El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-05-18
IRRIGATION
INVESTIGATION
What Is the Minimum Flow
Necessary
FOR CROP PRODUCTION?
Experiments Made At the Laramie,
Wyoming, Experiment Station
and the Fact Shown That Storage
Reservoirs Are Necessary.
'OR CROP PRODUCTION?

and the Fact Shown That Storage
Reservoirs Are Necessary.
special Correspondence of the HERALD.
| WASHINGTON, May 14.-The depart
| ment of agriculture has In press ar
interesting bulletin prepared by Prof.
| B Q. Bufum, showing the result of
irrigation experiments for the past
| nine years al the Laramie, Wyoming
experiment station.
| Professor Buffum states that the
time has now arrived when many ir-
rigated districts have so far developed
that scarcity of water is keenly felt,
and the good of the community de-
| mands that there sh8ll be no unneces-
sary waste of the limited supply. The
knowledge lacking IN irrigation, aud
which must in some way be obtained be-
fore our water supply will be either
| wisely or correctly used, is how much
water Is required to secure the best
results, and when aud by what means
it can be most economically and eff
ciently applied.
HOW MUCH WATER
Some of the experiments have been
made with q view to determining the
effect of the use of a greater or less
quantity of wafer upon the crop return
of q given area. Professor Buffum
p p~essnts table showing the crop returI g
from various plants on which dlfferenL
quantities of water we're used, but they
are not conclusive and more expert
ments are needed, In general, how
ever, the tables show larger yields
where large qualities of water were
used, but the increass yields are nos In
proportion to the increased quantities
of water used. The varying conditions
affecting the quantity of water needed
by crops are fully discussed
in the bulletin. Most plants cul-
were introduced from more humid
regions, and are not economical in
their water requirements. Selections
of droug varieties may
ma AXE possib BILE great exte nsion of the
present irrigated area. Methods, too.
OF cultivation and irrigation have
much To do with the quantity of water
used. Flooding as rule requires more
water than irrigsting in furrows, aud
q ain, which are usually irrigated by
Fl oding, produce more thrifty growth
On d ton banks and higher ridges and
knolls where the roots are supplied
from beneath rather than from th q
surface. This fact has led in some
localities to the adoption OF the rill
system with such crops as cover all the
land.
STORAGE RESERVOIRS NEEDED.
The Laramie river is type ofmapy
of the western rivers whose waters are
used for irrigation. Professor Buff ans
aoles and diagrams show that the
water in May and the early part Of
June, and that all drops except native
hay require the most water later in
the season, the latter half of June ard
the fret half of July. This mean ths t
irrigated farming along the Laramie
river must be limited to native hay
and the small area of other crops
the summer flow of the river,
unless the spring floods a-e stored for
the use of those crops requiring later
water. In Wyoming this is not so
great q hardship as q like condition
would be in some other states. The
fact that the greater part eff the land
In that state is beyond the reach of
water makes stock raising the leading
industry of the state, and the great
the stock which runs on the open range
during the summer months. But
native hay is light crop, even when
irrigated and storage reservoirs would
make it possible to cultivate an in
Grease of area of other forage crops
which yield much more heavily than
native hay.
Professor Buffum emphasizes the
fact which Is brought out by almost
every resent writer on irrigation,
that the present system of giving
irrigatiors title to the use of q con-
tinuous flow of a stream of q given
size is not necessary and is moreover
wasteful. He shows that some systems
of rotation by which the owner of 70
acres can have the use of larger head
than 1 second-foot for short periods
during the season will more nearly
correspond with his needs and result
in great saving of water. The bulle-
tin can be obtained by applying to the
secretary of agriculture.
The preservation of many of the
farms on the lowlands is really depen-
dent upon the forestizstion of the
mountains and the irrigation of the
arid regions. As it is now the water
from the melting SHOWS and ice of
Colorado Rockies, instead of being
stored where it is needed, sweeps
down through the arid region in rocky
channels, washes away farms in
Kansas aud Nebraska, and breaks
through the levees In Mississippi and
Louisiana. causing incalcua BILE damage
to Government and private property
and loss of human life.
Among the many natural sights of
interest," around CAPTAIN, the great