruit the
more care must be taken to see that it has the proper
quality and amount of food elements. It requires the
destruction of a vast quantity of roses to obtain one
single ounce of attar of roses, and to perfect the flavor
of a single peach the distillation in the laboratory of
the soil must be enormous. When it comes to one or
several acres of luscious fruit, the quantity of elements
necessary to perfect the fruit is simply incalculable.

From this idea will naturally be derived two sug-
gestions: Let nothing grow in an orchard but the
trees bearing fruit; second, see to it that the soil has
moisture down to a good depth, five or six feet, before
venturing to set out the selected trees.

It is sometimes customary to plant small fruits
between the rows of fruit trees; some plant vegetables,
strawberries, and even forage plants to occupy the
ground and keep it busy while the fruit trees are grow-

HI ir ia

; hak
On i é |

ORCHARD IRRGAITION—Page 191,

Orchards, Vineyards and Small Fruits. 289

ing and coming into bearing. Better have only one
tree in its twenty or thirty feet square of well tilled
vacant soil, than ten trees surrounded by stranger plants
to eat out their substance. There is a very good rea-
son for not mixing up plants in this manner, which
is, not all plants require the same amount of mois-
ture, some requiring more, others less. Now if the
orchard is made a hodge podge of plants with differ-
ent appetites, and requiring a different diet, how will
it be possible to administer to each one according to
its necessities? Some will be overfed, other underfed,
with the result that none of them will be perfect or
produce what is expected or hoped from them. The
‘only case where a little crowding will be justified is
in the case of peach trees. These come into bearing
very young, in some localities under the most favorable
circumstances two or three years after setting out, at
which time the tree will be about five years old. As
peach trees bear heavily when fostered carefully, they
are short lived, and therefore, many fruit farmers plant
young peach trees in the rows about fifteen feet from
the bearing trees when the latter are in their third
or fourth year of bearing, and when the old trees
shown signs of degeneracy they are cut down and the
younger trees left to bear the burden of production
alone. There is no harm in thus maintaining the full
vigor of a peach orchard, for the trees belong to the
same family and require the same food for their main-
tenance and practically the same quantity of irrigating
water.

So far as filling the soil with water is concerned,
where there is an absence of ground water it is better to
irrigate for a full year or season before setting out the
young orchard trees. If the soil is carefully tilled
and pulverized, just as if the orchard were in good
bearing, the next season will find an orchard ready for

240 The Primer of Irrigation.

planting, and the process of growth will continue with-
out any interruption and the applying of water be at-
tended with less waste.

If there is ground water in plenty and within six
or eight feet of the surface it is liable to come nearer
by fresh applications of water and trench upon the
root zone, thus destroying the trees. This will soon
appear in evidence by the top limbs drying up or dy-
ing. It should be always borne in mind that generally
there is as much of. the plant under the ground as
above it. Nothing but the tap root bores its way
straight down; the rootlets and feeders spread out in
every direction, something in the shape of a fan. Hence
if some of these roots are injured the tops of the trees
will also suffer. Metaphorically, the roots of every
tree are its nerves, which can not be interfered with
without injuring some member of the tree. Root-
pruning is often practiced when taken in connection
with limb-pruning, but where good, strong roots are
desired top- or limb-pruning is beneficial. But the
roots alone can not be tampered with except at the
expense of the tree.

In the case, therefore, of too much ground water,
or a liability to raising the water table, drainage tile
should at once be put in at least five feet down, not
in the middle of the rows, but comparatively near the
trees, as far, perhaps, as they are buried underground.
If arranged in this manner they will serve for drainage
and also for sub-irrigation. The attention of the
author has been called to cases where the subsoil was
originally dry down for a hundred feet, and there was
never a thought of the possibility of a water table ever
forming. But it did, and by constant irrigations the
water found an impervious strata and then began to
collect and form a water table, which required drainage

Orchards, Vineyards and Small Fruits, 241

in the course of less than five years from the time of
the establishment of the orchard.

Furrow irrigation is the most suitable, however,
in most orchards, and it has always proved adequate to
produce excellent crops. But the furrows must run
deep and the after cultivation must be thorough or
evaporation will injure the plants. Long furrows are
to be avoided, and the water should never be “rushed”
through them. Short furrows and a slow flow will
tend to soak far enough down into the soil to reach the
roots and far enough beyond that to enable the capil-
lary motion to have a supply to carry up into the ex-
hausted portions of the root zone. Three good irriga-
tions during the season are ample and more than enough
where there are ten inches of rainfall and a supply of
underground water to draw upon. This can be ac-
quired by fall and winter irrigation; that is, running
the water into, not upon, the land after the leaves have
fallen and following it up in the fall by deep plowing,
cultivation and harrowing. Some dig a basin around
their apple trees in the fall, and when freezing weather
comes fill the basin with water and let it freeze. They
say it prevents the tree from blossoming too early in
the spring. Others mulch around their trees heavily
with manure to keep out the frost. There is no way to
reconcile these contradictory practices except by giving
the soil moisture in the fall and winter and thorough
cultivation. The earth will be a sufficient mulch and
the moisture will freeze soon enough. But all the regu-
lations in the world can not prevent the tree from fol-
lowing the course of nature. After the crop is gath-
ered and the leaves departed, the tree still goes on
preparing for the coming spring. It is busily engaged
in ripening its wood and storing up food for the new
buds, and ice around its trunk will not stop it, nor

242 The Primer of Irrigation.

will a heavy mulch of manure prevent it from freezing
unless the entire tree is enveloped in the mulch.

