Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1870-05-13
farm, 6asllfn s aluasthoIa.
From the New York Tribune.
WHAT l KNOW OF FARMING.
By noRAcE oEEBLEY.
xlII-Thc Possibilities Of Irrigation

"
improve upon, however narrow has domain
aud slender his fortune. presume there are
Half a Million bomesteads in the United
states which have natural facilities for Irri-
estion at least equal 70 mine, many of Them
far greater. Along either slope Of the Ale
gbenies, throughout district at least thou
sand miles long by three hundred wide, near
" every farm might be At least partially irri.
gated by means Of dam costing from tTen-
ty-fIve TO oue hundred dollars; so might at
least bali The firms in New England and our
own State. On the prairi,s, the plans must
be different, and the expenses probably great.
er. but the results obtained would bounteous-
ly reward tie outlay. shall not see the day,
but there are hose now living who viii see
ST. when A,tesian wells viii be dug at points
where many acres may be flowed from gen
tie swell in the midst Of a vast plain, or at
the head OF fertile valley, expressly, or at
least mainly, that its waters may be led across
that slain, adown that lalley, in irrigating
streams and bitches, until they have been
wholly drank up by the soil / have seen
single wells IN California that mightbe made
to irriga,e sufficiently hundreds Of acres, by
he aid ofa reservoir into which their waters
could be discharged wheo the soil did not re
onire tliem ard there retained until the
thirsty earth demanded them.
Aa cd and successful farmer in my neigh
borhood sfirms that Water is the cheapest
and best fertilizer ever applied to the soil
Ifthis we're understood to mean that no 9th
er is needed or can be proftably applied, it
would be erroneous. Still, think it clearly
true that the annual product of most farma
can be increased, and the danger Of failure
ayerted, more chiefly by the skilfull applica-
,ion Of water Than by hat of any fertilizer
whatever, Plaster tGypsum) possibly except
ed
took a run through VirginiAast Summer,
not far from tie lst Of August. That State
was then suffering intensely from drouth, as
she continued to do for some weeks there
alter I am quite sure that ! saw on her
thirsty plains and hillsides not less than
three hundred thousand acres planted with
Iadiau Corn, whereof the average product
could not exceed ten bushels per acre, while
most Of 1t would fall far below that yield, and
there were thousands of acres that would not
produce ore sound ear! Every one deplored
the failure, correctly attributng it to the pre-.
vailing drouth. And yet l passed hundreds
it not thousands Of places where q very mod
stream or brooklet issuing from between two
spurs Of the Blue Ridge, or the Alleghenies,
so that a refreshing current Of the copious
and fertilizing foods Of Winter and Spring,
warmed by the feFvid suns of June and JqIy,
could have been led over broad fields lying
below, so as to vaDquish dronth and insure
generous haryests, Nay l feel confident
that l could in many places have constructed
rude vorks in week, after that drouth began
20 be felt, that would have saved and made
the Corn on at least portion of the planted
acres through which the now shrunken brooks
danced and laughed idly down to the larger
streams in the wider and equally thirsty val.
leys. OF course, know that this would have
been imperfect irrigation-a mere stop gan
that the cold spring-water Of a parehed sum
mer cannot fertilize as the hill-wash of Winter
and Spring, If thrihilg gasnered and warmed
through and through for sultry weeks, would
do yet l belidve that very many farmers
might even them have secured partial crops
by such irrigation as was still possible, had
they, even atthe eleventh hour, done their
best to retrieve errors of the past.
For The present, would only counsel every
farmer to give his land careful scrutiny
with view to irrigation in the future. No
one IS obliged TO do any faster than his
means will justify; and yet it may be well to
have clear comprehension Of all that NAV
ultimately be done to profit, even though
much Of it must long remain unattempted.
In many cases, a stream may be damned for
Two OF three months OF each year, if it shall
appear that this use is quite consistent with
Its employment in irrigation, wher the for.
mer alone would not Justify the requisite ont.
lay. Il is by thus making one expense oh.
serve two quite indepeuda ant but not iucon.
sistent purposes that success is attained in
other pursuits; and SO it may be in farming.
AS yet each farmer must study his own re.
sources with intent to make the most of them.
II a manageable stream crosses or issues from
his land, he must measure its fall thereon.
study The lay Of the land, and determine
whether he can OF cannot, at tolerable cost
make that stream available in the irrigation
OF at least a portion of his growing crops when
they shall need water and the skies decline
to supply it. On many, / think ON most,
farms situated among hills, orupon the slopes
OF mountains, something may be done in this
Way-done at once, and with immediate proF.
1t. But this is rudimentary, partial, frag.
mentary, when compared with the irrigation
which yet shall be. l am confident that there
are points on the Carson, the Humbolt. the
weber, the South Platte, the Csche.Ie- Pond
re, and many less noted streams which thread
The central plateau of our continent. where
an expenditure of SO, 900 to $50, 900 NAV bs
Judieiously made in dam, locks and canals.
ior the purposes of irrigation and milling
combined, with 2 moral certainty of real;z;ns
ni'y per cent, annually on the outlay, with a
steady increase in the value of the pronertv
Il my eye did not deceive me, there is one
point on the Carson where dam that need
not cos' $4,000 would irrigate one hundred
square miles Of rich plain which when saw
II eleven years ego, grew nought but the
worthless shrubs of the desert, simply be.
cause nothing else could endure the intense,
abiding drouth Of each Nevada Summer,
such paipable invitations to thrift cannot r..
man forever unimproved.
In regions like this, where summer rain.
are the rule rather than the exception. the
need of irrigation is not SO palpable since ws
do or may ssea.e decent average crops n 4.
absence. Yet there is no farm in our coun.rr
taat would not yield considerably more Grain
ana more grass, more fruit and more vegets.
htsza # It's owner had water at comm.nls
which be could apply at pleasure and 10 any
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