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Show I APPLYING WATER TO CROPS Irrigation Supply and Its Use Should Demand Most Thoughtful Consideration Con-sideration of Best Minds. Every day the question arises to (he irrigator: "How am I to know how much water to apply to my-crops?" my-crops?" There are ways by which this can be dono and the time will come when every Irrigator will avail himself of these means. Water is the most valuable thing in the arid region I more valuable than gold or silver 1 or any other of our resources or prod- y ucts. Therefore, the water supply and Its use should demand the most thoughtful consideration of the best minds, writes Alex McDonald in the Denver Field and Farm. I have found by actual experience that 16 Inches ot water. Including rainfall, supplied during dur-ing the growing season will produce 75 bushels of wheat and 130 bushels nf oats, if properly distributed and conserved. More water added to the soil did not increase its production, but rather rath-er decreased It. Less water than thl3 produced nearly as much as the amount given. Hence the water that is added to the soil In excess of the needs of the plant Is wasting wealth ind It behooves the Irrigator, or the men who are using water, to study '.his question well, so that they may make water do its whole duty, and ;hus increase the area of tillable land. Many who are not used to Irrigating Dften look upon It as a mysterious work. I invariably say to these men if they pose as farmers: "Do you know when soil Is In good condition?" tf they answer yes, then I tell them lo keep it that way. They do not nave to wait for rain; they can supply sup-ply water themselves and hence there :s no excuse for not keeping It in good condition so far as moisture Is concerned. con-cerned. 1 Next, how are we to find out how much water to apply in tho soil? T iave used the following plan: Take i ship auger with a shank tree three. . 'eet long or more, bore Into the ground before the crops are planted, :ake all of the soil and put it in a receptacle. re-ceptacle. Properly cover to prevent oss of moisture, and take it to a drug store and weigh It. Then take this ?ame soil and place It in an oven, or mywhere a temperature of about 104 legrees may be obtained, until thoroughly thor-oughly dried. Then weigh the soil igaln. From this the water In the ground can be computed. Then after rrigating do this again, and It will 'ell you, If you do It Immediately aft-5r aft-5r irrigating, how much water the soil, contains when saturated, and if you ivait 24 hours and take a sample in ike manner it will tell approximately low much water the soil holds in a .'orm that plants can use. In fact, successful dry farmers in he northwest follow this plan every 'ear. Of course precipitation there comes in the late fall, winter and ;arly spring, and they find that if they ive eoual to 12 to 15 inches of wa-er wa-er available for plants that they can count on 'a crop. If not, they must conserve this moisture by summer 'allowing and await more precipitation. precipita-tion. Then again, other tests may be ?sed. Dig into the ground 3 or 4 nches and take a handful of the soil tnd squeeze. If it remains In a ball, hen it is unnecessary to supply moisture. mois-ture. Of course, this pre-supposes hat there is moisture down below and hat the ground is not. too sandy. 3ome may say this is too much trouble, trou-ble, but they should be willing to '.rouble themselves when there Is noney In it. I have personally observed that men are pouring water onto their ;oil, which if used Intelligently would 'rrigate from two to four times as much land as they are now irrigating, if one acre of land will produce a net Income of $30 and upward, and by a ittle Investigation they could, with :he same amount of water, cultivate four acres and get better crops, is it not worth a little Investigation? The Intelligent farmer, whether scientific Dr not, wants to make money ut of his farming operations. If he owns . , water, he wants to turn that water into money that he may have the necessitites, or even the luxuries of life In more abundance. Then why waste the water by excessive irrigation? irriga-tion? While It is true that alfalfa requires more water than, perhaps, any other crop grown In the west, yet If the soil Is deep and in proper condition con-dition so that the roots of the plants will go on down, they . will be able to reach the subterranean water In a greater or lesser time and materially aid the farmer In reducing the amount ot water necessary for his alfalfa. |