Constant cultivation and the stirring or mixing
together of the food essentials are what the tree needs
and demands, and when this is done and the compote
of organic and inorganic elements mixed with water
all that man can do is done. Care should be exercised
in irrigating when the trees are in bud, for if the water
reaches them while in flower the blossoms will fall off,
and the same is the case when water is turned on
when the fruit is ripening. In the case of apples,
however, the fruit may be made to attain large propor-
tions by copious applications of water, although in gen-
eral the application of water at the time of ripening
tends to loosen the stems and cause the fruit to drop off
before fully ripe.

THE VINEYARD.

The plan adopted by the vineyardists of France to
destroy the pest of the phylloxera demonstrated that
the vine is no tender plant which requires nursing.
The vineyards were flooded and the vines kept under
water for a longer or shorter period until tests showed
that the larve of the pest was extinct. The conver-
sion of the vine into an aquatic plant did not harm
its vitality, although a crop was lost through over-
much water.

There is a hint in this result worth remembering.
Too much water, no crop. It should be considered
as an axiom for every irrigator to carefully observe.

The affliction of every vineyard is an excess of
water. Grapes love a warm soil, but too much irri-
gation, particularly on the surface, renders the soil
cold through evaporation. Wherever there is evapora-
tion cold is produced and the more rapid the evapora
tion the greater the cold and the stoppage of growth.

During the first two years of the growth of a

Orchards, Vineyards and Small Fruits. 243

grapevine the greatest care must be bestowed upon it,
particularly the second year, for it is during the sec-
ond year that the cane which will bear the fruit is
formed. Cultivation and irrigation are the main
causes of a good crop; irrigate every two weeks if the
soil shows signs of dryness. Like all fruit moisture in
the soil is absolutely necessary, and if this is supplied
by irrigation it must be followed immediately by
thorough cultivation to reduce evaporation to a mini-
mum and prevent the soil from becoming cold.

If there is ground water there should be drainage,
the same as in the orchard, the tiles of which may be
used for sub-irrigation, and they should always be used
. for that double purpose when needed. In the latter case
if the moisture in the soil is sufficient no irrigation is
necessary until the fruit is forming. As in the case of
orchard fruits, never irrigate when the vine is in
flower. The vine roots penetrate to a great depth in the
soil, and therefore deep plowing and cultivation is advis-
able. If drainage tile are laid for drainage and sub-
irrigation they should be laid near the main roots, so as
to carry off the excess of water from irrigation on
the surface. Where surface irrigation is practiced it
should be the furrow system between the rows and
deep. The water will sink deep and reach the roots,
whereas by mere surface applications the thread roots
are liable to rot and cause damage. The usual practice
is to irrigate when the grapes are about to ripen, when
they will fill out and ripen more evenly. In the finer
varieties of grapes, like the high-flavored ones, the
Concord, Muscat of Alexandria, etc., water should be
applied more sparingly than when wine is to be manu-
factured. Fall and winter irrigation is the same as
in the orchard, but care must be taken not to soak
the soil by applying too much water unless it can be
drained off.

244 The Primer of Irrigation.

SMALL FRUITS.

By small fruits are meant blackberries, raspber-
ries, currants, gooseberries, etc., and the ground vines,
such as strawberries.

The bush fruits require a rich and highly-manured
soil to attain perfection, although they will grow in any
soil capable of growing corn.

They require plenty of water, for the soil must be
maintained in a uniformly moist condition. When
blossoming, irrigation should be suspended, but re-
newed every week or ten days when the fruit has set.
It is usual to irrigate immediately after one crop has
been gathered, the water hurrying another picking to
maturity.

The tendency to mildew makes small-fruit growing
somewhat of a risk, but by careful pruning to let in the
light and the air this tendency will be checked and
‘the berries ripen bright and clean.

Constant cultivation, fall and winter irrigation,
as in the case of other fruits, are essential, and when
drainage is adopted the perils of small-fruit growing
will be reduced to a minimum.

Strawberry culture may be carried on _ several
months during the summer in the humid regions and
all the year ’round in the arid or semi-tropical regions
of the country.

It is a self-perpetuating plant, propagating itself
by means of runners, which take root at the slightest
provocation. To foster this habit and obtain fresh
plants for a continuing crop, the soil must be kept in
a fine, pulverized condition, with plenty of moisture
near the surface. The plants may be puddled in a
small ridge, hollowed to receive a rill of water, and
when the runners creep over the ridge into the paths
a little water run in will aid them to take root. The
direction of their growth may be easily controlled, and

Orchards, Vineyards and Small Fruits. 245

when they have taken root they should be cut loose
from the parent stem. The matted bed system is the
best for irrigation, for the leaves cover and shade the
ground and prevent evaporation. When the fruit is
ripening care should be taken when irrigating or run-
ning water on the beds, not to wet the fruit, a con-
tingency which tends to rot them before they can be-
come ripe.
FORAGE AND FODDER OROPS.

These crops require abundance of water and quick
growth. There are many varieties of forage plants,
but alfalfa and corn will always be the standards—
corn for the silo and alfalfa for hay. The latter will
produce from three to five full crops a year if well irri-
gated, and that irrigation is by flooding in large fields
as well as small ones. Some alfalfa growers do not
hesitate to turn in horses, cows, sheep and hogs in
their order to pasture the alfalfa patch when the crop
is removed. Then water is run on the field and per-
mitted to stand a week before being run off. After
that nothing more is done until the crop is ready to
again cut.

Others will not permit pasturage on the alfalfa
field, but after harvesting it flood the soil with water
and again several times before harvesting again. The
tule is different in the arid and semi-arid regions,
more water and less care being given it, but it grows
right along without being disturbed by inattention.

All forage plants, whether corn or the grasses,
require flooding at various periods of their growth.
The first time after planting, when up three inches,
when half grown and about the ripening period. Then
after the harvest the ground should be well soaked if
it is desirable to use the land for pasturage, the after-
harvest irrigation producing a good growth of succu-
lent grazing. Fall and winter irrigation are unneces-
sary unless for the purpose of keeping the soil in a
moist condition, which is always advisable in the arid
and semi-arid regions.

