The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1885-06-07
Irrigation.

Irrigation.
When the old Spanish Monks set |
tied in Texas in the scvcnt eenth cen
fury, fanatics in religion as they were
they were also shrewd and worldly
wise. But year or tw o In the coun-
try, taking bearings and everywhere
when practicable they began extensive
irrigating bitches to utilize water as
done from time immemorial In the
old country. Some of their works ex"
ist yet and on valuable property.
They began well and ii is unfortunate
that those who have succeeded them
did not follow more in their footsteps
so far as the practice of irrigation is
concerned. Three hundred years
have passed since their settlement and
the lesson they taught has been dis
regarded but that irrigation is SO
luton of one or two great difficulties
in Texas agriculture or at least hor
ticulture admits of no doubt. While
it is true that countries possessing
great mountains and mountain val
leys are alone susceptible ofirrigatioi
on large scale it is equally true tina
II Texas which is destitute of noun
tains, irrigation on time scale i
possible and with highly renumern
tive results. Fruit culture and hort
| To- al Ia,
, significant proportion to that of iarnl
A ing and are attended with great diilicu
ty on account of the droughts not the 5
verify of the droughts SO much as lhei
a untimeliuess.
q The state will never half accomplish
d productive possibilities until hortic'
{ ture and fruit culture assumes bette
: proportions and they can do this b
If the aid of irrigation. The streams
., southwestern Texas are admirabI
g adapted by the slope of their beds ai
= volumes of water TO irrigation on
% considerable scale, and there are co
a. siderable areas in the valleys of sma
ID err streams of central and easter Tex
-, which make irrigation feasible on
Of small scale but large enough TO dev'
op and foster fruit and vegetable q
ture. In addition TO this, howevt
- the sloping plateaus of western Tex
4 is possessed of large reservoirs
basins OF inrA haustible water at We
= insignificant depth, atiording album
as ant water accessible to artesian we
= and wind mills. If nature has deni
this state seasonable supply ofwaI
hi from above she has not been nigga
" of it below the earth. The utili
= ton of these subterranean supplies
easy and cheap, and public attenti
once turned in this direction Te,
% could be made to surpass many ou
i 90 statesin the production of those ere
, n which require small areas for big
Is suits. What most stands in the v
of the successful culture of fru
flowers, vegetables and grasses is
ION, so much our summer droughts
o,k. those which occur in
spring, which though of sh
. duration check vegetation in
,,,,e most vigorous growth and succul
this state aud so impair its vitality tina
Wv has barely recuperated by Ii
= rains before the summer drought
5. gins. If the summer drought can
- tided over and plant life kept or
ing vigorously from early spring
the middle of June the roots b
'ass penetrated deep, and the plant or
can stand the summer. 1t is to n
this short but fatal spring drou
fe!- that irrigation in this state will
applied, and at that season when
most needed water is abundant.
.,, mistake that has frequently b
Nj, made in watering town gardens i
waiting till the summer heats, whel
IL copious watering is done dun
GO the intervals of rain during spl
ave very little If any water is needle,
Ills" summer. There are tens of thousa
ing. OF ground plats of from five TO tH
,ral ty-fve acres which could readil,
irrigated either from damn
streams, from cisterns, wells, or o
Diii- nary wells in which water is RAJ
Iaii- by windmills, the latter peculi'
al favored here with constant VIII
a These tens of thousands of plots
nan voted to fruit culture, TO garden
Horticulture and thus injected
eyo- Texas farming would produce res
in undreamed OF. There are enol
that canned goods sold here, and all
the which could be produced here 20
q of srtesian wells, dam streams and
irrigation bitches and put up wi
mills from one end of the state
iniy another aud grow successfully "
men we are now forced to buy.
AT ~