| Show TRUE ECONOMY IN irrigation much depends on use of water in way that it shall produce profit and not wasted wanted A flow of water of one cubic foot per second would cover acres acre a inches deep ln in 4 a year it and its a big it noab of it escaped downward or upward even allowing for such escapes twenty seven inches would probably prove enough if ono on could irrigate throughout the year or store water without loss in california they do make a cubic foot per second serve to acres that Is after a fashion and after a great deal of expense in distribution in utah seventy acres Is covered and in colorado on short run si streams reams cubic feet Is used on eighty acres and reser resen voir water used in addition theorists would have ono one belleve believe that water that escapes by percolation Is was wasted 1 teda 1 whereas it returns to the water chan nels and can be used so long as it flows in 14 countries under irrigation theoretically water should only bo be run far enough to give just the right amount of water at every point of its flow through the field and the nearer we can approximate this the better but we cannot cut our fields to pieces with cross laterals literals late rals which interfere with cultivation grow weeds and waste ground so we run water farther tar than thai the exact optimum for economy of water and we do advisedly be cause economical application of water to Is only one point in farming we the other operations must also bo be economically performed there Is not any exact rule that will give us the exact soakage of water wo we require for plants independent of tho the fact that soils vary for it to la evident that in order to reach the end of a row or land whatever its length and soak it sufficiently water must the upper and intermediate parts of the surface longer than to Is absolute ly ay necessary this excessive yet economical application of water passes into the sub soil boll and thence to the steam or river flow and when your theoretical arri dis discovers bovers it and some seeped lands ho he immediately cries out in horror that farmers are wasting water where there are gravelly sub soils such return flow will occur la in somewhat greater quantity than with a strong retentive subsoil it Is a mistake to regard the theoretical as a harmless harm leas if if mistaken individual for he la ig pernice ct active around legislatures and congress and his babble has led to countless enterprises being foisted on the public with a duty imposed on water far in excess of what I 1 will perform already it Is common to nay cay that water should be taken away from old settlers and redistributed and it to Is impossible cosay how soon some legislature may not further tangle up our water distribution systems the true economy of water depends on n its use in a way that shall produce t n profit and it has never been allowed to go to waste for any length of timo in live tar far ling communities but has been applied to new lan candaso lands daso so soon as it was developed Wit without holit live farmers the water Is useless in fact all the real value ever developed from water has been by farmers not by engineers gi promoters or theorists who explored it batby but by the man who raised the crop whose vital interest Is far greater in water than anyone eases can be |
