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Show BEST WATER FOR IRRIGATION Only Exception Being That Which Flows Over Alkali or Other Min-srals Min-srals Injurious to Soil. What is meant by storm water? Storm water is a word that is intended inten-ded to refer to all rainfall that does not sink into the soil. Storm water also applies to that kind of water that comes from melting snows in the mountains. The names probably started from the torrents of water that flow down streams after heavy rains and that comes down many 3treams in the spring and early summer sum-mer from -melting snows, but however how-ever it started, it signifies all water from rain or snow that does not Sifil? into the soil; writes H; M. Madison In the Texas Stockman and Farmei1. It will readily be seen that almost all scortl wter. 1 of the very best kind for irrigation, the 6T7 tttO. being that which flows over alkali or other mineral lands and become filled with substances that are injurious to the soil. The problem Is, therefore, how to catch this storm water and hold it so it can be Used ill those seasons when It is most Heeded. Many ways have been devised for this purpose, and most all of them have been successful suc-cessful at certain places. One method may be good at one place, but because be-cause of the kind of soil or subsoil may be bad at another. Or on account ac-count of the lay of the land one plan may be good in a certain section and useless in another. All the ways of using storm water will not be described de-scribed in this week's issue, but a very simple form will be outlined. This is a form that almost every farmer can use to advantage, yet as a substitute for the best forms of irrigation it Is poor. All it requires in the way of cash outlay is the amount to be paid to a civil engineer to contour the land. This is simply ascertaining the shape and size of lands that are on the same level. There might be ten acres in one tract, five acres in another and fifty in still another. The shapes of these different tracts might be very different. But vjhen the engineer has run the lines and given the size and shape of the tracts that are on the same level, there are little dams or levees to be thrown up along the lines the engineer has run. .This can be done with a team and plow in the same way an ordinary head land Is made in plowing. A hoe and spade can be used afterward to rake the dirt into little breaks and to make the -levee hold water.- In the winter, and spring when the heavy rains come these little levees keep the water wa-ter from running off, and as the levels have been run makes the water stand somewhat evenly on any one of the tracts. This water in a few hours or days will soak into the soil and wet It down deep. Instead of it running off through streams and rivers to the Gulf of Mexico, it is kept right in the land. By and by, when summer comes and there Is a drought the excess of moisture that was held in the land from the winter and spring rains helps to sustain the crop. It will be readily seen that plants with deep roots are best adapted to this kind of farming. It will also be seen that when the dry season comes it is decidedly de-cidedly better to use the principles of dry farming, especially is it good I to stir the soil frequently, but only to , shallow depths. At the close of the spring rain season, it is also well to roll or in some way pack the ground, for the reason that this tends to prevent the moisture in the soil from evaporating. Later during the . time when the soil is stirred frequent-I frequent-I ly only to shallow depths, it will be I found that the nearer to dust the very top soil is kept the less will be the evaporation of the moisture and the better will be the results. |
