Irrigation ditch

“ The 131,800 acres of irrigated land consume 98,572 acre feet annually, including reservoir evaporation. Exportations from the basin are expected to average 6,000 acre feet, making the total annual depletion 104,540 acre feet. Though Colorado claimed that an additional 100,000 acres in North Park was susceptible of irrigation, the Special Master found that there are only about 34,000 acres of additional land that could be brought under irrigation; 30,390 of those acres are irrigable from constructed ditch systems having water rights. ”

“ Irrigation fills the soil with moisture and drainage empties it. Thus, a condition is established that supplies valuable farm plants with both air and moisture. In the drier portions of the United States, nothing of value will grow without irrigation. In the so-called humid districts deficiency of moisture at the critical time reduces the yield and destroys the profit. The value of irrigation has been demonstrated in the West, and the practice is working eastward. ”

“ This statement is further born out by the fact that no native farmer will settle a ranch or undertake to raise any kind of crops without facilities for irrigating, since experience has taught them all, that, though there may occasionally be an exceptionally wet season in which they can raise good crops without artificial aid, still, the years when crops depending wholly upon rain-fall for their moisture would be entirely lost, are so frequent as to render farming without irrigation very hazardous and unprofitable. ”

“ Even in heavy rainfall countries, there is often such vast waste of water from run-off that the lands suffer severely during droughts. The hilly lands of our best farming regions are greatly reduced in their crop-producing power because people do not prepare against drought as consciously as they provide against winter. It is often said that we shall water eastern lands by irrigation, and I think that we shall; but our first obligation is to save the rainfall water by some system of farm-management or dry-farming. ”

“ Whatever may be the command of water, it is unwise to attempt to irrigate too large a surface at once. Even with a river supply fairly constant in level and always abundant, no attempt should be made to force on a larger volume of water than the feeders can properly distribute and the drains adequately remove, or one part of the meadow will be deluged and another stinted. When this inequality of irrigation once occurs, it is likely to increase from the consequent derangement of the feeders and drains. ”

“ Of course, if the sewage is subjected to previous treatment, which is often the case, by the method immediately about to be described—namely, precipitation—the amount of sewage the soil is capable of purifying will be correspondingly increased. A difficulty which may also be pointed out in connection with irrigation as a means of disposing of sewage, is the impossibility of carrying it on during frosty weather, when the land is frost-bound. In warm climates irrigation has much to recommend it as a means of sewage disposal. ”

“ But in most regions where irrigation is regularly employed, it is necessary to economize the water; after passing over or through one parcel of ground, it is conducted to another; no more is usually withdrawn from the canals at anyone point than is absorbed by the soil it irrigates, or evaporated from it, and, consequently, it is not restored to liquid circulation, except by infiltration or precipitation. ”

“ On very closely planted beds a crop can get in serious trouble without irrigation in a matter of days. But if that same crop were planted less densely, it might grow a few weeks without irrigation. And if that crop were planted even farther apart so that no crop canopy ever developed and a considerable amount of bare, dry earth were showing, this apparent waste of growing space would result in an even slower rate of soil moisture depletion. On deep, open soil the crop might yield a respectable amount without needing any irrigation at all. ”

“ Under conditions of water scarcity it is often found profitable to carry water to the garden in cement or iron pipes so that no water may be lost by seepage or evaporation during the conveyance of the water from the reservoir to the garden. It is also often desirable to convey water to plants through pipes laid under the ground, perforated at various intervals to allow the water to escape and soak into the soil in the neighborhood of the plant roots. All such refined methods of irrigation should be carefully investigated by the who wants the largest results from his limited water supply. ”

“ If sub-surface irrigation is not feasible, when, for instance, the soil is nearly impervious to water or when, in the case of a wet soil, adequate underdrainage is not possible, some form of artificial filter must be constructed to complete the reduction of the sewage where the effluent from the settling tank may not properly be discharged directly into a stream. ”

“ The first rays that fall from the lamp of history reveal vast systems of irrigation in full operation. In many parts of the globe artificial watering is absolutely essential, and there are few agricultural regions which might not be rendered far more productive if the supply of moisture could be regulated in accordance with the needs of each crop. The question, as we shall consider it, is a practical one. In California and other sections, the land must be irrigated ”

“ It may be added that dry-farms on which such homesteads are found as a result of the existence of a small supply of irrigation water are much more valuable, in case of sale, than equally good farms without the possibility of maintaining homesteads. Moreover, the distinct value of irrigation in producing a large acre yield makes it desirable for the farmer to use all the water at his disposal for irrigation purposes. No available water should be allowed to flow away unused. ”

“ There is a method which you might find useful on a small scale to which I will now draw your attention, as it is applicable to detached houses or small barracks—viz., the plan of applying the domestic water to land through underground drains, or what is called subsoil irrigation. This system affords peculiar facilities for disposing of sewage matter without nuisance. There are many cases where open irrigation in close contiguity to mansions or dwellings might be exceedingly objectionable, and in such cases subsoil irrigation supplies a means of dealing with a very difficult question. ”

“ If the farmer does not wish to fallow his family garden he can achieve equally good results by planting the rows twice as far apart as is ordinarily the case and by bringing the irrigation furrows near the rows of plants. Then, to make the best use of the water, he must carefully cover the irrigation furrow with dry dirt immediately after the water has been applied and keep the whole surface well stirred so that evaporation will be reduced to a minimum. The beginning of irrigation wisdom is always the storage of the natural precipitation. ”

