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Show FIT FOR IRfii'jATION Many Crop Failures Attributable to Faulty Leveling. Machinery Necettary for Proper Preparation of Land Is Simple and Inexpensive Should Alwaya Be in Order. (By J. Ii Kgl lllKS, New Mexico Arl-culturni Arl-culturni Colli k' I More crop lulluics on Irrigated lands may he traced to faulty leveling level-ing than to any other cau,e under the control of the lurmer. Poorly leveled lands are expensive lo ml-gute, ml-gute, both with ng, it. I ui the amount of water uud the amount or labor re quired; and in addition, the piunts iu the different parts of the field are to unequally watered that unsatisfactory crops are the result. The machinery necessary lor leveling on the spoill farm Is simple und Inexpensive, and should be kept lu older that all spare lime of men and teams can be used to the best advantage, tin the small farm all thai Is necessary is a small scraper, a plow, uud u plank drag. In leveling, the llrst thing to do Is to decide just how the land can he put Into shape hy moving the least amount of dirt. A good way to I egiu la to set stakes to represent borders, and ee how thov may be located In order to obtain the best results. If Is not necessary that i.n entire field should be level, but only that the soil within a border be so; und each border bord-er muy drop lower or rise higher thau the one adjolnl.ig. without any x-rlous Inconvenience In either s cding or harvesting. har-vesting. Holders should not be spucid too wide. Forty-five to sixty leet will be a good width If the He'd Is at all sloping; uud It Is not best to make them more thun 1"0 feet apart, even when the land Is level. Iocate each border definitely, and mark It by throwing up a couple of furrows, or iu any other way that Is convenient. Then beginning the Ugh end of the field, work out the first border, taking all excess dirt from the high places and spreading It where needed In the low places. In sandy sol's the borders should not In more than 20(1 or 300 feet In length, but on clay soils no Mint need be set for the length. For the location of the borders, especially lr they are long, it Is almost necessary that a level be used. These may he purchased pur-chased for ubout $1 to $20. Permanent Perma-nent borders should be built at the time of leveling. Theso should be Just high enough to control the movement of water, and should be wide enough to prevent any danger of their being dragged down by machinery ma-chinery or washed down by the running run-ning watr. A convenient and very satisfactory way to build such borders bor-ders is to drag up the dirt with a scraper and deposit It along Ibe llns of tbe border; where it should be smoothed Into the desired shape. ' If the borders are built with a broad base and slowly sloping sides, crops can be grown along tbe aides and top without any difficulty. The base of such borders should not be Ies than right to ten feet wide. After all borders and the checks or cross borders are complete, It Is best to go over each section of the fluid and True up all slight Inequalities that may have been missed In the flrsl leveling. Here BgalD the level la of great value, a It points Out these errors er-rors much more closely than the best trained eye. If there Is free and abundant supply of water, and tbe field will not need It for some time, it Is well to give It a trial Irrigation; f making a note of all the points that are either low or high, and correcting correct-ing these aa soon as the soli la dry. One thing that must be borne in mind is that where any large amount of earth la hauled Into a low place, the level of the land will be destroyed by tbla soil settling after tbe first few Irrigations, unless allowance Is made for thla and a alight excess of soil Is moved In. Thla la hard to estimate, and for thla reason It Is well that the field be not seeded to a permanent crop, like alfalfa, tbe first year after any decided leveling. The small grains are perhaps the best crops to try on newly leveled fields. They do not .oc- cury th" ! for "r'at 1"rP,D ot time, and can stand an excess of water In any place that happens to be low, perhaps, better than a majority ma-jority of the crops grown In thla re-glon. re-glon. Then, too, the surface la left In an excellent condition for correcting correct-ing slight Inequalities In level that may yet remain. When th-se corrections cor-rections are made, the soli should be ready to put In alfalfa or any other crop that will be on the land for years with no fear of drowning out tbe lower levels. Oreat advantage In operation result from the use of well bulit boxes and gates for the turnout turn-out and other control of water. A subsequent bulletin will treat of these more fully. |