246 The Primer of Irrigation.

APPENDIX.

This appendix contains land, water, and power
measurements, and other information for reference by
the reader.

LAND OR SQUARE MEASURE.
144 spuare inches equal....1 square foot.

9 square feet equal....... 1 square yard.
3014 square yards equal...1 square rod.
40 square rods equal...... 1 rood.

4 roods equal............ 1 acre.

SURVEYORS’ MEASURE.

7.92 inches equal......... 1 link.

Pp MNKS QUAL oo tve cles 6 sins 1 rod.

2 TOGS EQUAL, <2 fincas i0 oes 1 chain.

10 square chains equal....1 acre.

640 acres equal.......... 1 square mile.

CUBIC MEASURE.
1,728 cubic inches equal..1 cubic foot.

27 cubic feet equal....... 1 cubic yard.
128 cubic feet equal....... 1 cord of wood.
40 cubic feet equal....... 1 ton (shipping).

2,150.42 cubic inches equal.1 standard bushel.
268.8 cubic inches equal...1 standard gallon.
LIQUID OR WINE MEASURE.

Bills “equal... ga 68 1 pint.

a pis equals). bss tae 1 quart.

A quarts equal’. 2.0.55 0%% 1 gallon.

3114 gallons equal....... 1 barrel.

@ barrels: equal .3'.'3. save: 1 hogshead.
DRY MEASURE.

2 pints equal n.0.-.sjoe 02% o:s,0 1 quart.

8 quarte equal. ne ojenice oa: 0 1 peck.

4 pecks equal............ 1 bushel.

36 bushels equal.......... 1 chaldron.

Appendix. 247

AVOIRDUPOIS WEIGHT.

6 drams equal.........+-- 1 ounce.

16 ounces equal........-- 1 pound.

25 pounds equal........-- 1 quarter.

4 quarters equal........-- 1 hundred weight.

20 hundredweights equal...1 ton.

TROY WEIGHT.

(For Precious Metals and Jewels. )

1 pennyweight. 24 grains equal........--
1 ounce. 20 pennyweights equal....
1 pound, _ 12 ounces equal......-+--

APOTHECARIES WEIGHT.

20 grains equal.......+-- 1 scruple.
3 scruples equal......--- 1 dram.
8 drams equal.........-- 1 ounce.
12 ounces equal........-- 1 pound.

METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

The nickel five-cent piece is the key to the metric
system of linear measures and weights. The diameter
of the nickel is two centimeters exactly, and its weight
five grammes. Five of them placed in a row give the
length of the decimeter, and two of them will weigh
a dekagram. As the kiloliter is a cubic meter, the key
to the measure of length is also the key to the meas-
ure of capacity.

The Metric System was legalized in the United States on July 28, 1966, when Congress enacted as

ry 4
* Phe tables in the ashedule ennexed shall be recognized In the construct! tract
ings, as Tammy terms of the goleed to iissenures —— fees the
United the equivalents of the weights and measures ex therein in te of the metric
Sry Beis aad menses Gere be ule for coating, Serataing ad exprenan
‘Te are the tables annexed to theebove: ~ 3

248 The Primer of Irrigation.

MeASURES OF LENGTH.

Metric Denominations and Valuea, Futvalents in Denominations In Use.
ane AIMCLTC «2 .oeeeenesnererscorenen 10,000 metres, Ci 2137 miles,
metre .... 1,000 inetres, 62137 Inlle, ors, RES feet 10 inches,

ectometre . 100 metres, 328 feet

ekametre..... wee, 10 metres 393.7 fea
MEtre ..ccovee ore 1 metre, 39.37 inches,
Decimetre. 1-10 of a metre, 3.937 inches,
Centimetre 1-100 of a metre, 0.3937 inch.
Milimetre 1-1000 of o metre, 0.0394 inch,

M¥aAsuRES oF SURFACK,

Metric Denominations and Values. Equivalents in Denominations in Use,
10,000 square metres, 2.471 acres,
Are 100 squaro metres, 119.6 square yards,
“5 Lsquare metre, 1,550 square inches
[SE ES SR a ER NT 2 PR cc

MXxasunES OF CaPACITY.

METRIC DENOMINATIONS AND VALURS, TQvrvaLENTs IN DENOMINATIONS IN USE,

Dry Measure. Liquid or Wine Measure,

ees | SS eee

-! 1.308 cubic yards..... 264.17 gallons,
2 bush. and 3.35 pec! 26.417 gallons,
D, 08 QUATTSiceceteese-eereecees: 2.6417 gallons,
0.908 quart..........0e| 1.0567 quarts
6. 022% cubic inches......| , 0.845 gill.
.} 0.6102 cubicinch.,.»... 0.338 uid ounce.

MUU re «.rerrevenes He Boa cubic ceatimetre... -| 0.061 cubic inch.......... 0.27 fluid dram,
WRIGHTS

EQuiIVALENTS IN Da
Metuic DENOMINATIONS AND VALUES, NOMINATIONS IN USE

Number | weight of what Quantity of Water | 4 voirtupols Weight

Names, ee at Maximum Density.
——EEE
mneau. 1,000,000 1 cuble metre «] 2204.6 pounds,
ae ee 100,000 1 hectolitre 220.46 pounda
10,000 10 litres. 22.046 pounds.
1,000 1 Litre... 2.2046 pounds,
100 1 decfiitre... 3.5274 ounces,
10 10 cubic centimetres... 0. 3527 ounce,
1 1 cubic centimetre. 15.432 grains,
a 6: 1-10 3.5432 graina,
TD eovereeeesersceresscees 1-100 10 cubic millimetres. . 1543 gral
TD ss cosressevarentosreeses 3-1000 L cubic MIM Metre... 0164

Practical Measurements 249

PRACTICAL MEASUREMENTS.

