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Show POINTS ON IRRIGATION Most Important Work is to Level the Land. 1 Kinds of Soil and Crops, Time of Planting, Amount of Rainfall, Supply Sup-ply of Water and Temperature Tempera-ture Are Factors. The kinds of soil, the kinds of crops, the time of planting, the amount of rainfall, the supply of water wa-ter and the temperature are all factors fac-tors in the production of irrigated crops. No fixed rules can be applied to meet all these conditions and much depends upon the intelligence and judgment of the irrigator. Confining Con-fining myself to the preparation of new lands and the planting of the first crop of alfalfa, I may be able to give some pointers that might be of benefit to beginners, writes M. V. Cochran in the Denver Field and Farm. The first and most important work is to level the land. No slip-shod work will do. It must not be left until un-til the water can be gently run over every point. If the surface is not sufficiently suf-ficiently pulverized, put the spike-tooth spike-tooth harrow on and set the teeth slanting, so that the cultivation will be superficial. This being done, the next step is to get ready for the seed and water. If the water is to be taken ta-ken from a ditch the the sprouts and Si- V?1 Leveling Land Before Irrigation, Check System. stops must be in place; if from a flume, which is best, the holes must be made and the stops in place. About the tenth of April is usually the safest time to sow at altitudes of a mile or so. Use twenty pounds of ordinary alfalfa seed to the acre and if a nurse crop is desired de-sired sixty pounds of beardless barley bar-ley can be put in, but the modern practice is to sew the alfalfa straight and forget the grain. The seed may be sown either by hand or by wheelbarrow wheel-barrow sower. Now put on the harrow har-row again and go oter it until all the seeds are nicely covered up and then go over with the corrugating roller the same way on the grade that the water is to run so that the field may be sub-irrigated. If a corrugator is not at hand a home-made marker will answer quite as well. Take three pieces of 2x6 five feet long. Dress the front lower corners like a sled and bolt on each an old cultivator blade. Place them eighteen inches apart and spike boards across the top to hold them together, making a !platform to stand upon. Use a 2x6 for a tongue. With this and a gentle team the rows can be marked sufficiently suffi-ciently straight. Two very important things are to be guarded against. The first is the wind and the second is the sun. When the tender plants are just out of the ground you may go out in the morning and find a good stand and go out in the evening and not find a single shoot. The dry sufa.ee and the sun have killed them and the wind has. blown them away. Alfalfa is a slow grower for the first ten days. After that it is a prize winner for growth, but of course a good deal depends de-pends upon the season as to the warmth of the ground and the moisture mois-ture of the soil. As a rule we do not have to irrigate the alfalfa up in this country nor do we like to do so, but if It is necessary the corrugations are Just what are needed. |