“ In short, our idea is, that, in general, a soil so constituted as to be productive under any circumstances, will retain, by attraction, moisture enough for the crops, though intersected by four-foot drains at usual distances; and that cold water pumped up to the roots from a stagnant pool at the bottom, is not, either in nature or art, a successful method of irrigation. ”

“ Too abundant flooding may also leach out of the soil its soluble salts, and carry them deeper down in the ground. But if this soil after a while fills up with water and becomes subirrigated, the evaporation of water from the surface will gradually carry these salts back to the surface, when they will increase the fertility of the soil. Where drainage is very perfect, constant irrigation will gradually rob the soil of many of its soluble salts, and carry them to places where [86] they will forever be out of the reach of the vines. ”

“ To accomplish a successful work of irrigation attention must not only be turned to the dry and arid land, but to the marshy, low-lying parts that have got more of the water than they need and require draining, otherwise an even flow over the whole can never be engineered and the full capacity of the soil cannot be given a fair chance. ”

“ We may irrigate by flooding the land or by leading the water in furrows between the vines. Both ways, but especially the former, may, if continued long enough, cause subirrigation, the most desirable state of irrigation. The choice of methods of irrigating does not always lie with ourselves, but depends upon the quantity of water at our command, the lay of the land, etc. Sometimes one method will in course of time give room to another, and again, after the lapse of a few years, continued irrigation may not be necessary or desirable. ”

“ The irregularity of the rainfall is a matter which must be borne in mind in any future attempts to develop the industry here, but the possibilities of providing artificial irrigation should not be overlooked, as large tracts of flat land exist near the White Volta river capable of becoming fertile under proper irrigation and drainage. ”

“ It was maintained that mountain irrigation is not ultimately injurious to that of the plains below, because lands liberally watered in the spring, when the supply is abundant, act as reservoirs, storing up by absorption water which afterwards filters down to lower grounds or escapes into the channel of the river and keeps up its current in the dry summer months, so as to compensate for what, during those months, is withdrawn from it for upland irrigation. ”

“ The constant stirring of the soil, to keep it loose as well as to keep down useless growths, is second in importance only to irrigation. Some years ago, when it was ascertained that tracts of land which had been regarded as only fit for herding cattle and sheep would by good ploughing and constant cultivation produce fair crops without any artificial watering, there spread abroad a notion that irrigation could be dispensed with. ”

“ Continued litigation, and a great pressure to secure legislative restrictions of the use of water supply, and the constant irritation and turmoil involved in these disputes, were all, happily, laid to rest by the discovery of the farmers themselves that extravagance in the use of water was not conducive to their own prosperity. In the matter of flood waters the irrigation experts of the state are quite generally meeting the condition in their own way. ”

“ It seems to have been entirely overlooked that irrigation, which has been considered only for arid and subarid regions, can be applied for plant production in well-watered regions with equal benefit and profit, if combined with proper drainage systems and forest management. To pave the way for a better utilization of water-supplies in the Eastern States seems as much a proper function of the Department of Agriculture as the development of irrigation systems in the Western States ”

“ Where there is not sufficient water, there a well-regulated system of earth-closets seems to be imperatively demanded. By one process or the other we must prevent the fouling of the lower soil, and the consequent tainting of wells and springs, and the ground under houses and adjoining their cellars. [Pg 113] With a system of sub-irrigation pipes which deliver foul matters into earth that is subject to the active operation of oxidizing influences, we need fear no contamination of the deep and unaërated soil. ”

“ Making generous allowance for ground not in tillage, we still find the working force far too small to bring maximum quantities of food out of the ground. We need also on much plow land and meadow east of the arid belt supplementary irrigation for many seasons and for some crops, and with abundant water resources, there is no good reason why nature should not thus be helped to her best. Some areas, many, it would doubtless be better to say, would be doubled in productive worth by more effective drainage than has yet been applied. ”

“ The simpler method of surface irrigation may be resorted to by laying out at some distance—at least 100 feet—from the house a small sewage farm where the sewage may flow in shallow trenches over the surface and slowly sink into the ground. Such an irrigation field must have the same qualities demanded by subsurface irrigation. Its surface should have sufficient slope and the soil should be porous, not retentive. The liquid sewage, including kitchen and chamber slops, is conducted to this field in a water-tight tile drain and then allowed to flow into shallow trenches. ”

“ Irrigation, of course, cannot prevent rainfall, and it may be that after a copious soaking of the ground with the irrigating water a heavy rain may follow, resulting in an excess of moisture as bad for the ground as none at all. The possibility of irrigation cannot prevent excessive rains at the time of harvest, but the advantages of being able to control the soil moisture during the period of growth are more than enough to counterbalance any possible disadvantages. ”

“ What are the duties of the American people toward irrigation in these all-important years of the beginnings of new commonwealths based upon new industries? Millions of acres of land are forever worthless without water. Who shall own the streams and reservoirs—a few far-sighted men, or the people themselves? Irrigation journals and conventions of irrigators discuss the matter from the standpoint of the present, and endeavor to shape legislation to profitable ends. The slow, dumb masses have not yet recognized the magnitude of the problems involved. ”