To ASCERTAIN THE WEIGHT oF CaTTLE—Measure the girt
close behind the shoulder, and the length from the fore part of thd Shoulder-blade
along the back to the bone at the tail, which is in a vertical line with the buttock,
;both in feet. Multiply the square of the girt, expressed in feet, by ten times the
length, and divide the product by three; the quotient is the weight, nearly, of the
fore quarters, in pounds avoirdupois. Itis tobe observed, however, that in very fat
cattle the fore quarters Will be about one-twentieth more, while in those in a very
lean state they will be one-twentieth less than the weight obtained by the rule.
RULES FOR MEASURING CORN IN CRIB, VEGETABLES, ETC.,
anv Hay jn Mow—This rule will apply to a crib of any size or kind. Two cubic
feet of good, sound, dry corn in the ear will make a bushel of shelled corn. To get,
then, the quantity of shelled corn in'a crib of corn in the ear, measure the length,
oreadth and height of the crib, inside the rail; multiply the length by the. breadth
and the product by the height, then divide the product by two, and you have the
number of bushels of shelled cormin the crib. -.. ‘«” * jr? _

To find the number of bushels of apples, potatoes, etc., in a bin, multiply the

fength, breadth and thickness together, and this product by eight, and point off one
re in the product for decimals. dys ‘ one
= Te find the amount of hay in a mow, allow 512 cubic feet for a ton, and it will
‘gome out very generally correct. Pea tae. tae ee 2

To MEAsuRE BuLK Woop—To measure a pile of. wood.
multiply the length by the width, and that product by the height, which will give
the number of cubic feet. - Divide that product by 128, .and the quotient will be the
number ofcords. Astandard cord of wood, it must be remembered, is four feet
thick; that is, the wood must be four feet long.. Farmers usually go by surface
measure, calling a pile of stove wood eight feet long and four feet high a cord. Un-
der such circumstances thirty-two feet would be the divisor. =< gins - yo 4>

How To MEAsuRE A TReE—Very many persons, when
looking for a stick of timber, are at a loss to estimate either the height of the'tree or
the length of timber it will cut. The following rule will enable any one to approxie
mate nearly to the length from the ground to any position desired on the tree: Take
a stake, say six feet in length, and place it against the tree you wish to measure.
Then step back some rods, twenty or more if you can, from which to do the meas
wring. At this point a light pole and a measuring ruleare required. The pote is
raised between the eyes and the tree, and the rule is brought into position against
the pole. Then by sighting and observing what length of the rule is required to
cover the stake at the tree, and what the entire tree, dividing thé, latter length b
the formerand multiplying by the number of feet the stake is long, you reach the
wa el height of the tree. For example, ifthe stake at the tree be six feet
above ground and one inch «.n your rule corresponds exactly with this, and if then
the entire height of the trey corresponds exactly with’ say nine inches on the rule,
this would show the tree to possess a full height of fifty-fourfeet. In practice ix
will thus be found an easy matter to learn the approximate height of-any tree..
building, or other such object. : : :

To Measure CAsks OR BARRELS—Find mean diameter by
adding to head diameter two-thirds (if staves are but slightly curved, three-fifths) of
difference between head and bung diameters, and dividing by two. hestuply square
of mean diameter in inches by .7854, and the product by the height of the cask in
-inches, The result will be the number of cubic inches. Divide by 231 for standard
or wine gallons, and by 282 for beer gallons.

GRAIN MEASURE—To find the capacity of a bin or wagon-'
bed, multiply the cubic feet by .8 (tenths), For great accuracy, add %4-of a bushel
for every roo cubic feet. To find the cubic feet, multiply the Jength, width and
Gepth together, _ om

250 The Primer of Irrigation.

To MEASURE CORN OR SIMILAR COMMODITY ON A_ Fro
—Pile up the cominodity in the form ofa cone; find the diaineter
in feet; multiply the square of the diameter by .7854, and the
product by one-third the height of the cone in feet; from this last
product deduct one-fifth of itself, or multiply it by .803564, and
the result will be the number of. bushels.

CAPACITY OF CYLINDRICAL CISTERNS OR TANKS FOR
EACH FOOT OF DEPTH (UNITED STATES GALLONS)
FROM TWO TO FORTY FEET IN DIAMETER.
CAPACITY OF DRAIN-PIPE.

Ga.tons Per Minute.

ete ete gd ze ae Se|e2|eelias
pee, (2 ele sle8la8)e3}¢2]6 8) 42

REIS ES RIS RIA RTS EPR ES gE

B3-inch.| 21] 30] 42] 52 104
“ 6} 52] 761 92 184

6 « St} 120| 169] 296 414
9 « 232 | 330] 470] 570 1140
12 “ 470 | 680] 960 | 1160 2350
15“ 830.| 1180 | 1880 | 2040 4100
18 “ | 1300] 1850 | 2630 | 3200 6470
20. * | 1760 | 2450 | 3450 | 4180 8410

Diameter | canons | eounas || Piet | Gauony | Pounds
deca rh PaS pinecinin oan
2.0 23.5 196 9.0 475.9 3.968
2.5 36.7 306 9.5 530.2 - 4420
3.0 $2.9 441 10.0 587.5 4.899
3.5 72.0 6006 “LLO 710.9 5.928
#0. 94.0 784 120 846.0 7.054
a5: 119.0 992 h 2.0 992.9 8.280
5.0 $46.9 | 3,225 14.2 1,151.5 9,602
5.5 177.7 1.482 15.0 - 1,321.9 = 11,023
6.0 |. “Ot.5 |. Rea 20.0 | 2,350.1 19.596
6.5 248.2 2:070 25.0 3,672.0 #8 30,620

[2401 || 300 | 5.207.7_| _4a093
7s | _s005 | 2750 || _s50_| 7.1971 | 0.016

40.0 9.400.3 78,388 |

Practical Measurements. 251

For square or rectangular tanks, multiply the
length and breadth and depth together to get cubic
feet, then multiply by 1,728 to get cubic inches, and
this product, divided by 231, the number of cubic
inches in a gallon, will give the number of gallons.

