Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-06-07
w. c. SMITH & co.
How to Irrigate Land.

A practical irrigation farmer gives the following useful pointers for those who are cultivating, or intend to cul- tivate, after the method:
 l. have found that it pays best to thoroughly reclaim than to half do it and you can get more from ten acres well fixed than you can from four times that amount done in shiftless half way style.
 2 find that one thorough irriga- ton with the land prepared as I will hereafter describe will produce crop of beans, potatoes, squashes, pumpkins and cucumbers and etc, two lrrigations will produce corn, wheat, barley, oats and sorghum, three thorough irriga- tions with land properly cultivated is all that grape vines require, alfalfa, one irrigation per crop is all that is required and you can cut five full crops per annum, trees of all kinds require three thorough irrigations if the land is kept clean and thoroughly cultivated they will do splendidly.
 To reclaim and prepare land for irri- gation.
 l. Clean the land and grub out the stumps.
 7. Flow the ground thoroughly with heavy breaking blow.
 5. Go over the ground with disc har- row about three times.
 4. Level off with buck scraper all knolls and fill up the small depressions so as to give our land a smooth sur face.
 ). Construct main lateral ditch so you can command the entire tract from it.
 Borders. This is the most impor- tant part of the work: commence the borders at the main lateral ditch when you can, (and from the smaller laterals when it is necessary and run them out across your land and make them level and about 50 feet apart. or as near that as the contour of your land will admit The cheapest way to con struct your borders Is to stake them out first, then scrape them out with buck scraper being careful to load your scraper at highest side of the land between the borders perfectly level, the borders should average 16 inches high and feet wide on the bot tom and foot wide on top which makes them easy to run your machines and wagons over, and very strong and you will not be troubled with many breaks while irrigating.
 After the borders are completed to prepare the land for crops run the land between the borders full of water say about l foot deep and keep it flooded until the ground will take no more water.
 Then as soon as you are able to get on the land with a team, blow the ground as wet as you can; then har- row until the surface is thoroughly pull verized the finer the better. Ii you are putting in wheat, barley oats. corn, sorghum or Egyptian corn, SOW or drill in your seeds and harrow after wards but be sure and get the surface of the land well pulverized. The best time to seed land to wheat. barley, oats and alfalfa is in November; corn and melons in April squashes and pump kins in May; sorghum, sugar cane and Egyptian corn June; beans should be planted from March lst to 20th /; grape cuttings and trees of all kinds should be put in before the 18th of February.
 The crops that yield best as far as my experience goes put in as 1 have recommended and the yield per acre is wheat, 90 to 100 bushels according to the land barley, 75 to 100 bushels alfalfa ten tons per acre. All kinds of vines yield very heavy, two year old grape vines from cuttings are well filled with grapes now but cannot esti- mate amount of yield yet. Potatoes should be planted late in February :: and second crop last week in August {; garden truck can be raised the year round. If yon have salt land which you wish to use, 1t can be redeemed by planting it the first season to wheat. barley, alfalfa, beets, asparagus and after two years can grow anything you wish on 1t.