Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1896-12-10
d.,,.,4|s a !, 49,
~! 1I ll'j1I|t e
s11psuRFAcE IRRIGATION.

annlicati0n of Water Under
1n N,onnd Meeting With Success.
pr,1etin No. "a Of the New Hamp-
,,,re Experiment station gives some
.ow noints on subsurfacc irrigation.
cuhsurfacc irrigation is the application
- wafer underground through a sys-
tom of porous tiles or pipes, and the
.dvontages claimed for the system
ovor the ditch system are that it re-
ou,res less labor to apply the water,
and to keep the system in repair; there
.rp no bitches, burrows or check-ridges
~ ohstruct cultivation and harvesting;
M surface-baking and no loss of water
fron eyaporation. In the high, arid
r .soi of the West the air is hot, dry,
.nd generally blows at high rate of
smsed. so that less by evaporation
from open bitches, burrows and food
Id checks is enormous-generally esti-
mated at one-half to thrce-fourths Of
aiI the water applied.
nut Prof. Rowe thinks that these ad-
y1ntages of subirrigation are more
Than offset by disadvantages. The
first cost of constructing the system is
much greater than that for the surface
irrigation and three. years of expert
ments cond 1cted by him prove that
snh;rrigation loses moe water by seep-
arc than surface irrigation loses by
evaporation, except the soil is shallow
and the subsoil is a & close, tight hard
nan. He had two plats of the same
size side side by side, one arranged for
subirrigatiOn and the other for surface
irrigation, and it always took more
water to saturate the subirrigated
Mat. On investigation, he found that
the water was lost by soaking down.
ward much more rapidly than it rose
+ up to the soil above the tile. He then
took up half the soil from the subirri-
gated plat. laid coat of cement over
the subsoil, replaced the tile and the
soil. and afterwards found that when
water was turned into the tile the half
over this cement would become wet,
while the other was quite dry.
Prof. Rowe thinks that if porous tile
be but half-buried, there would he no
loss by either seepage or evaporation,
and test Of this method on a small
plat confirmed his belief. However,
this does not take the tile out OF the
way of the plow, cultivator and har-
ycstcr. ......
In thing for subirrigation, the tiles
are laid much nearer the surface
:han when they are laid for drainage.
The cost of tile is $12 to SIS per
acre. and the cost of laying is not
much more than the cost of open
bitches. Open bitches must be built
up above ground, the bottom of the
ditch being as high or higher than the
land to be watered, else the water will
not run out onto the land.
The bulletin states that food Of in
quiries is coming to all the stations
and to the agricultural and horticult-
nral journals, even east of the Missis-
sppi river, for information on irriga-
ton. The frequent recurrence of pro-
tracted and disastrous droughts is the
cause Of this awakening. The annual
rainfall is as great as ever, but has not
Of late years been as evenly distrib-
uted, most Of it coming in winter or
early spring, leaving the crops to per-
lsh in the hot weather of summer.
The popular interest in irrigation has
also been stimulated by the great sue
cess of the few tests of irrigation that
nave been made east Of the Mississip-
pi river.