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Show Tlgok to irrigation Last Season's Drought Causss Minncsotans to Think. Wsnt Some Insurance Against Loss of Such Crops as Fruit, Garden Truck and Some Varieties of Field Products. JIow last season's drought h;is set thoughtful men In Minnesota to considering con-sidering the possibilities of Irrigation sh an insurance against the lohs of I crops at b iiHt of such crops as are ; grown on limited areas, like fruit, , garden truck acd some varieties of field products Is shown by an artl-I artl-I tie by F. U Marsh of t'hamplln, In Fat in, Stock and Home, which Is In part as follows: "Irrigation In arid regions Is a dllllrult problem. So la conservation ! of soil moisture In semi -arid regions, itut no one thinks It Impious or foolhardy fool-hardy to try either. When a section usually humid becomes temporarily more than semi arid, can we not at least try to prevent barm, and to some extent make up the deficiency? "Gasoline or wind power Is cheap, and water Is, In many localities, plentiful. plen-tiful. Why not use It? I am aware that It Is a man's size problem. When we see people try to wet their gardens gar-dens with a sprinkling can, and then say watering Is of no benefit, we should recollect that an inch of rainfall rain-fall means more than 900 barrels to tho acre, and six barrels to the squaro rod. And It needs not one Inch, but several. Thus something more Is needed than the pall method; the light application that makes a surface sur-face crust and leaves the soil dryer ! after a day f sunshine than It was b. fore. A thorough soaking Is required, re-quired, and the amount of water It takes on sandy land Is surprising. "On the other band, the amount of water a good pump will throw In a day Is surprising. The amount that can be raised on an acre or two of well fertilized, well tilled, and well watered land Is very surprising. Another An-other favorable point Is, when It Is dry It Is likely to be hot. and soaking with cold water Is better than the scalding vapor bath from sprinkling the hot soil. " 'Likely it vttu be wet next year?' How do you knW? It will take much more rain than we have had yet to put the subsoil In decently moist condition, con-dition, and a lot of rain or snow to make a store for next season's conservation con-servation or waste. (Which of the two shall it be?) "Where shall we get the water? What about the thousands of lakes and streams In Minnesota? Can we make no use of them? What about that wonderful underground lake that lies under all this drift-covered region; re-gion; often only a few feet from the surface, and In strata through which water will flow freely to a drive point? Can't we tap and use that perhaps with reservoirs made watertight water-tight with mud as are our lakes If we cannot reach a lake or stream? "Now I can't tell much about how-to how-to Irrigate. I know how I Intend to try next season If I don't put it off and forget; but my method might not suit another farm, and 1 hope to know the 'how better later. I do know that I could have made several hundred dollars on a strawberry patch which the hot sun and drying winds were ruining while we were having well diggers' luck trying to get water enough to supply the engine, en-gine, pump and pipes I already bad. I know we bad results from what water we did get, and no harm. My ebbf error was In waiting till the water was eecded before 1 tried to Ket It. "I have never seen a season without with-out a drought here or in the east; when a good soaking sometimes during dur-ing the growing season would not have been a great benefit to berries, potatoes, garden stuff, grass land, and In lesser degree, perhaps to all other rrc.ps. I would not suggest going Into the matter heavily or thoughtlessly, but vhy not try it on a little patch at least? It would give some vegetables and fruit for winter, and many have none this year. A man here In the village has pumped water on his garden by hand, and has more crop than many times the land without water. He did not sprinkle, but kept the pump going for hours at a time." |