The herald., 1896-07-18
Irrigation of Orchards

Irrigation of Orchards
In reviewing the weather reports of
the signal service for the past few years
for the months of April and the five sue
| ceeding months, we find the monthly
rainfall in many districts where irriga-
tion is unknown and unpracticed to be
from 21a to 31a inches Some of this
precipitation during the months referred
10 is In heavy showers or long continued
rains, and runs off the groundl without
penetrating it, What does penetrate,
however, is enough to support vegeta-
BILE life. even where the rainfall only
amounts to 2 inches per month.
Two inches of rainfall per month
amounts to 54,436 gallons Of water per
acre in that time
A miners inch of water is the amount
| that will run through square-inch hole
in an inch board under pressure of
inches. Such stream will discharge
1880 gallons in twenty-four hours.
TO convert inches of rainfaiN into
miners inches would take one miners
inch running four days four hours and
forty-eight minutes to irrigate one acre,
or AZ miners inches running twenty
four hours to accomplish the same re-
suit
Less than this amount of water Is ac-
tually supporting vegetable life, in a
hourishing condition, in very dry part
of Southern California at North Pomo-
ma and Pomona, not to mention other
places. Pomona is so far inland that 1t
does not get the negative influence of
the sea.
Let me briefly describe to you the diff
Ierent methods of irrigating in Southern
California
The basin method is the first, and in
this the basins cover the whole of the
ground, double furrow running down
between every other row of trees, the
furrow large enough to carry from Is
to 30 inches of water Let us trace this
stream. Starting from the head ditch
the attendant breaks down the furrow
enough to let all the stream flow into the
nrst basin, requiring from onej to three
minutes to fill 1t, according to the size
OF the stream. Every other tree is irri-
gated until the last tree is reached, when
tne attendant works back, irrigating the
trees ne omitted on his downward
course; thus, when the last tree is irri-
gated IN the double row, the attendant
is pack at the head ditch where he can
quickly turn the stream between other
rows without loss of time or water.
The second method is also by the ba-
sin methods. the basins covering the
whole of the ground, but without fur e
rows. The water is run into the first
hasin until 1t is filled. when a portion of
the lower side is broken down. and the
second basin filled, and so on down
tnrough the whole row. When the last
basin is filled. and while the water is
still running, the attendant goes back
TO the head ditch and turns the water
INTO the next row of basins
The third method is where the basins
are made only over a portion of the
ground, thus omitting to irrigate part
of the, land.
The fourth method is called the mod
ern method" 1t consists in having a
head ditch at the highest side of the Or
chard, and in running the water down
through small burrows to the lower end
1t IS an easy, convenient and cheap
method.
All vegetable life Is built up by chem
ical action, and this chemical action is
Kept up all through the life of organized
matter by the forming of combination
of some or all Of the fifteen elements
that can possibly go to make it UP. These
nfteen elements may be divided in three
classes.
First-The air elements, or those which
the plant derives solely from the air.
are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They
are always present and in Sufficient
quantities to sustain their part of plant
life.
second-The soil elements, or those
which the plant derives solely form the