Delta chief., 1885-04-01
Leveling Land For Irrigation.

The time i. now at hand when our farmers
are again grasping the plow-shre and pre-
pairing their land for the sowing of crops
preparatory to the reaping of its golden pro-
ducts that by their honest toll will blossom
forth and ripen and be enumerated among
the products of the Worlds greatest industry.
But while this good work is going on, and
beyond all preadventure in the richest agri-
cultural section in the West, this same sect.
ION is not without its blemishes and draw
backs in the way of profitable farming. 1t
is very noticeable feature here, and more
especially in those lands lying along the
streams, that the surface is more or less un-
even and hilly, being great impediment in
the way of profitable irrigation, and, in
many instances. absolutely impossible by
natures course. The following article, by
i. w. Temple in the Grand Junction Ne,rs,
sets forth many good points and some of the
cheapes, methods now in vogue for overcom-
ing this obstacle, and is worthy ofpursual by
our ranchmcn:
"When there are knolls or other eleva.
tions in field they must be leveled in some
way before the water can be got on them.
The usual way is to remove the surplus earth
with a scraper and place il in hollows, wash
.s, etc, in the same field. This is laborous
work, but the oldest farmers by irrigation
say unequivocally that there is no other way
to prepare thoroughly for irrigation. 1t
makes no difference whether soan or hoed
crops are to be planted on the land-if the
crop is TO be success this work must be
done. five avoid doing this work at once
we only put of the evil day. The writer
used to wonder at the small patches of land
cultivated by experienced hands in Colorado.
But since he has seen the crops they raise by
clltivatiug we'll small field, previously
made perfectly level, he wonders no more.
Various methods Of leveling are in vogue in
the valley. Some farmers use n length OF
railroad iron, attaching team TO each end.
We do no, believe this to be very success.
fil method since it drags the earth ou, of the
washes rs well as into them. The method
by which Mr.. Blain has just lcveled field
OF newly broken adobe land, n method also
in use by many of our best farmers, recon.
mends itself to US as good one. His leveier
is made Of six planks, two by six inches or
two by eight inches, and eight feet long.
These are made into the form Of a square by
halying together four Of them AT the ends,
and the other two pieces cross each other in
side the square aud act As braces. This lev
eler is drawn by two horses, and rs is evi.
dent by anyone drops into the washes crossed
In the field. the earth collected evenly from
the large surface of the field. or course
when there are deep washes in a field still
more earth should be thrown in with Il
scrapcr TO make the loose earth in the wash
cs higher than the surrounding earth, be.
cause this loose earth will settle more than
the solid part Of the field when water is put
on and if not heaped mp higher will wash
away, causing the old wash 10 appear.
The Oldhnms use N-shapcd lereler hitch.
ing on the team at one of the angles. With
this frame the rear plank does the lcveling.
They believe that this l-veler does ns good
work as any. 1t having the advantage over
the one we have described Of being lighter.
On the immense farms in California some
method had to be devised for levcling rap.
idly and ut the same time thoroughly. When
our State Engineer Nettleton was in Cali
fornia last summer he looked into their
methods of irrigatIng, etc. Among other
places he visited the Hoggin Carr ranch,
composed of three hundred thousand acres,
of which sixty thousand are in lb'lia alone.
The Colorado Farmer Of late date, in des-
cribing what Mr.. Ncttle,on saw, goes on to
say that a regular engineering force is con-
s,antly employed in the leveling of land and
preparing for irrigation. The chief engin-
eer told Mr.. Nettle,on that the cost Of level.
ing with the Buck scrupcr, which was then
used, was Sl.50 per acre. After the land has
been lcvelcd with this scrapor, one man can
irriga,c thirty acres per day, thus making
the cost of irrigation cts per acre, while in
Colorado the cost of irrigation is so cts per
acre. As the Farmer: says the extra cost Of
irrigating here will in three years time pay
for the lcvcling, which when once well done
is done for always. The Buck scraper is not
patented, and plans of 1t have been sent
through the State. Gov. Eaton had a num-
ber Of these manufactured In Denver for use
ON his farms about Eaton, Colorado"
IrriuRflOn ln Colorado,