QUANTITY OF WATER DISCHARGED PER STROKE BY A
SINGLE ACTING PUMP.
The first column of figures indicates the diameter

of the pump cylinder in inches. The second column
gives the area of the cylinder.

LENGTA OF STROKE IN INCHES
her igs in Rte SST
equ bale bat 1s ae ot | Le | ee

Diam. of
Cyl. Ins.
-
5
oc
e
wo

Capacity per Stroke in Gallons

% 196 004) .005] .006] .007] .008} .009) .010 012} .013
1 -785 917 | .020] .024| .027] .031| .034} .O41 048} 051
if 1.227 "032 |- 037} .042] .048} .0531 .064} .074
1 1485 032 | .038} .044] .051] .058} .064} .077 089} .096
i 1.767 038 | .046| .053} .061] .069} .077] .092 107] «115
1% 2.405 052 | .063| .073} .083] .094| 104] .125 146} 156
2 8.142 "082 | 1095] .109} .122] .136| .163] .190] .204
2% 3.976 036 | .103] .120] .138} .155] .172 = 241} .258
2% 4.909 106 | .128| .149] .170] .191] 213) . 297} 319
2% 5.940 128 | 1154] 180] .206] .231| -257] .308 360} .385
8 7.069 153 | 1184] 214] .245| .275| .306| .367 428} .459
ay 8.296 180 | .215| .251| .287] .323| .359] 431 538
8% | 11.045 239 | 1287| (334] .382] .430] 478] .573 669} .717
4 12 666 272 | .826 | .38 "435| 1490] .644] 653} .761) .816
4 14 186 307 | 1868] 1430] 491} .552| .614) .737 860] _.922
4 17721 "460 | 1537] 614} .690] -767} .920 1.073 | 1.150
6 19.635 "425 } .510] .595| °.680] .765] .850 1.020 } 1.190 | 1.275
64% | 21-648 "468 | .562| .696| .750| .843| .937 | 1.124 1.311} 1.405
5% | 25 967 "562 | .674| .787] .899| 1.011] 1 124 | 1.348 1.573 | 1.686
6 2B 274 ‘612 | .734| 857} _.979| 1.101] 1 224 | 1-469 1.713 | 1.836
6% | 30.680 “664 | :797| .930| 1.062 | 1.195} 1.328 | 1.593 1.859 | 1.992
6% | 35.785 "774 | .929 | 1.084] 1.239 | 1394 } 1.549 | 1.858 | 2 168 | 2.323
ac! 38 485 “933 | 1.000 | 1.166 | 1.333 | 1.499} 1.666 | 1.999 2.332 | 2499
7% > 44.179 "956 | 1.148 | 1.339 | 1.530 | 1.721 | 1.913 | 2 295 ) 2.678 2.869
7% | 47.173 1021 | 1.225 | 1.429} 1.633 | 1.837 | 2.042 | 2.450 2.858 | 3 063
8 60 266 1.088 | 1.306 | 1,523 | 1.741 | 1.953] 2176 | 2611 3.046 | 3 264
8% | 66.745 1,205 | 1.470 | 1.715] 1.960 | 2.205 | 2,450 | 2.940 3.430 | 3.675
9 63 617 1.377 | 1.652 | 1.928 | 2.203 | 2.478) 2.754 | 3.305 3.855 | 4.132
9% | 70.882 1.530 | 1.830 | 2.142] 2 448 | 2 754} 3.060 | 3.672) 4 284} 4590
10 78.540 1.700 | 2 040 | 2.380 | 2.720} 3.060 | 3 400 | 4.080 4.760 | 5.100
n 95.033 . 2.057 | 2.464] 2.879 | 8.291 | 3.726 | 4.114 | 4.937 6.760 | 6 172
12 113.098 1.9580] 2448 | 2.938 | 3.422 | 3.917 | 4.406 | 4.896 6.875 | 6 854 | 7.344

Yor strokes, two, three or any number of times the lengths given above, the capacities may
be found by siply multiplying the number of times, into the quantities per stroke given above,
Doubling the diameter of pipe or-cvlinder increases its capacity four times. -

252 The Primer of Irrigation.

QUANTITY OF WATER OICHARGED AND POWER REQUIRED
At different elevations based ona Pump efficiency of 50 per cent.

HPJ1H.P. 3H. P. [5H.P. 7H. P. [10 Ht. P.|15 #4. P.|20 #1. P.[20 £1. P.[40 H. P./50 H. Be

GALLONS PER MINUTE

a
Doubling the lift or quantity of water handled also doubles power required; ¢.. ¢, power rd
quired varies directly as dither lift or quantity.

