Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-06
WILL n PAY TO IRRIGATE.

! serious consideration, even In the So-caIled
regions of regular rainfall Water is an in
dispensable plant food required in large
quantities. On this account it is well TO
make study of whether or not it would
pay TO supply water to crops by artificial
means, which is irrigation. In some couu-
| tries no crops can be raised without iIriga-
ton, but where an abundant and regular
supply of water can be furnished land of
apparently very inferior quality is made to
produce abundantly. Now the question
arises, would it pay to supply water for ir-
rigaton in countries where the usual de-
pendence is upon rain? 1t is seldom that 4
season passes that there is not some time
during the season when there is scarcity of
rain, and crops suffer for want OF water,
perhaps to the extent of diminishing the
yield one-half. If supply Of water we're
available at such times. the crops could be
| generously irrigated and made TO produce
their usually abundant yield.
In this connection there are several facts
worth considering. Water is absolutely in
dispensable in plant growth. Z An abundant
supply OF water is indispensable in the best
| development of crops.
| Growing plants contain more OF water
| than of all other compouents put together.
| The water amounts to from seventy 10
nlnety-fve per cent of their makeup.
| Water is the vehicle through which plants
| receive their other elements of plant food.
Il is the solvent which dissolves the ele-
| nents of fertility in the soil, and presents
| them to the growing crops for their use.
| The carefully conducted experiments Of Mr..
| J. B. Lawes OF England showed that in
wheat raising for every pound of dry mat
| ter produced two hundred pounds of water
was evaporated. and that for every pound
| ofmineral matter assimiiated by the crop
two thousand pounds of water passed
| through the plant Leguminous plants,
| like beans and clover, require much more
| abundant supply of water than wheat To
meet this demand of plants for water Mr..
| Lawes declares the usual supply of rain
| water is totally inadequate.
Experiments made by the AIontsouri ag-
| ricultural observatory in France fully con-
| firm what Mr.. LawCs has advanced. 1t
! was there found, that for each pound of
| grain produced in the experiments, from
| 527 TO 2693 pounds of water were evap0rated
! by the plants. Taking the minimum guam
| THY Of water evaporated for each pound Of
| grain produced. there would be required
| for crop Of thirty bushels of grain per
acre a supply of water for evaporation
through the plants alone sufficient to cover
the field to 4 depth Of four inches. Taking
the average of the amount OF water re
quired for each pound of grain produced,
| ascertained By experiments at the same
place in 1873. crop of wheat yielding forty
bushels per acre would require an amount
of water sufficient to cover the field to
depth of seventeen inches. Taking into
consideration the large amount of water
evaporated from the surface of the soil in
addition to that required for the plants, it
is evident that d large supply of water is
needful 10 meet all the requirements of the
growing crop. There facts will serve to
show what large quantities of water are re-
CURED ny growing crops, and will also show
how important that in case of drouth there
should be some means of supplying artifici-
ally what is needed
The advantages of irrigation, continues
DR.. Reynolds, were well brought out by
results obtained at Stoke Park in England,
in 1871, when forty acres were irrigated so
as to temper the soil when dry weather
came in about the last of March, supplying
moisture regularly and in sufficient guam
tity to prevent the surface from crushing
Two crops of hay, estimated at FIVE tons
afterward in August, 120 Highland bulIocks
were turned in, averaging three bullocks to
an acre. These remained till November,
receiving no food but the irrigated grasses,
and were kept in first-rate condition. On
the other hand, 430 acres of land adjacent
and of same quality, but not irrigated, be-
came so withered and bare from the sum-
mer drouth as TO afford scarcely food for
cattle or sheep In 1889, on SIX acres of |
this same irrigated land 200 sheep were
kept in hurdles in a fattening condition |
without other food than grass.
Instances have been reported where from |
sixty to eighty bushels of wheat have been |
obtained from an acre by irrigation. A |
Marlboro, Mass, farmer turned the water |
of brook which flowed through town of |
5000 inhabitants, and served in part as a |
sewer, and used it in the irrigation of a !
thirty-acre field. The water was distribu- |
ted by means of numerous bitches During !
several years past an annual yield of about |
three tons of hay per acre and two cut
tings, with the application of no other fey
tilizers. has been obtained, and the field |
continues to increase in productiveness
The water is kept running upon some por-
ton of the field nearly all the season, being
changed frequently in its course by build
ing and removing small dams.
This statement tempts Us to break off
and hint at the great loss some one is sus-
tanning by not arranging to use the sewage
of Fort Worth for irrigating and fertilizing
purposes. The plan Of our sewerage sys-
TEN certainly affords a fine opportunity for
saving an important waste. It passes be-
low the city, through the bottom lands Of
the Trinity-a continuation of the pipes no
very great distance beyond where the city
ends them would bring the discharge to
the surface upon an excellent body OF bot
tom lands, making them very mine of
wealth to their owners.
Nearly every farm, SAYS DR.. Reynolds,
contains some portion of land that would
L1,