| OCR Text |
Show SUCCESS ON DRY LAND FARM Most Important of Many Things Is Supplementary Irrigation Proper Location for Well. (By W. H. LAUCK, Irrigation Investigations, Investi-gations, United States Department of Agriculture.) There are many things tnat make for success on a dry land farm and home. The most important of, these Is supplementary irrigation. This does not conflict in any way with the dry land work, but rather assists by utilizing one of the resources which nature' has provided. However, the extent to which the practice may be applied Is limited to the water supply available. One of the first and most important things for the dry land farmer to ascertain as-certain is whether a water supply can be developed from the underground water, or stored during the torrential rain storms. Where a water supply can not be developed, the homesteader soon becomes be-comes discouraged and he abandons his claim. The proper location for the well can often be decided upon by studying study-ing the well in the immediate neighborhood. neigh-borhood. "Where the distance is too great for this method, test holes may be put down with a two or three inch auger and light derrick, made of two by four inch timbers. The points desirable to know are: (1) Depth to water level; (2) material encountered in sinking test well; (3) amount the water lowers in the well during pumping, and (4) kind of well most desirable, whether drilled, bored or dug. With this information, some idea of the amount of water which can be expected in the locality can be formed, thus deciding to what extent irrigation can be. practiced. After water has been located, the method for making the well must be decided. Where competent well drillers drill-ers can be obtained, the drilled well is the most satisfactory, especially if it is necessary to go any great depth. The most important thing to ascertain ascer-tain in a drilled well, as in other methods, is the size of perforations in the Btrainer the water bearing gravel will permit. This can be determined in the test hole or the neighboring wells. The openings of the strainer should be equal to 10 or 12 times the cross sectional area: of the casing or sufficient, suffi-cient, if possible, to allow the water to pass through, into the well, as readily read-ily as. through the water bearing gravel or stratum. Long slots, punched in the casing from the ' inside, with the "burr on the outside, are the best in coarse materials, but quick sands or very fine materials often necessitate necessi-tate special wire strainers. In some localities it is also necessary neces-sary to ascertain which water bearing stratum to use on account of the minerals min-erals they may contain, and the objectionable ob-jectionable water can be cased off. The style and size of pump will be determined by the depth to water and quantity that can be developed. These factors will also largely determine de-termine the kind of power to be used. Under the ordinary dry land district conditions, the wind-mill is the most economical power. A small gasoline engine which is equivalent in power to the wind-mill and used to supplement supple-ment the wind-mill during calm times, make an ideal combination for limited water supplies. |
