Show hydraulic ram best irrigation system for small farms small stream may be capable of watering good sized tract of land open up great possibilities bili ties for cheap supply of the various irrigation systems for the small individual farmer the hydraulic ram where it can be applied is perhaps the most attractive the use of the ram pre supposes the pros ence of a waterfall not necessarily a cataract but a stream of water with a fair fall which might as an ex ample be used for running a grist mill says the american cultivator the stream may be a very small one and still be capable of irrigating a good sized tract in various irrl gallon plants the wafer Is pumped up by rams into a reservoir excavated on a clay bill or made by throwing a dam across a ravine and thus backing the water up into a little lake its situation being higher than the land to be irrigated the water thus accumulated for months la held until needed when it Is run through open ditches on 10 the fields below the reservoir level A tiny stream having a flow of 80 gallons a minute and a fall of 20 feet will operate a ram that will pump 15 gallons a day to a height of feet above the ram this amount of water stored as stated will furnish all the feces sary irrigation for from ten to fifteen acres A ram of this size takes its water from a four inch drive pipe the improved rams of today open up great possibilities for cheap water supply their first cost Is very moderate and they pump by water power requiring no attendant they are manufactured of large capacity ind can be relied upon tor pumping water to any desired elevation for ir rl gating comparatively high lands they are made from a one inch size using three gallons a minute to a du plex 12 inch ram using two 12 inch iriye pipes one of the latter placed on a stream having a flow of 1500 gallons a minute which is by the way a very small creek with a 20 oot tall will pump nearly gal ions a day to a height ot feet above the ram such creeks or branches with nearby irrigable lands are very plentiful in any of the hilly sections of the country and where they exist should be recognized as the basis of certain wealth it may be to construct a small canal just as in the establishment of the old fashioned overshoot mill wheel in tact old abandoned mill sites where much of the work hag already been done can sometimes be utilized any amount of fall from four feet up to 40 feet can be utilized incidentally water for house and stock can often be provided it may therefore pay look into the question of water supply on the farm and to figure out a plan to use this greatest of natural resources the certainty of production and the great ness of the yield under irrigation maka it worth while to go to conald erable trouble to benefit by the water supply if the farm Is so fortunate as to have a good sized one even the flow from a good sized spring nay be utilized in the west every alty for using water in this way Is quickly grasped and it is an astonish ment to the eastern traveler to see with whit ease and at what little ex pense he could have always used the waters of the small stream flowing through his farm back home |