WEAD OF WATER IN FEET AN® THE || PRESSURE OF WATER IN POUNDS

EQUIVALENT PRESSURE AND ‘THE EQUIVALENT HEAD
IN POUNDS IN FEET
pee eee bo
bs. Feet Lbs. Feet | Lbs. Lbs. | Feet Lbs. Feet {| Lbs. | Feet
Head] Press.| Head | Press.| Head | Press || Press| Hend | press | Head | Press| Head
§ 3 7 30.3 200- 86 6 5 11.5 7 161.6 180 415.6
rH re a 31.6 250 108.2 10 230 80 184.7 190 438.9
15 6.50 90 39 0 800 129.9 | 15 81.6 90 207.8 200 461.7
20 8.66 100 43.3 350 151.5 20 46.2 100 230.9 Fi 519.5
23 10.83 | 110 47.6 400 173.2 2 57.7 310 253.9 577.2
30 12.99 120 52.0 50) 216.6 30 69.3 120 277.0 275 643.0
$5 15.16 130 6 3 600 298 35 80.8 130 300.1 300 692.7
40 | 17.32) 140 | 0.6 700 } 303.1 4 92.3} 140 | 323.2] 325 | 7504
45 19.49 150 65.0 800 TH6.4 45 103.9 150 346.3 350 808.1
50 21.65 160 69.2 990 889.7 50 115.4 100 309.4 400 922.6
60 | 26.09. 180 1 78.0 1 1000 t 433.0 60 4 138.50 170 § 302.34 500 1 1154.5
TASLE FOR OPEN WEIR MEASUREMENT
Giving Cubic Feet of water per minute, that ouitiies over an open Weir opeinch wide and from
Y to 20% inches deep. @
INCHES. % % | % % 49 % %
7) -00 OL .05 09 iH ao -26 32
1 -40 47 5d -64 -73 82 -92 1.02
2 1.13 1.23 135 1.46 1.58 170 1.82 19
3 207 221 234 2.48 261 276 2.90 3 05
4 3 20 3.35 3.50 3.66 3.81 397 414 430
5 4.47 464 481 4.98 515 5 33 5.51 5 69
6 5 87 6 06 6.24 6 44 6 62 6 82 701 7.21
7 740 7.60 7.80 801 821 8.42 8 63 8.83
8 905 9 26 947 969 9.91 1013 10 35 10 57
9 10.80 1102 11.25 | 11.48 1171 1191 12.17 12.41
10 12.64 12.88 13 12 13:36 13.60 13 85 1409 14.34
n 1459 14 84 15 09 15.34 15 59 15.85 16.11 16.36
22 16 62 16.88 715 17.41 17 67 17 94 18 21 18 47
13 18 74 19.01 19 29 19.56 19.84 20.11 20.39 20 67
1¢ 20 95 21.23 2151 21.80 22.08 22 37 22.65 22 34
15 23,23 23 52 23.82 2411 24 40 24.70 23 00 25.36
16 25.60 25.90 26 20 26 50 26.80 271) 27.42 27 72
17 26.03 28 34 23.65 28 97 29 28 29.59 29 91 30.22
18 80 53 80.86 81.15 31 50 SL 82 3215 32.47 82 80
19 83.12 33 45 33.78 34.13 R144 MT 35 10 85 44
20 85.77 36.11 36 45 36.78 | 3712 37.46 37.80 88 15

In making Weir measurements, place a board or plank in the stream at the point sothata
Rone will form above it. A rectangular notch is cut in it large enough $o that all the water will
low overthe notch. The length of the notch should be from two to fourtimesitsdepth. The
edges should be beveled to slope outward in the direction of the flow of the water. In the pond
about siz feet above the Weir a stake is driven S0 that its topis precisely level with the bottom
the notch, and at sume convenient point for measuring. Thedepth of the water fowing over
ke Weir may then be ascertained by an ordinary rie. placed on top of the stake. measuring
the of the water, end the quantity figured from the table a

Hydraulic Information. 253
IRRIGATION QUANTITY TABLES

Gallons required to
Awount cf water required to cover || Second Feet reduced to Gallons and || fey or Stree tow

one acre to given depths, Acre Feet. depth of one foot.
(Acre foot.)
ea eee eed
£ 3 S & > na =|
8.0% |2o8,84 3 & we. 22, L
“75 etour od t a ane 265 ost -
sSiee |eeeee) g = | gs | 283 | 888 || $3 ©
SVog | vpaesd $ 3 63 sas |} “aa os = S
Beez |oeeese)] = || @ | se | sha | SES || Gee | §
Atss | osesea o a Og Oas <8 |] <8 o
lin. 3630 27154 ¥ 112.2 2479 1 $2585)
2in. 7260 64309 i 3044 161579 :4959 2 651703
3in. 10890 81463 % 336.6 9 7438 3 977554
4in. 14520 108617 1 448.8 323158 9917 4 1308406
din. 18150 135771 14 561.0 403948 | 12397 6 1629257
6in. 21780 1 1% 673.2 484738 | 14876 6 1955109
7in. 234110 1 1% 785.5 565527 17355 7 2280960
Bin. 29040 217234 2 897.7 646317 8 2606812
Yin. $2670 244389 o% | 11221 807896 | 2.4793 9 2932663
10in. 86300 271542 3 1346.5 969475 | 29752 10 3258515
llin. 39930 4 1795.3 1 3.9669 15 4837772
1ft., Win. 43560 325851 5 2244.2 1615792 | 4 9586 20 6512029
1ft., 2in 50820 380160 6 1 | 59503 25 8146286
lft; 4in 58080 434469 7 3141.8 2262109 | 6.9421 30 5644
1ft: 6in 65340 4 8 2595268 | 79338 40 13034058
lft, Bin 72600 54 9 4039.5 | 2908426 | 8.9255 60 19551087
1ft.)10in 79860 697394 || 10 4488.3 3231585 | 9.9173 80 16
2 ft.) in 87120 651703 |} 20 8976.6 | 6463170 | 19.8345 160

One cubic font of water per second (exact 7.48052 gallons), constant flow is known as the
“Second Foot.” The “Acre Foot” is the quantity of water required to cover one acre to a depth

of one foot.

MISCELLANEOUS HYDRAULIC INFORMATION, ETO.
A common water pail holds nineteen pounds of
water, or 2.272 United States gallons.
One horse-power will raise 1614 tons per minute a
height of 12 inches, working 8 hours a day. This is
about 9,900 foot-tons daily, or 12 times a man’s work.

