Show r J GOOD FACTS OF knowledge and experience required to determine De just when crop crops need water and how much in order to determine just when crops need water and when to apply it so that they will not suffer from drought nor be injured by too frequent or too generous applications requires a knowledge and experience that can be gained only by practice and a close observation of various crops under irrigation it Is the ex per lence ol 01 many practical irrigators Irrl gator that it if an unlimited supply of water Is available crops more frequently suffer from than troia from drought it Is difficult to determine when the development of the crop ie to first arrested on account ot of a lack of moisture in the soil some expert menters maintain that this point can be more definitely decided by an ex amin atlon of the soil than by the ap bearance pe arance of the plant as the lter latter shows evidence elac of the check in fn 1 1 Us ts growth some days after it has oc burred usually it Is to then too late to prevent serious loss as the crop rare ly recovers from such treatment and seldom reaches the development it would have attained if it had been ir J righted at the proper time plants will usually indicate by a change in color or by their general appearance whether they need water or when they have been over irrigated most field crops turn to a darker green when in need of water and the leaves and stems show a tendency to droop or curl the lower leaves ae as sume a pale yellow A crisp or dead appearance in the lower leaves Is oni ono of the best indications that a plant needs water grain which has suffered ered from drought may mature but the straw wiltz small and short ind the kernels will be shrunken and inferior ip iii quality alfalfa and similar crop crops have the appearance of cured hay where field crops are the color of the foliage becomes a yellowish green and the plants have a sickly appearance these indica eions vary with the quality of the soil so that it Is impossible to lay down fixed rules to govern the number or frequency of irrigations only close observation for a number of years on the same farm will enable a person to tell by the appearance of the plants whether they need water or not the amount of moisture in the soil max may be determined with sufficient ac ae curacy tor for the needs ot of the plant by examine a sample taken a few ew inches from the surface ot of the ground if it clings together when molded into a ball and shows the print of the fingers there Is moisture enough present it rf tho the earth falla falls a apart part when the land la Is opened arri gatlon gation Is needed |