Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1896-02-13
From the Kansas Farmer,
Irrigation.
HOW We IRRTCATE WITH WATER.

by w. ~, Herry OF BuRl0WOOQ, kaS,
read before the twenty. fifth an.
nual meeting of Kansas State
Board Of Agriculture,
Concluded from last week.
l am only giving the sizes Of later
ais and of irrigatiDg Glands" as We
have them on Claremont ranch. Oul
distributing latera's are from three tC
five feet wide, rounding on the bot
tom, and carrying water from six to
ten inches deep. We aim to make
our irrigatlng Glands" at the start
about $50 feet wide. But in running
the lsterals a quarter to a half mile,
the Stands" might be made to vary
from 100 to 400 feet, according to the
slope Of the field. These distributing
laterals are laid out with Surveyors
level on tripod, one person manag-
ing the level and another carrying the
rod and finding Herewith the proper
points Of the proposed line, every 100
feet on comparatively level land. Bat
il the land is irregular, the points
should be taken at about half that
distance apart. The man carrying
the rod, marks these points with
mounds of dirt, thrown up with q
shovel, which serve to guide the one
who plows out the laterals, These
laterals at the given fall, vary but lit
tie from the level contour lines of the
land and so run at almost right angles
to the greatest slope. Therefore, when
the water is turned out of the lateral,
it runs away from the lateral at al
most a right angle, to the next lateral
below, and at a speed varying with
the slope of the land, the texture Of
the soil and the head of water.
The questions Of size of latersls and
of irrigating Glands" each man will
have to settle for himself. This he
can readily do in a small way before
laying off his field. But If that part
of the land being irrigated just below
the lateral being used absorbs from
fifteen to twenty inches of water while
the lower side is getting four inches
1.-THE amount necessary for one water
ing) there must be a great waste Of
water and damage may be done to
that part of the crop receiving too
great an amount. If this is the case,
the distributing lsterals are too far
apart. Having these contour distrib-
uting laterals built, you can now, or
dinarlly, locate the supply lateral
from the canal or reservoir, as The
case may be, along the sides of your
field, crossing the starting points of
your distributing laterals.
We use portable canvas dam to
divert the water from the supply lat
eral into the distributing lateral. The
same kind of a dam is used to check
the water in the distributing laterals.
Constructed on this plan one man on
our ranch is enabled to spread the
water and irrigate 1000 acres once
and 300 acres of this two and three
times.
To wet the land evenly from ditch
to ditch, it must be graded down the
slope, so that the water will not run
around hlllocks or too much remain
in hollows. This grading we do with
q common slip scraper, or, preferably,
with Shuart land grader. We have
a homemade leveler which we use in
the place Of a harrow, which levels
the minor Inequalities, and a home
made A-shaped tool for cleaning out
the bitches and latersls. AS q hill
torn down or hollow filed up is a per-
manent improvement and lessons the
amount of water used and increases
the crop, it always pays to do this
work.
Beginners generally use too much
water AS good crops as we have
raised had but one watering, and that
in the fall. A thorough wetting of the
subsoil, according TO our experience,
is what is necessary.
Corn will never, in my opinion, be
profitable western Kansas product,
but in Kafiir corn we have crop for
us equally valuable. For seven years
past, wall has gone up from west
ern Kansas. AS the hot winds blast
ed the crops, the people blasted the
country.
The 100th meridian line crosses our
land-that mysterious line from be.
yond which all settlers are warned,
and few indeed are they that have re-