Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1872-10-03
WHOLE NO. 1862

may be this year in potatoes, next
year in corn, then in oats, and then
laid down in grass, or cropped in what
ever rotation experience may suggest.
Arabic fields of the State were thus
enlarged, by the removal of rocks and
the draining Of bogs until ten to forty
acres might be given to one crop, in
stead OF patch of from one to five
acres, as at the present, she would
grow far more grain, and to a greater
profit, than is now possible.
Let me indicate few more points
at which improvement seems to me
feasible and commendable.
l. Hvigation,-This, the original
basis and inci,ement of tillage, Is, in
my view, one of its later requirements
also. God fought men to prepare the
earth and SOW the seed by setting
them the example in the annually in
undated valleys of the lower Nile and
other rivers. From this to damning
back water and thus keeping it for ap-
plication to the soil when thirsty, is
but step. At present, the great
plain Of Lombardy or upper Italy,
sloping from the alps to the Po, and
crossed by the Adage, Mincio, and
many smaller tributaries, affords the
best subsisting example of compre-
hensive, successful irrigation; though
Utah follows at some distances, and
Colorado is treading rather timidly in
Utah's footsteps. That irrigation is
desirable in itself, no one doubts; the
practical question TO be answered is
"Will it pay?' Oh this point, | prof
fer some suggestions based on exten-
sive observations and some little ex-
perience.
Follow any of the streams that start
near the crest of the Green Mountains
down to the Connecticut on the one
hand Or to Lake Champlain, or the
Hoosac on the other and you will no.
tice many places where water might
be taken out, by the help of a cheap
dam or ditch, and conducted along a
hillside or across a swell Of valley so
as to be gradually let off in rills or
pretty livulets to moisten and fertllze
the slope between it and the stream
whence it was taken. Very little Of
it would reach that destination as the
thirsty earth would drink it up by the
way. | estimate that the total esti-
mate of the State, 100000 acres i'm
mediately, 100000 ultimately, might
thus be irrigated at an average cost OF
$40 per acre and an average increase
Of their annual product by at least S.
per acre, or an interest on the invest
ment Of twenty-five per cent. There
are doubtless gold mines in Utah, or
Colorado, as there possibly may be dia
monds in Arizona that pay better
interest than this, but should prefer
not to designate them. 1t fact, | do
not know of any enterprise which
seems to me so certain to yield large
profit as that oflrrigating the hill-sides
of this same Vermont.
Almost any one who has on his farm
even the tiniest streamlet with a con-
siderable fall in it may experiment il
rigation with it on small scale, as |
have done, and satisfy himself that it
pays before proceeding further. You
do not need an engineer if you had
one he couldn't make the water run
up hill whereas it will run down hill
at your solicitation as readily as if you
were the best engineer on earth. 1t
you try to make it run up hill, it will
prove obstinate; respect nature and
her laws and you will find her trusty
servant and friend. Your own obser-
vation will soon tell you where you
can most easily dam your stream so
as to save considerable body of wa
ter in spring and in rainy weather, in
order to have it ready for application
when needed, and how you can lead it
off so as to irrigate the largest terri
tory a a moderate cost. Begin by irri-
eating two or three acres, and you
will soon be satisfied that you can af-
ford more and still more, until all your
land which lies lower than the highest
point at which you can fill a reservoir
shall be occasionally refreshed by the
vivitying appliances.
Irrigation necessarily fertilizes. 1t
saves to the land much of the nourish-
ing juices that would naturally pass
off, especially in times Of thaw or
flood, to be squandered upon rivers,
bays and the ocean. Idoubt that any
amply irrigated fields is less fertile,
less productive to-day than it was on
the day of creation.
Ultimately, we shall supplement the
flow of our streams by digging wells
on the highest points in large swale
Or plain and placing selfacting wind
mill over each, shall set it to pump
ING up water by night and by day when
wind serves, into shallow reservoir
byits side, ,whence, after being thorough
Iy warmed by the sun it will be gradu
ally drawn away to irngate the
fields or fields lying below. Were
this done whereas it could be to pro
fit, the annual product of the thousand
farms in this State might be doubled
at cost far below the price at which
their owners now hold them.
l was looking through Virginia
some years ago in time of a general
brought, and saw a field of perhaps
EN- acres parching and whitening in
he July sun. A brook large enough