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Show FIELD FOR IRRIGATION High Spots Should Be Removed and Low Ones Filled In. Work of Year or So Would Make Task Cornparativety Easy One Paying Proposition to Thoroughly Thor-oughly Prepare Ground. By K. B. HOUSrc. Colorado Agricultural College.) Much has been said concerning the Increased duty of water, and it has been said that the farmer haa been lining much more water than Is necessary. neces-sary. Most of the articles concerning the duty of water take up the properties proper-ties of the soil, the manner of cultivation cultiva-tion for conservation purposes, the manner of applying water, and show that In a general way, all affect the duty of water, and that proper cultivation culti-vation and proper application of water will Increase the duty of water from J00 to 200 per cent. It has often occurred to the writer that this means very little to the average farmer, In that It does not tell him what he does that he should not do, nor exactly what he might do to Increase the efficiency of his water supply. The thing of first Importance to the farmer is the preparation of the field for Irrigation. He should see to It that the high spots are removed end that the low spots are filled; ' In other words, he should see that the surface of his field Is smooth, and here Is where the ordinary farmer "falls down." After plowing and harrowing his field be perhaps runs a drag over it, and then seeds It, leaving ridges and hollows, holes and knolls, consequently when he irrigates ir-rigates the field it Is necessary for him to almost drown the low spots in order to wet the high ones. Water will often be found from one to two feet deep In places In the field. In driving along the road one often fees embankments piled up along low spots to keep the water from flooding the road. If, when the plowing and harrowing are completed, the farmer would take a scraper and take down the knolls and fill up the depressions with the dirt this removed, in (he course of a year or two he would change the field from one hard to irrigate ir-rigate to one exceedingly easy for irrigation, and he would find that practically one-half the amount of water wa-ter that he was compelled to use on the first place is ample after the field has been smoothed in this way. More than this, he will find that his crops yield better, for when an excess of water is applied to the low spots the crop at these places In the Held Is always injured, and it is not an exaggeration ex-aggeration to say that as much damage dam-age to the crop is done by forcing the water up to the high spots as would tie done by allowing these high spots to suffer from a lack of water. A word of advice now, for the present pres-ent season will soon be upon us. As you Irrigate your fields this spring and summer stake the high spots, driving the stakes down so that they will not Interfere with harvesting, and mark on these stakes about how much too high the land is at that point; then after the crop is harvested In the fall see to it that these high spots are removed, and, after plowing, smooth the surface with great care. When you stop to consider that this work is a permanent improvement and need not be done year after year, when once it has been accomplished, and when you consider that during every day year the crops are injured for lack of water, it seems that every Intelligent farmer would realize the fact that it will be a paying proposition proposi-tion to thoroughly prepare his ground so that it will irrigate in the best possible pos-sible manner. See to it that the plowed plow-ed field Is in a perfect state of tilth before the seed is planted, for this careful preparation Is what will put the bushels Into the bin in the fall. |