| Show I t TESTS TJ rog OP OF IRRIGATION I ATI Irrigation investigations been beell conducted fOI v r years past by tho the Utah Experiment Exp Station at Logan nn thc results which arc aro of general Interest are arc embodied in a bulletin No Nu 10 just sued Issued l It Is written by byI I Dr Di i John A The be writer states that the work has lias lied hud for Its direct t object t the study stud of oC o tIre life mutual relations of plants soils and und water 3 tel as ts these relations lations r may mc In Indicate the most economic use of water for plant production It becomes necessary essary s ar to 0 follow Collow the of V uter ater r in hI soils under Irrigation condi condl Huns and md to determine Ulso also the re amounts amount of oC water evaporated cli dl l from rom the soil and taken from fromI fie te I Je soil soli by br b plants Considering tho the thon n of tho tilo practical farmer three thrOn pi gt eat cat questions continually presented themselves to tho the Investigators 1 l To what nL Is It Jt possible to regulate tio I o amount of oC that evaporates directly from tron the soil 2 Is It possible to regulate r the amount of o water ater taken from fron the tue th soil by b plants and 3 Is Isit IsIt Isit it possible to prevent loss of oC water by U seepage Four kinds of oC soils were employed in inthe Inthe iI the tile experiments c In III testing these It was Ivul found f und that the College loam and Sanpei clay cIa average about of or one o e per pel cent nt of oC water material which probably Includes all the Immediately available fertility while Uio tilo clay cla and sand contain some somewhat somewhat somewhat what less lehs than tan of or that amount First the effect of oC cultivation by b which is meant the stirring of the top topsoil topsoil soil usually after the crops have been planted was VIL Investigated It It wasS Wll found that n alj J IJ the soils solli the Ule sand nd cultivation c Increased the yields of dry dl matter from the tile cropped pots The Increase due W tO t cultivation is sur surprisingly high on Oil the clay cIa It was wag nearly 31 n per cent on the College loam and clay It was wa neary neal 5 S and 14 11 per p T cent respectively Certainly such Increased crop yields Ields fully compensate the farmer for the labor of ot cultivation tion S The amount of evaporation from bare soils with and without cultivation during luring three years slowed showed one rather singular result The beneficial effect of or cultivation was marked on all al of or the soils with life lie l e exception of o the College loam which was not at atair atair air nU benefited Cultivation reduced evaporation from fr m the clay cla per percent percent percent cent from the sand per cent and from the SanD te clay ca 13 per cent Thc spits results r confirm e the tho results of former for r i t experiments and aud a d justify fhe lle systematic and careful cultivation that the wise farmers of the arid West give to their soils The he conduct of or tho the College loam is la surprising and shows shouts that many western soils must be deep ly I stirred In order to conserve the boll moisture that lies beneath the sur face t ce Another nothel series of tests furnished fair ly 1 evidence that the amount of or water yater actually l required for or the pro of a pound of dry matter be comes smaller as us the available fertility of ot the th soil Increases While this law is not new flew It does not seem m to have been be n ll applied to the cultural methods In this country where the tile limiting factor Is th water Avater supply In England during the dry season sea o of of O it was observed thIt the hay plots that had bon been b en well fertilized produced nearly ten times as 11 a much dry dl matter mutter aa as 8 did tile the unfertilized plots and that the increased yield could not be ex cx without assuming that dry dl matter had been produced with less le water than ordinarily required In Germany German about 1876 It was w do de that the transpiration of or plants In n water cultures varied with the tho solutions employed When a mix mIxture mixture ture of oC all the necessary plant foods oo was used the transpiration was least More recently In 1191 it was 15 again observed that the amount amount of water ator transpired d per gram of oC dry dr oats dimin as a more plentiful supply s of or plant nutrients were offered and In 89 an nn experiment was reported rep which rho d that on eli an Infertile soil 1190 crams grams of water Were cre transpired for tor tacit lach gram of dry matter as against 50 grams on a very vcr fertile soil In 1909 1908 investigations In the tho Bureau of oC Soils hit upon the tho same law Jaw Scat Scattered Scattered Scattered throughout agricultural literature arc aro numerous observations to the effect that during seasons of drouth the crops on fertile soils suffer euffer least All these statements aro are in support of or tho the find findings findIngs ings lags of the Ute experiments o l ments reported in this bulletin bUU 5 i i llo o t of water used S eU 1 by plants diminishes as aa tho the fertility Increases In the majority of or cases surface ir irrigation Irrigation gave savo the largest yields Ields of dry dr matter n nearly us much mItch and standing water the smallest yields By increasing the tile amount of water waler supplied to bare soils the tile loss froth from evaporation was increased In a greater ratio showing g that heavy Irrigations should be bc followed by b Immediate care careful ful fui ul and thorough cultivation S The Tho Investigators say that summer fallowing should bo ho practiced on dry dr farms to store tho th precipitation of two or more mora years for the use lIse of one ono crop and secondly to set free Cl e an abundance abundance abundance dance of oC plant food which will enable crops to mature with until less lIss water Finally one of or scientific rather than popular Interest Is that the num number number ber of oC pounds of water required for forthe forthe forthe the production of oC o t c pound of oC f dry matter mailer greatly with Uh the Uie crop tho thu th soil the season the tIle method of oC Irrigation and he cultivation lIon In general gener LI however i tho tito amount oC or water inquired led for tor the thc production of oC dry dt 11 matter s very Vel much higher in Itt an arid legion than In ru ro glons of abundant ant rainfall The Tite con conservation coti COl n of ot moisture Is therefore thel Jf ht greater Importance In the West cst thin in the East I |
