Show 1 n R I 1 CA T I 1 N 0 tire THE P IA I 1 N 8 BY JUDGE J 0 KNAPP WIS the best location for irrigation would be a plane surface with a slope siope of an inch or two in thirty feet because such atrach a tract could be divided by embankments into beds or compartments of parallel rectangle rectangles ff of the most convenient size eize and thus admit of culture by the horse horae without breaking the borders or banks in only one direction on such a plat permanent borders might be made so that trees would stand in them and in vineyards they could be between the rows of the vines and where the waters of irrigation would do the trees and vines the greatest amount of good yet on such a plat it to is not recommended to have any bed contain more than superficial fee reet because a greater surface would not be e easily kept level and it would take too much time to fill the same it is better to fill one bed from another than to fill the two as one and it is better to rebuild borders that are broken down in cultivation than to have the beds too large the banks of the acequia ac equia water ditches should never be broken down in cultivation and their beds may be kept clean and smooth enough for walks when not in uee for irrigation their banks will always form walks on such a tract as we are considering the acequias ace might be located twenty rods apart aud and they would fill beds on either side one half that distance and as far down the slope as may be desirable the general idea is that of a I 1 plane so bedded that each bed shall have a level surface and contain about two square rods of land but as such sueh a plane is seldom found other plans must be adopted such as will be fitted to each individual and particular tract and meets to its special formations in all ebes the beds beda should if possible be so formed that each adjoining bed may not be more than two inches above or below its neighbor where the water is to flow from the one to the other and all beds should be so formed as to have a surface so nearly level that every portion will be covered with water when any part has two inches standing on its surface when the water has arisen about two inches over the whole bed the border must be broken and the water drawn into the next lower bed and when that has filled to the next until all the line of beds are supplied and the next line is taken in hand THE BEST LAND FOR IT irrigation Is a sandy loam sueh buch buchas as is found along most of the streams and rivers in the sand formations land of so sandy a character as to be liable to drift is nevertheless erth eless excellent land laud to irrigate with muddy water next to this sandy bandy land is ia a soil with gravel and sand band through which the water can readily percolate but it if the soil he be two or three feet deep of a light bandy sandy loam it will matter but little that the subsoil is inclined to clay S lilt clay soils do not behave well with irrigation the water will lie too long on the surface and it will bake and crack in drying an evil that cannot well be avoided though relieved by mulch ings and goeings ho eings THE ACEQUIAS AND TANKS ARE NOT WASTE GROUND the banks banka of the large acequias aee ace guias can be lle planted with fruit and other trees and as they may form boundaries of plantations they will constitute the support for tree belts for breaking the violence of the winds winda which blow with such force on the plains the sides of the tanks especially such as are oblong can be economized in the same manner these banks planted with plums apples and even peaches I 1 and their tops bent as much as possible over the water would cover and occupy the space and their roots would find a full fuli supply of moisture under the bottom of the tanks and acequias ace and the cu burcu i acu llos lios in committing their depredations on the young fruit would in many man y instances fall into the water and be drowned the leaves and other droppings p from the trees would benefit the water by enriching it the fruit might be gathered either in a boat or on the bottom of the ditch or tank when the water is drawn off TOO MUCH MONEY AND LABOR WILL HAVE neen BEEN SPENT on such land to permit the idea of encumbering cum bering it with barren or even worth worthless lebs leEs trees and crops of any kind and it should be made to produce to the greatest extent possible care in looking to the greatest results must be practiced N in culture and planting forthal for that purpose it is suggested that the tract be surrounded by a compact border of trees rapid growers and valuable for umber timber or fruit or both making a perfect windbreak and also acting as a wall to retain the vapor of the water of irrigation or to retain a cloud of smoke over the surface made by kindling fires on a cold night to keep off early or late frosts A row or two of the mountain evergreens ever greens should form part of every such belt THE ORCHARD should consist only of trees of well known hardy habits with good qualities of fruit and prod productiveness activeness where peaches plums and peara pears will thrive they should be introduced but experiment experiments i with trees of uncertain hardiness and quality of fruit should be sparingly used on such land it is too valuable to be wasted high culture and winter mulch ings are absolutely necessary as a protection to the roots of the trees against the frosts of winter therefore no do under crop can be admitted to the orchard except such a as a will bear irrigation and leave the surface of the ground perfectly level and such as will grow under drip and shade of the trees strawberries might be cultivated while the trees were small and ras rasber berries rles ries and blackberries on all the ground even after the trees are fully grown provided they are cultivated in hills so as to admit the