OCR Text |
Show IRRIGATION BY PUMPING. Irrigation has boon carried on for centuries by means ot canals In which tho water moved in response to tho law of gravity. Later air powor has been used as a means ot lifting the wator and storing it in reservoirs, from which it could . bo afterwards used on tho land. Somo water for such purposos haa been raised by pumping with steam and gasolono engines. en-gines. Ocnorally, this latter method has bcon considered too expensive to bo advocated for general uso. But somo tlmo ago tho Arizona station took up tho problom nnd is solving it in a way that promises to bo very advantageous to somo of our wostorn farmers. For pumping steam engines aro used, and tho fuel is that found on the farm in tho caso of tho Arizona station it is tornlllo wood purchasable at $2.25 per cord. It may bo that such fuel is abundant in many sections sec-tions of tho country whoro thoro aro arid wastes to irrigate. A number ot different engines wero tried and thoy pumpod from COO to 1,085 gallons per mlnuto. Tho fuel cost of irrigating ono aero of land to a depth of threo Inches ranged from Gl to 70 conta. This water was usod on tho alfalfa field, and proved to bo very profitable. Wero it to be usod on a flold of vegetables vege-tables it would, of course, prove still moro profitable Water is tho key to agrlculturo, and its application to land at low cost means the bringing under cultivation of largo areas that havo hitherto borne nothing but buffalo grass and sago brush. |