OCR Text |
Show GOOD FACTS OF IRRIGATION Knowledge and Experience Required to Determln Just When Crops Need Water and How Much. In order to determine Just when crop need water and when to apply It ao that they will not suffer from drought nor be Injured by too frequent fre-quent or too generous applications, require a knowledge and experience that can be gained only by practice and a clone observation of various crops under Irrigation. It Is the experience ex-perience of many practical Irrigators that if an unlimited supply of water ia available crops more frequently suffer from overirrlgation than from drought. It Is difficult to determine when the development of the crop Is first arrested on account of a lack of moisture in the soil, gome experimenter experi-menter maintain that this point can be more definitely decided by an examination ex-amination of the soil than by the appearance ap-pearance of the plant, as the latter shows evidence of the check In It growth aome days after It has occurred. oc-curred. Usually It Is then too late to prevent serious Iohs. as the crop rarely rare-ly recovers from such treatment, and seldom reaches the development It would have attulned If It had been Irrigated Ir-rigated at the proper time. Plants will usually Indicate by a change In color or by their general appearance whether they need water or when they have been overlrrlgated. Most field crops turn to a darker green when In need of water, and the leaves and stems show a tendency to droop or curl. The lower leaves assume as-sume a pale yellow. A crisp or dead appearance in the lower leaves Is one of the best Indlcatlona that a plant needs water. Grain which has suffered from drought may mature, but the straw will be small and short and the kernels will be shrunken and Inferior In quality. Alfalfa and similar crops have the appearance of cured hay. Where Meld crops are overtrrlcated the color of the foltngo becomes a yellowish green and the plants have a sickly appearance. TheHe Indlcatlona Indlca-tlona vary w ith the quality of the so!!, so that It Is Impossible to lay down fixed rules to govern tho number or frequency of Irrigations. Only close obecrvatlon for a number of years on the ratne farm will enable a perron to tell by the appearance of tho plants whether they need water or not. The amount of moisture In the soil may be determined with sufficient accuracy ac-curacy for the needs of the plant by examltig a sample taken a few Inches from the surface of the ground. If it clings together when molded Into a ball Bnd shows the print of the fingers, there Is moisture enough present. If the earth falla apart when the land Is opened, Irrigation Irri-gation Is needed. |