fruit gatherers and the introduction of the winter mulch ings and its removal in the spring the produce of these small fruits would more than compensate the cultivator for his entire labor of irrigation and culture his crops would be certain and the small fruits would be no detriment to the currants could be grown beyond the drip of the trees and some of the native varieties of currants are of great value THE tire VINEYARD there is little doubt that the manner of growing grapes as practiced in all countries where irrigation is practiced is best the ground being prepared for irrigation by reducing it to 9 plane is then marked off in squares 66 inches each way which gives nine vines on a square rod 1440 to the acre the vines are trimmed so that the soil which may be dug between the vines when drawn around tho the vines will bury all the old wood while standing erect in that manner they are buried during the winter in the spring the soil is leveled off and the borders formed for irrl gation no stakes are used to support the vines as the old stub is left has never been bent down and not dot being above eighteen inches highfill high will sustain all the foliage new growth and fruit the vineyards of the rio grande require irrigation once in ten days from the time the vines bloom until the berries color short jointed vines are far fa preferable to long jointed ones vineyards thus treated ripen their fruit to great perfection the vines are seldom damaged by the frost of winter aid the ground may be by burying manure and mulch ings when the hillings billings up are leveled down during the first two years after the vines are set bush bubb beans may way be grown between the grape hi hillmas hill ligas sab bab sas that crop requires the same amount of water as the grapes TO RAISE RAIBE WHEAT AND CORN and other crops reared in the tho same manner the ground must be ba watered before ane land is plowed otherwise it is likely to be too hard bard the crop must be planted as fast as plowed that watering will bring up the seed and produce the point of the third or fourth leaf of the wheat it then must be watered to make it tiller or stool the next watering must be given after the stem has begun to rise which will carry the wheat to the bloom and at which time the fourth and last watering waterlog is given and which perfects the grain corn is cul cui in much the same bame mander manner except that sometimes the watering given when the plants are in bloom may be omitted THE EFFECTS OP OF irrigation ON CROPS when the tiller of the soil has a supply of water and proper soil he can depend defend with almost absolute certainty upon sure crops his crops will not buffer suffer from droutha drout hs and in that almost ral rat rainless region never suffer from excess of water the trees will always be vigorous and thrifty and perfect their fruits as they can do nowhere else the grape grower on the sandy land with plentiful irrigation would secure better ripened vines and have fruit with a more abundant supply of sugar sugae than can be ba secured without such culture the vine the peach the apricot the plum the pear and the apple will be again grown in the same conditions in which they have been perfected in persia and palestine and as aa they are now growing in california the tho wondrous bunches of the grape grapa vines of eschol which caleb caie band and lona fons bore on poles on their shoulders will be reproduced on thib this american desert lf the wheat will then also yield its forty sixty and a hundred fold SALTS IN THE SOIL all have heard hoard or read of the alkali plains there are more places where alkali effervesces than is commonly supposed in fact there Is scarcely a place in which these salts are not found analysis shows that these salts are compounds of soda sods potash lime and magnesia with sul sui ph uric n and carbonic acids it is well known that in some of these forms these salts enter largely into the production of all plants and trees and it is manifest that these lands must produce large crop and thrifty trees the valleys through chien the surface waters are drained or in which they may be preserved in pools are naturally charged with these salts and aud thus the waters become rich in all plant food and for this cause we may rest assured that all irrigated lands on th thebe these se must remain rich in these salts and must for a long period of time be as productive as in their virgin state it is not more than two hundred years since the mexicans planted themselves on the thi bio nio grande and those lands which they have cultivated in wheat and corn during that time are yet as rich and the now produced as great as at the beginning the puebla indians of the same territory have cultivated their lands for a much larger period and yet they show no sign of diminished productiveness there can be no reason given why every portion of the plains which can be irrigated will not be equally productive and durable THE FUTURE OF THE PLAINS room boom only remains to say that the lookout look out in the future is that these plains will I 1 in that future become the land that shall flow with milk and honey and become like the garden of the lord with irrigation the land will swarm with people without it this region will pabs piss into the hands and control of wandering herdsmen with their herds ol of cattle and sheep rii railroads have already penetrated these plains and others are looking in that direction these call for settlers bett belt iera lera and no BO time should be lost in acquiring knowledge of the art of irrigation to do a little in that line has induced the writing of this and a former paper the knowledge and practice must make all the plains yield their increase and wave with ripening crops and give homesteads where once was the american desert 2 chicago JG journal |