In Designing Hydraulic and Pumping Machinery, water is considered as
tncompressible.

*Head’’—By ‘‘Head” is meant the actual elevation from the surface of suc-
tion water to highest point of discharge, plus the friction head, caused by flow of
water through suction and discharge Piping—often referred to simply as “‘lift” or
“suction lift’’ and ‘‘discharge lift.’

. “'Pressure”’—To find the pressure due to the head, when water is at rest
simply multiply the vertical height in feet, of the column of water, by .434. A
quicker way to approximate is to divide the vertical height in feet by 2. There-
sult is the pressure in pounds per square inch on retaining walls at bottom of
water column, or plunger load.

A Double-Acting Pump discharges water on both forward and backward
motions of piston, and has double the capacity of a Single-acting Pump.

riplex Pump is a three-cylinder Pump. The Cylinders are dither Single
or Double-acting. The discharge of a Triplex Puwp is practically uniform and
without pulsation.

To Find the Circumference of a Circle: Multiply the diameter by 3.2416.

Finding Capacities:—Of a Single-acting Pump: Multiply the square of the
Cylinder diameter in inches by .7854, and by the length of stroke iminches. This!
product divided by 231 gives the capacity in gallons per stroke. Doubling the dé,

emeter of 6 Cylinder increases its capatity four times, oo

254 The Primer of Irrigation.

/ To find the number of gallons ina tank, multiply the Inside bottom diameter
in inches by the inside top diameter in inches, then this product by 34, point
off four figures, and the result will be the average number of gallonstoona
inch jn depth of tank.

For the circumference of a circle, multiply the diameter by 3.1416.

For the diameter of a circle, multiply the circumference by .31381.

For the area of a circle, multiply the square of the diameter by .7854.

For the size of an equal square, multiply the diameter by .8862.

For the surface of a ball, multiply the square of the diameter by 3.1416)
For the cubic inches in a ball, multiply the cube of the diameter by .6236,

SHORT FORMULAS FOR PUMP CAPACITY AND POWER

D=Diameter of Pump Cylinderininches, S—Lengthofstrokeininches. -
N-—Number of strokes per minute. Q=Quantity of water in gallons, raised per minute
H-Total ey a in feet, water is elevated, figuring from surface of suction water to highest poins

of discharge.
THEN WE HAVE
D* x.7854 =The Area ofa Circle (or Cylinder) of given dismetem
~ xSx.784 —Capacity of Pump in cubic inches, per stroke.

2
i S Capacity of Pump per stroke in gallons.
D?xS ;
ane Capacity of Pump per strokein cubic feet.
D°xs

Capacity of Pump per stroke in pouuds of water.
2 =, a zN=capacity of Pump per minute incubicinches
a Capacity of Pump per minute in gallons, (= Q).

ose =Cuapacity of Pump per minute in cubic feet.
©?sHx-H09 —Total pressure in pounds on the Pump Cylinder when at rest. When et work,
add for pipe friction as determined from tables elsewhere.
Number of strokes per minute necessary to raise a given quantity | of water fy»

Q
wxzs x WH gallons.
4 The above formulas will give results correct to the third decimals place.

How to Use Cement. 255

HOW TO USE CEMENT.

The following general rules referring to the practical use of
cement will be found convenient for reference:

Quality of Sand—The sand should be clean, sharp and coarse. When the san@
is mixed with loam the mortar will set comparatively slow, and'the work will be
comparatively weak. Fine sand, and especially: water-worh sand, delays the set-
ee A the cement, and deteriorates strength. Damp sand should not be mixed
with dry cement, but the cement and sand should be mixed thoroughly and uni-
formly together, when both are dry, and no water should be applied until imme-
diately before the mortar is wanted for use. ‘

Proportion of Sand—The larger the proportion of cement the stronger the
work. One part of good cement to two parts sand is allowable for ordinary work;
but for cisterns, cellars, and work requiring special care, half and half is the better
proportion. For floors, the cement should be increased toward the surface. 2

Water in Concrete—Use no more water in cement ‘than absolutely necessary.

Cement requires but a very small quantity of water in crystalizing. erely damp-
ening the material gives the best results. Any water in excess necessarily evapor-
ates and leaves the hardened cement comparatively weak and porous.
. Concrete in Water—Whenever concrete is used under water, care must be
taken that the water is still. So say all English and American authorities. In lay-
ing cellar floors, or constructing cisterns or similar work, care niust also be taken to
avoid pressure of exterior water, Cement will not crystalizé when disturbed by
the force of currents, or paiaky of water, but will resist currents and pressure after
hardening only. In still water, good cement will harden qureker than in air, and
when kept in water will be stronger than when kept inair. Cements which harden
ecially quick in air are usually slow or worthless in water.
SFiow to Put Down Concrete—When strong work is wanted, for cellar floors
and’allsimilar work, the concrete should be dampened and tampcd down to place,
with the back of aspade, or better, with the end of a plank or rammer; then finished
off with a trowel, thus leveling and compactingthe work. Only persons ignor-
ant of the business will lay a floor or walk with soft cement mortar. All artificial
stone is made in a similar way to that described, and, when set, is strong and hard
asstone. oa s.

Delay In Use—Do not permit the mortar to exhaust its setting properties by de-
“tayingits-use when ready. Inferioricements only will remain standing in the niortar-
bed any length of time without serious injury.

8tone and Brick Work—In buildings constructed of stone or brick, the best
Protection from dampness and decay, and also from the danger of cyclones, isa
mortar of cement and coarsesand. Theextra cost is inconsiderable, and the ine
creased value of the structure very great. Chimneyslaid in this manner never blow
down, and cellars whose foundations are thus laid are always free from atmospheric.
moisture. Cement may also be mixed with lime mortar for plastering and other
purposes, to great advantage.

