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Show FRANK HARRIS URGES NEW IRRIGATION PRACTICE OS j 5 I SAYS CONSERVATION OF WATER IS BIG QUESTION , u.- - - ' - v a 'VJ ' i is- 2? . r - --y: I ozttzzt of canal FJ?a?T htwt jsEsr&v&u? or TJ& &?kzz 2jr 9 tg.' mmxf imJ&&( u - i ? . wiiZY ' .y"f-y4 I? - ,,j -. . . I -t -c It - ' . - . , -"V' r , V'" ) . , , si 1 v i -it ! f,as - f ft v- - , v. l -":.-JLlkf. ; ;tvs- -inU I , ' v UUR CLASS f I I " " , i ? I I Prevention of Seepage Is Also Asserted to Be One of Present Problems. By FRANK S. HARRIS, Agronomist, Utah Experiment Station. UTAH was a pionoer in the art of irrigation on the American continent. con-tinent. Her farmers should, therefore, be among the first to adopt the most advanced methods of using irrigation water. During the last generation much has been done to place irrigation practice on. a rational basis, i and if the water users of Utah are to maintain their lead, they must be alert ! to the dis-coveries that are constantly 1 being made. In some of the other states i where water is scarce and laud high in i price wouderful skill in the use of water has been developed. In tho early days the settlers, devoted devot-ed themselves largely to getting water out on to the land. Ttfcv wero not so ' much concerned about the efficient use of water as about getting it out in any way possible iu order to save themselves them-selves from starving. As time passed, the idea of rights began to develop and there was a scramble to hold as much water as possible. Farmers used all they could get in order to retain possession. .Now that the most available water has been appropriated, it . is apparent that there is iu most places more land than water and Hint the fullest development develop-ment of the irrigated section will necessitate neces-sitate a wise, and not a wasteful, use of irrigation w ater. Increasing the Area. It is estimated that when the "now irrigation practice ' ' is thoroughly established es-tablished in Utah at least four times as much land can be served by the available avail-able water as at present. This will meiiu a tremendous addition to I he wealth of the state. The change v. ill not be brought about all at once, but. will require years for its completion, ft will be necessary to combine all possible possi-ble ni e t h o d s of s a in g water. Among the means that will work to this end are: The storage of flood waters now going go-ing to waste during certain seasons of the year. The prevention of seepage losses from canals and ditches. A study of (he special needs of each crop and application of water to suit those needs. The use of less water on ea.ch crop. Diversification of crops in such a wav that the available water can be nseel economically throughout the entire irrigation ir-rigation season. Storing Flood Waters. U very observnn t person has been struck with the L'rea t waste in water occurring every winter and spring when the rivers are filled to their brims wirh water flowing to waste where it will never be used. When one sees these great streams running by he cannot help thinking what this water woabl do' in the lato summer when sugar beets, alfalfa, potatoes and grain would be ao much benefited by it. In the Great basin the main part, of the annual precipitation com of during ; the fall, winter and spring months wben no wafer is used for irrigation. As a consequence the streams arc highest at ! this time und most of the wafer goes ! to waste. In some streams, tlie drain-: drain-: age area of which is large and at considerable con-siderable elevation, most of I he water is held back as snow till fairly late in the summer, but in some drainage areas the streams go dry about the time irri-, irri-, gation w ater is most needed. Conserve Flood Water. The conservation of this early flood water is one of the chief problems of western agriculture. This conservation can be effected in a number of ways. One of the, most important of these is the construction of reservoirs like those along the Sevier river. These reservoirs .hold back thousands of acre feet of water that would otherwise go to waste in ' Sevier lake during the spring, n.nd make it, available to the tanners of G-arfield, Piute, tSevier, Sanpete, Juab and Millard counties during the summer when crops would be drying up. Other systems like these will have to be built in various parts of the state. 'Reservoir sites are not always available avail-able and other methods of storage have to be resorted to. One is the storing of . water iu the soil it sel f. A good soil ' j ten or twelve feet deep, under faorable. ! conditions, will hold sufficient water to mature a crop without any more being added. Flood water can be soaked into !a soil of this kind during the fall and i farly spring and here stored till jieeded , hy crops. "This method of storage has 1 sreat pnssibili ties but has not as yet ; been used as widely as it will be in the ' future. i Preventing Seepage Losses. I Experiments nave dmwu that about ! half the water entering the intakes i of canals is lost before it reaches the i land. This loss is duo largely to seep-age seep-age through the canal. The water lust in this wav ip not only wafed. but it dees po-irive iujurv by waterlogging ; nw lands and cMU-dng alkali to accumulate. accu-mulate. ! The remedy for seepage ! iu giv-, giv-, ing more attention to canal hex! and ! also in stopping the leaky places. Home I of the leaks cannot be stnppe.i without i lining the eaual or fluming over the j wor? places. while others can be 'remedied bv puddbr.g The .-id and ! liniiniTi of rhe c:ni:d. Tin-1 2'rov. i h nt' 'brush an J tfed in the a tch a 'ids greatly to seepage losses. Certainly no very; high efficiency can be claimed for an irrigation system until the seepage seep-age losses are reduced much below the prosent average. Too much irrigating has been done in the past without taking into account ac-count the needs of the various crops. Each crop has its own peculiar needs in relation to water, and an attempt to irrigate all crops in the same way is as unwise as tn force all kinds of stock to consume the same diet. Some crops need water most during early singes when thoy are getting a Btart, while others require most of their water wa-ter later in their growth. The understanding under-standing of those principles will do as much as anything else to usher in the ''new irrigation practice. Used More Wisely. Repeated observation has demonstrated demonstrat-ed that where plenty of water is available avail-able farmers use more than they should to ge,t the oest results. They want to make water the ''cure all'' for every ev-ery ill and whenever the crop doesn't look ' just, right they drench it with water. This often results in a decreased de-creased yield besides wasting the water. wa-ter. Surely the wise plan is to use water as economically but as intelligently intelli-gently as possible. Diversity of Crops. The more diverse .the cropping system, sys-tem, the more effectively can irrigation water be used tb rough out the season. Tf but one crop is raised the water is probably used to best advantage only for a short time, while if many wefl-selected wefl-selected crop? are raised the water is being used effectively all through the season. ' As new and more diverse crops are brought to the irrigated farms, irrigation ir-rigation practice will gradually become more rational. Needs of Future. The increase in pnpula-tion of the irrigated sections of the country makes im pe rati ve a new irrigation practice founded on a wider use of tho available avail-able water. The wasteful methods of the past, can no longer be tolerated. Already in some sect inn? a vorv effect ive use is made of all irrigation water. This same effeeTivene? will have to be extend Gil to the other irrigated districts dis-tricts where land is plentiful and water scarce. Xo one method of saving water wa-ter will be fufTieier-t, but evorv re-sou re-sou r'-e of sci en t and art tt) II have to Iif employed. Sinep Utah was a pio-n pio-n or r in introducing i rri gn t i o n . w h v -hould she not lead in irrigation reform re-form 7 |