Los Angeles herald., 1891-12-06
RAINFALL AND IRRIGATION.

been succeeded by few showers and
biting cold weather, which will mod
crate with the change of the wind from
a northerly direction. We would not
be surprised if the rains should then set
in copiously, and soften the ground
sufficiently to enable the farmers to
plow.
Incontestibly the best agricultural
seasons we have had in this part OF the
state have been those in which the rains
have held off till toward the close of
the year. Early rains have not, as a
rule, been prolific of heavy crops. They
have usually been followed by long.
dry hiatus, in which all the benefits OF
the moisture have been lost. Those
who planted early found their work
lost. and usually, in such seasons, those
who planted late have been the only
ones to harvest fair crop. But when
we have had late rainy season, with
the average precipitation after the first
showers, the crops have been uniformly
satisfactory.
There are all the indications that we
shall have such season this year. A
very small rainfall comparatively will
carry us through. There are only three
or four seasons in the last twenty years
in which less than eleven or twelve
inches have fallen. The exceptional
years of drouth were in the first decade /;
but since the country has been so gen
orally settled, and trees so extensively
planted, the rainfall has been greater
than was really needed for the growth
of large crops. Twelve inches of rain
falling at proper intervals are better for
the fruit grower and farmer than thirty
inches falling in immense volumes at
long intervals. Storm rains do not 60 to
benefit the soil. They. are forced over
the surface, and carried to the ocean by
the impetuous flow they create in our
waterways. A good soaking rain is the
one that comes down moderately and
slowly, and has chance to sink into
the earth to considerable depth.
This will be model agricultural
season if we shall have, say three or
four inches of rain before the holidays.
That will be all the farmers will require
to make plowing easy. We can then
count upon enough after the holidays to
carry the crops to perfection.
In considering the question OF seasons,
it must not be forgotten that there is no
section Of the union to which drouth
can do less harm than to these southern
counties. Our irrigating facilities are
go great and extensive that we could
weather dry season without feeling it
with anything like the severity of local
tiles that depend alone upon the nat
ural rainfall for crops. Some Of our
streams from which water is taken for
the irrigating bitches would Of
course be sensibly affected by a
rain failure, and yet there are others
that seem to be very independent Of the
local rainfall for their supply OF water.
The Los Angeles river, for instance, has
proven just as bountiful in its water
flow in the dryest seasons as 1t has in
those in which there was considerable
rainfall. This was accounted for by
General Alexander on the theory that
the source OF supply of our river is not
confined to our immediate locality, but
that it is fed from springs that are kept
alive from underground sources. and
these, in turn, come from perhaps thou
sands OF miles away, where the rainfall
is perennial. 1t is believed that some
of our rivers carry beneath the surface
water that comes to them from the riv-
ers east OF the Sierra Nevada, and that
have no visible outlet. This would fully
account for the constancy of their sup
ply.