The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-10-23
IRRIGATION.

supply of labor to work the plantations already
in existence, the next in order of Importance is,
according to universal testimony, means of irri-
CATION for those large areas which are not blest
with a constantly recurring rainfall. Everything
therefore which throws a light upon the subject
of irrigation must be of interest. The following
abstract Of a lengthy memorandum by a practi-
cal man whose success as a farmer depends
wholly on his skill as an ~irrigator, contains some
information which may prove useful in this
country. The original paper appeared in the
San Francisco Evening Post of 18th September,
and should any one here be purposing to redeem
for agricultural purposes, land which is at all
similarly situated to that in Fresno county, Cal
ilornia, he could not do better than procure a
copy of the article and read it for himself.
The old cooking book joke, : first catch your
bare is of course applicable to the matter of
irrigation. The water must be captured and
brought to the desired spot at a suitable level.
With this part of the subject, the paper we have
before us has nothing to do. The writer pre-
supposes an available supply-his argument is
that when the supply is obtained, the majority
Of farmers do not know how to use it successfully
and economically. Engineering skill is always
available to determine levels and conduct streams
from place to place. 1t is after all this has been
accomplished that the art OF irrigation comes into
play. Here is the history of farmers, and fruit
growers, experience in Fresno county, as related
by this writer -
The water from Kings river has been run
ming out into the center of this plain for more
than nine years, and it is only within a year
or 80 back that our people have learned by sad
- =. a1l.ka - NV.a
locality, when the ground will not irrigate by
percolation, 80 to make the desert bloom like the
rose" Whilst the FIRST canal was in process of
construction in the spring of IL, the farmers on
this plain were much elated at the prospect Of
getting water to their land. as they fondly i'm
imagined that so soon as they could have access
to a water ditch. failure of crops would be known
to them no more forever. Upon the advent Of
water they went to work diligently to spread it
over their grain fields, but found it a much more
difficult task than they anticipated-so much so
that the unanimous conclusion was soon arrived
at that irrigation might do IUeh enough for gar
dens. but as an auxiliary to grain raising it was
a failure. Since then, through all the dry
seasons, large canals have run full of water
through immense grain fields, with never a
thought of trying to save them by turning the
water on to them on the part of the owners. In
the spring Of 49,, at the time the first colony was
being started in this vicinity, your correspond
emit sent a lengthy communication to the Fresno
ETpositOr, urging all persons about to engage in
i~rrigating to be sure and level their land before
planting anything, but little attention was paid
TO this advice, with a few notable exceptions.
The consequence was that about one year later
nearly all the colonists who had planted trees and
vines on the rough plains, without first properly
preparing their ground, had to pull them up, as
they had nearly all died, for the reason that their
owners were unable to properly irrigate them.
Then many of them went to work and about
half-leveled their land, and replanted their trees
and vines. A year later many of them again
dug up their trees and vines, leveled their land
properly and replaced their trees, vines and
shrubbery. Happily now all in this section
know what is absolutely necessary to be done to
lay the foundation for successful farming through
the application of water, and that is to grade the
land to as near a water level as practicable, so
that, when water Is standing one inch on any
portion of a graded lot, all the said lot will be
under water"
Reading this, many who have lands which need
but the one element Of water TO make them fer
tile, and who have been cogitatiDg some scheme
Of irrigation from which they expect to reap
golden results, will no doubt exclaim that, if sue
cessful irrigation depends upon the land being
actually level, it is useless to talk of applying it
except in some favored localities where the in
terest ON the cost of leyeling might not exceed
the whole return from the land. 1t is just this
difficulty with which the writer in the Erening
Post has set himself to deal. His process is an
application of the methods of hydraulic mining
to the levelIng of farm lands. % My process, - lie
says, " which is patented, is very simple, and is
accomplished as follows: By putting levees
around the tract of the land desired 20 be leveled
wherever necessary, with wastegates on the lower
side, the floor of said gates to be placed just as
b;ob M kba d,rk ill h,iId - aco;ost a., lorooa
when the land is reduced to a water level. Then
a powerful steam force pump, mounted upon
wheels, and capable of throwing water equal to a
first class fire steamer, is used, the water to be
pumped out Of the bitches along side, and the
higher portions of the ground subjected to a
furious hydraulicking, washing down the debris
against the lower levees. where it will build up
to a water level, the waste water escaping
through the gates aforesaid" The country in
which he and Others have put this process into
practice is a comparatively level one, sloping
some six feet to the mile, so that it is chiefly with
the irregularities of the ground that the farmer
has to contend. But he claims that the same
system is equally applicable to, and desirable for
the slopes of hills. So far as this kingdom is
the grade of land which could be rem
dered highly productive by irrigation, properly
applied, is for the most part moderate. The al
formation from steep hill-sides to comparatively
level or gently sloping land is in many places
abrupt and the method of hydraulic dwelling
could be applied without great difficulty.
Before attempting any such work as that
described in the paper we are quoting from, men
must be convinced that great results are to be ex-
pected from it.. What the writer of the paper
has to say on this part CT the subject we will
place before our readers next week along with a
description of a small farm worked on his princi-
Piles in California.