Durango semi-weekly herald. (Durango, Colo.) 1899-1907, 1903-11-05
TO lRRioATE WELL
MUST USE DRAINAGE.

sixteen states and territories which
will eventually provide homes for So
100000 OF people. and more than quad
ruple the productive capacity of the
nation.
This fact has caused the farmers in
the humid states to study irrigation
more closely than ever before and,
finding that il will make two and more
blades OF grass grow where only one
could grow without it. they are all
coming into line, but with some mod
iiications which the irrigation farmers
now recognize to the fullest extent.
Those notifications are connected
with drainage Broadly speaking.
drainage is getting rid Of the excess,
unnecessary water in the soil. whereas
irrigation is supplying the soil with
water necessary to plant life and
growth
One is the reverse of the other, but
the results are identical-that is. the
soil is meliowed by moisture" which
originates in water. The drainage
farmer understands better than his ir-
rigating brother that water of itself
is detrimental to plant life. and he
therefore gets rid of it by drawing II
on. but retaining the moisture which
Is essential to plants.
The strict irrigation farmer, on the
contrary, fancies that water is the
great deslderstum, and he therefore
doses the soil with so much OF 1t that
an artificial water table is created.
and the latter rises nearer the sur
face at every application. until II is
within the zone of the roots and the
plant perishes. or. as it is said.
drowned out" The disastrous effects
of too much water or "overirrigation"
is visible in many formerly profitable
orchards and vineyards of the arid
and semi-arid regions, now ruined and
abandoned
An artificial water table of flowing
water was created, too near the roots
10 be converted into moisture, and the
leaves, unable to carry of the excess
sive supply, the plant either persisted
entirely or run to vegetation to the de.
struction of the fruit. In addition to
this the alkali curse, always lurking
in the soil of the arid and semi-arid
West. accepted the medium Of water
as means of escaping to the surface,
and so barren orchards and vineyards
are very common, painfully common.
in fact, with their surface whitened as
with the frosts of winter or black as
from desolating fire.
1t is a well-known fact in physics
that water poured upon the soil,
whether in the form of rain or from
an irrigating ditch, sinks down by the
force of gravity until 1t is all diffused
through the soil in the form OF mois-
ture, or accommodating, finds lodg-
ment on some impervious stratum OF
hard pan or rock, and then 1t begins
to return to the surface. drawn thlther
by the force of capillary attraction
Then and then only is it suitable for
the wants of plants, because then ii
is charged with the soluble fertiliz-
ers contained in the soil, and furnish
es the plant with its proper food
A farmer in Cholla Valley. San Die
go county, Cal. after the first rainfall
early in December, plowed very deep
the crown of hill and its slope, each
of which measured about one acre
After the second rainfall. occurring
about a week afterward. the land was
cross-plowed as deep as possible, and
potatoes planted.
From that time until the crop was
harvested in March. realizing about
800 sacks of potatoes. or fifteen tons,
the soil was constantly cultivated and
kept open to the rains. During the
season not more than ten inches OF
rain tell and after harvesting the po-
tatoes IL was noticed that there was
moisture still in the side hill.
As an experiment, this was again
plowed deep and carefully pulyerized
and corn of the white Mexican varie-
~ planted. Constant cultivation fur
nished a mulch at least a foot in
thickness. There was no moisture
in the subsoil. digging a posthole
about three feet deep exposing dry
ground, and no water came to the land
either in the shape OF rain or from
artificial sources. The corn. however.
continued to grow without twisting a
leaf, until ii reached a height OF u
feet, with four ears of perfectly de-
veloped corn on each OF many stalks.
MS Is pIOOl VI inc ldNN AudN ~ 10
moisture that conveys plant food d.
rectly to the roots and not water. al
though water is essential to create
moisture. Irrigation farmers are more
appreciative of this truth now than a
few years ago. and they are putting
it in practice to the great saving Of
water. and to an increase of produc-
tive acreage under the same water
supply. or to reduced acreage with
double production, owing to more
intelligent system of farming. To
maintain moisture in the soil involves
not alone the question Of drainage or
of irrigation, for there are damaging
droughts where drainage is practiced
and overirrigatlon where water Is ar
tifically applied to the surface of the
land. The profitable system is broad
err than either one; 1t includes both.
1t is dawning upon the minds Of ag-
riculturists that the obstacles in the
way of successful. profitable farming.
such as climatic differences, meteor
eEe3srs ~ AEssInNfN {