OCR Text |
Show Irrigation by row method Every Farmer Experiences Some Difficulty Diffi-culty in Controlling Water Supply Sup-ply to Reach All Roots. (By E. B. HOUSK. Colorado Agricultural Collese.) The difficulty that every farmer .-periences .-periences in ordinary row irrigation lsto so control his supply that the water flows down each row at the same rate and with sufficient velocity bo that when the water reaches the lower end of the row the upper end has had time to be sufficiently moistened mois-tened for the water to reach the roots of the plants. In order to accomplish this, every field should have a ditch running along its highest part, properly prop-erly laid out. This will be best accomplished ac-complished by making openings through the side of this ditch through which the water runs into the rows, level; that is to say, fixing them so that when a dam is put in, which brings the water over the bank and forces it through the openings, the water wa-ter will run through each opening with the same velocity and therefore have the same head. It will, therefore, be a paying proposition to make these openings permanent. A box made of lumber or concrete with openings in the side, each section sec-tion set level, with a drop at the end of each Eection so that by placing the dam at the end of the section the Bame quantity of water is discharged through each opening and finds its way to each row and is sent down each with the same velocity, and the saihe quantity of water is supplied to each row. This quantity can be regulated regu-lated by increasing or decreasing the head on each opening, and with this arrangement it will be found that labor, time and water will be saved. Another thing, after an irrigation by means of the row method, many farmers farm-ers have found it advisable and profitable profit-able to harrow across 'the rows. This fills the ditches and the ground that is saturated with loose earth, .which forms -a "dust mulch": and thereby prevents excessive evaporation from the rows, while if this is not done the bottom and sides of the ditches take on a crust, the particles become packed pack-ed together and excessive evaporation takes place. For the next irrigation it will be necessary to again run the cultivator through the rows in order to form the ditches for another application appli-cation of water, and by the time this second irrigation occurs the plants will be so far advanced that it will be impossible to harrow a second tme, but the first harrowing can be done with very little damage to the crop, in fact it is a benefit to the crop even though some of the plants are : destroyed. |