| OCR Text |
Show CONSERVING WATER IN ROWS Every Farmer Experience Much Dl Acuity Mi Getting WsUr te Reach the Extreme End. (Br B. B HOtftK. CnUicwAo Eaawrlmeart 8ta4hm.) The difficulty that every fanner e psrlence In ordinary row Irrlgatloa Is to so control his supply that th water flows down each row at tb same rat and with sufficient velocity so that when the water reaches tb lower end of the row the upper end has had time to be sufficiently moist ened for lb water to reach the roots or the plants. In order to accom-pllsh accom-pllsh this every field should have ditch running along Its highest part, properly laid out. This will b beal accomplished by making opening! through the sida of this ditch through which th water runs Into th rows, level; that Is to say, fixing them ao that when a dam Is put la, which brings th water over the bank and forces It though each opening with th same velocity and therefor hav tbo aam bead. It will, therefore, be paying proposition to make thess openings permanent A bos made of lumber or concret with openings in the side, each section sec-tion set level, with a drop at the end or each section, so that by placing th dam at th end or th section th ssm quantity cf water la discharged through each opening and finds Its way to each row and Is sent down each with the same, velocity and th same quantity of water Is supplied to each row. This quantity can b regulated regu-lated by increasing or decreasing th head on each opening, and with this arrangement it will be found that labor, la-bor, time and water will be saved. Another thing, after an Irrigation by means of tbe row method many farmers farm-ers have found It advisable and profitable profit-able to barrow across the rows. This fills the ditches and the ground that Is saturated with loose earth, which form's a "dust mulch" and thereby prevents excerslve evaporation from the rows, while If this Is not done th bottom and sides of the ditches take on a crust, the particles become packed together and excessive evaporation evap-oration takea place. For the next Irrigation Ir-rigation It will be necessary to again run the cultivator through the rows In order to form the dttche for another anoth-er application of water, and by th time thja second Irrigation occurs th plants will be so far advanced that It will be Impossible to harrow a second sec-ond time, but the first harrowing can be done with very HtUo damage to th crop; in fact it ia a benefit to th crop, even though some of th plants are destroyed. |
