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Show SOIL READY FOR IRRIGATION Farmer Should See That His Field Is Smooth on Surface and Level All Ridges and Hollows. (By E. B. HOUSE. Colorado Asrli-uHurRl College.) The thing of first importance is to see to it that the high spots in the field are removed and that the lo spots are filled; In other words, he should see that the surface of his field is smooth, and here is where the ordinary or-dinary farmer falls down. After plowing plow-ing anr' harrowing his field he perhaps per-haps runs a drag over it, and then seeds it, leaving ridges and hollows, hole;, and knolls. When he irrigates the field it is necessary for him to almost drown the low spots in order to wet the high ones. Water will often be found from one to two feet doep in places in the field. If, when the plowing and harrowing are completed, the farmer would take a scraper and take down the knolls and fill up the depressions with the dirt thus removed, in the course of a year or two he would change the field from one hard to irrigate to one exceedingly ex-ceedingly easy for irrigation. He would find that practically one-half the amount of water that he was compelled com-pelled to use in the first place is ample am-ple after the field has been smoothed in this way. More than this, he will field that his crops yield better, for when an excess of water is applied to the low spots, the crop at these places in the field is always injured. It is not an exaggeration to sy that as much damage to the crop is done by forcing the water up to the high spots as would be done by allowing these high spots to suffer from ' lack of water. A word of advice now, for the present pres-ent season will soon be upon us. As you irrigate your fields this spring and summer stake the high spots, driving the stakes down so that they will not Interfere with harvesting, and mark on these stakes about how much too high the land is at that point; then after the crop is harvested in the fall see to it that these high spots are removed, and, after plowing, smooth the sur- I face with great care. |