The St. Johns herald., 1900-05-26
.hliigatiOl
 S
 Matters.
What is the Minimum Flow Necessary for Crop Production?
Experiments at the Laramie, Wyoming Experiment Station.
Storage Reservoirs Needed.

The Department of Agriculture
 has in press m interesting bulletin prepared by Prof. B. c. Buffum
 showing the results of his irriga
 ton experiments for tte pas. nine
 years at the Laramie, Wyoming
 Experiment Station.
 Professor Buffum states that the
 time has now arrived when many irrigated districts have so far de-
 veloped that scarcity of water is
 keenly felt, and the good of the
 community demands that there
 shall be no unnecessary waste of
 the limited supply. The knowl-
 edge lacking in irrigation, which
 must in some way be obtained be. fore our water supply will be ei-
 ther wisely or correctly used, is how much water is required to secure
 the best results, and when and by
 what means 1t can be most econ
 omically and efficiently applied.
 Some of the experiments have
 been made with a view to deter
 mining the effect of the use of a greater. or less quantity of water upon the crop return of a given area. Professor Buffum presents tables showing the crop returns from various plants on which diff ferent quantities of water were used
 but they are not conclusive and more experiments are needed. In general, however, the tables show larger yields where the larger quan- titles of water were used, but the increased yields are not in propor
 tion to the increased quantities of water used. The varying condi- tions affecting the quantity of wa ter needed by crops are fully dis cussed in the bulletin. Most plants cultivated in the arid West were introduced from more humid re- giOns, and are net economical in their water requirements. Selec- tiOns of drought resisting varieties may make possible great exten- sion of the present irrigated area. Methods, too, of cultivation and irrigation have much to do with the quantity ofwater used. Flood ing as rUfe requires more water than irrigating in furrows, and it has been observed that grass and grain, which are usually irrigated by flooding, produce more thrifty growth on ditch banks and higher ridges and knolls where the roots are supplied from beneath rather than from the surface, This fact has led in some instances 70 the adoption of Che riff system with such crops as cover all the land.
 The Laramie River is type of many of the western rivers whose waters are used for irrigation. Professor BuffumF's tables and dia- grams show that the river furnish es the greatest supply of water in May and the early part of June, and that all crops except native hay require the most water later in the latter half of June and the first half of July. This means that irrigated farming along the Laramie River must be limitsd to native hay and the small area of other crops which can be irrigated with the summer flow of the river, unless the spring floods are stored 1 for the Wse of those crops reQuir- ing later water. In Wyoming this is not so great hardship as like would be in some other states. The fact that the greater part of the land ir that state is be- von6 the reach of water makes stock raising the leading industry of the state, and the great need of hat industry is winter feed for tte- stock which runs on the open 'ange. during She summer months. But native hay fs 8 light eropf even