Effect of Frost and Cold—At a temperature less than 60 degrees Fahrenhéit,
all good cement sets slowly, though surely, but if allowed: to freeze its value is seri-
ously ee In cold weather or cold water do not fear to wait for your concrete
to crystalize. 3

Oamage from Molsture—Good cement is not injured by age, if carefully pre-
served from moisture. Lumps in bars or barrels of cement are caused by exposure
to moistpre. They prove the originally good quality of the cement.

256 The Primer of Irrigation.

WEATHER FORECASTS.

_ Almanac predictions’ can be nothing but conjecture, the
earth’s subjection to many unknowable and undeterminable
forces rendering such calculations. impossible. It is practicable,
however, by. the following rules, drawn from actual results
during very many years and applied with due regard to the sub-
jects of solar and lunar attraction with reference to this
planet, to foresee the kind of weather most likely to follow the
™moon’s change of phase.

PROGNOSTICATIONS.

a
If New Moobh First Qr., Full

: Moon or Last Qr. happens In Summer In Winter.
Between midnight and2 a.m.|Fair ....... \+e+eeeee}Frost, unless wmd is S. W.
as 2 “ 4 “ {Cold and showers..... Snow and storiny.
“ ‘4 etsirfy eet LER cRITRsle rate ete eee crn ote ---.|Rain.
“o 6 - 8 * |Wind’and rain... . |Stormy.
“ 8 “10 ‘* |Changeable..... .|Cold rain if wind W., snowif
oe 10' “12 “* {Frequent showers -|Cold and high wind. [{E.
12 * 2p.m.jVeryrainy ..,.. -}Snow or rain.
oe .2 * 4 “+ \IChangeable..... -|Fair and mild.
«e °4 Ae De SET Eee ta Sane . | Fair. {E.
6 “ 8 “ |Fairif wind N. W ....|Fair'and frosty if wind N.orN.
4 'g 10 “ [Rainy if S. orS, W...|Rain or snow if S, or S. W.
ch 10 =“ midn’t. jFair...... Pedtiaieipiaes Fair and frosty.

LS LL
“< OBSERVATIONS.—-1, The nearer the mdon’s change, first quarter, full and last
warter fo midnigh¥, the fairer will be the weather during the next seven days.

a. The space for this calculation occupies from ten at night ull-two next merning.

3. The nearer to midday or moon the phase of the moon happens, the. more foul
or wet weather miay be expected during the next seven days.

4. The space for this calculation occupies from ten in the forenoow' toéwo in the
afternoon. These observations refer principally to summer, though they affect
spring and autumn in the same ratio. is :

5. The moon’s change, first quarter, full and’ last quarter happening during six
of the afternoon hours, z. ¢., from four to ten, may be followed by fair wéather, but
this is mostly dependent on the wé#d as is noted in the table. ; .

6. Though the weather, from a variety of irregular cause8.1s more uncertain in the
fatter part of autumn, the whole of winter and the beginning of spring, yet, in the
Main, the above observations will apply to these periods also. °, 3
- 9. To prognosticate correctly, especially’in those cases where the tofnd ts cone
cerned, the observer should be within sight of a vane where the four cardtual
points of the compass are correctly placed _

General Information. 257

ply the Gallons pumped per Minute by the Head in feet and divide the
4000 and the result will be the Theoretical Power required. Double the Theoretical Power
be allowed to do the work, although the better grades of Steam and Power Pumps use much
fess than this. n
DUTY OF PUMPING ENGINES is @ ratio of the work done by the Pump to the Steam or
Puel consumed, and is usually expressed in millions of foot-pounds per 1000 pounds of steam ased.
THE PIPING OF PUMPS isa much more important matter than is commonly thought
SUCTION PIPES should be short and straight as possible, of ample size and arranged to
no “pockets’’ where air can collect, and must be made up absolutely @r-tight. Long Suc
tions or High Lifts should always have a Vacuum Chamber at the Pump.
DISCHARGE PIPES should be as large and asstraight as pee to avoid loss of powerin

overcoming the friction. The friction through one common Elbow is equal to that through 60
feet of straight pipe.

___A MINER'S INCH of water is the volume flowing per minute through o square inch of open-
ing under a fixed head—usually 6 inches, and varies from 10 ta 12 gallons per minute. The only
legal “Miner's Inch" we know of in the United States is the ¥daho inch, which is the amount of
water flowing through an opening one inch square under a four-inch pressure or head ae water
above the center of opening.

TO RIND THE SPEED OR SIZE OF PULLEYS:

To find the Diameter of the driving pulley: Multiply tne Giameter of the driven pulley by its
speed and divide the product by the speed of the driving pullty.

To find the Speed of the driving pulley: rode S e diameter of the driven pulley by its
speed and divide the product by the diameter of the driving pulley.

To find the Diameter of the driven pulley: Multiply the diameter of the driving pulley by its
speed and divide the product by the speed of the driven pulley. a

To find the Speed of the driven pulley: Multiply the diameter of the Grivtng pulley by its
speed and divide the Bing ae by the diameter of the driven paley.
pH OF GBARING is estimated in same way, substituting the mwmber of gear tecth for

é > :

POWER REQUIRED TO RAISE WATER: To Gnd the col Horse Power tp a
grater, mult a

Morris Machine Works

BALDWINSVILLE; N. WY.

MANUFACTURERS OF

Centrifugal Pumping Machinery Designed
for any irrigating proposition

Send details or specifications of what is wanted and we
will recommend a pumping outfit to supply the need

New York office, 39-41 Cortlandt Street
Houston office, Cor. Wood and Willow Sts., Texas
Henion & Hubbell, Agents, 61 N. Jefferson St., Chicago

Harron, Rickard & McCone, Agents
21 Fremont Street, San Francisco, Cal.

deinedirint " riet
ae

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