Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1895-03-28
SUCCESSFUL IRRIGATION.
What is Being Done on a Dickinson
County Farm.

hill river The writer IN company Will
Geo. Rogers and behind Lawyer c. F
Mead's Bucephalous, kindly loaned fol
the OCCASION. visited the plant for The
purpose oi Getting data and measur
Ing the a,W Of water now being used
The owner, Mr., Whillaw, will
great good judgment i anticipating
the spring rains by giving his grounc
a thorough voting preparatory tt
seeding. His plant consists Of a No
3 2g-horse power link belt elevator
having registered capacity Of 7ot
gallons and Il maximum speed II &C
revolutions Per Minutes perpendie
ular I'LL i " feet above low water
mark aud driven b. a traction engine
under the manipulation d the slauld-
ing Brothers, late Of California,
lessees.
To determine the output Of water
we used the following data at hand
rate Of speed i3 revolutions per min
ute, lifting 4 bucket at each royolu-
ton. The buckets axe 5xl2xl5 inches,
giving capacity oi 800 inches, hence
we have, by the formula sGoyi3xl
equals l65.l2o, DIVIDED by 231 equals
715 gallons per minute.
To prove the correctness Of the
above computation wc made another
test by measuring the column Of
water passing through a ilume 9xlXE
feet equals 40 cubic feet.
By the all Of a stop-waich anil
small wooden floats we ascertained
that il required IA seconds for this
volume Of water TO pass through the
llume, or to pass a given point, hence
we have 723 gallons per minute, 1t
will be observed that this compute
ton is based on 43 revolutions, while
the maximum capacity is 50 per min
ute, hence it is evident that the pump
has easily capacity Of 1000 gallons
per minute. This is Il remarkable
service for q pump costing less than
Sl75, exclusive Of motive power,
which may be steam gasoline, horse
or wind and sufficient to irrigatc 100
acres. II the surplus water is utilized
in the fall, winter and early spring to
wet the ground.
Before locating his plant Mr.. Whit
law wisely made use OF the level and
rod to ascertain the contour Of the
ground, and located his pump at 4
high point on the river bank, bor-
lering his tract Of 50 acres used for
irrigation purposes, As the ground
also graviaies from the river back he
secured the advantage Of n minus
grade IN every direction from his
pump thus enabling him to dispense
with elevated bitches always
and expensive to keep
up,) In the distribution it is simply
to lead the water by lister
along thu natural ridges for
redistribution through laterals. The
present flow is being brought down
stream in Il ditch along the river bank
md feeds from six to ten laterals at
)nce.
Mr.. Whitlaw is delighted with the
working Of his plant and is
untitled to commentator for taking
he initiatory, and experimentation
If welting before planting-a practice
hat may be safely followed.
1t is u selicvilent fact that il the
ground is thoroughly saturated in the
'arly spring or, in other words, made
he storage reservoir and custodian
or moisture to he drawn upon during
he hot months of summer, there will
De no question Of satisfactory results
whether we have rainfall or drouth,
lot winds or cold, We are practically
assured of a plentiful crop.
Under our present system Of dry
and uncertain results the
Iyerage Kansas farmer is in debt,
md depending on crop yield for re-
lief from seed time to harvest, lives
n an atmosphere Of mental tension
md dread Of crop failure,
Not so with the irrigator, practical
y assured of a generous reward for
lis labor, he rests his soul in peace,
lis alterations to Deity are not an
lgonizlng appeal for rainfall to avert
disaster, his morning and evening de-
-otions are psalms Of praise and
thanksgiving for bounteous crops and
happy home. Let us irrigate.
A. c. RoMie.