The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-18
ADDRESS SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE

will Justify the expense, the loss can
be stopped, but the expense is too
heavy for ordinary corps, or. at least.
has been considered so. As the de-
mand for water becomes greater,
larger expense viii be justified. But
what is needed is cheap but ecect-
i've means of stopping the losses from
canals. We are working on this prob
lem Its solution means. as has been
shown, an addition of at least one
third 70 the area which can be re-
claimed.
Losses From Laterals.
"The losses from Iaterals have been
shown to be nearly if not quite as
great as those from bitches. We are
studying methods Of constructing lat
erals and of making them more eco
nOmical carriers Of water All the
field agents of the irrigation investi-
cations have been instructed to study
the practice of the best farmers i'm
the sections covered by them. The
reports from all these agents viii be
digested and combined and published
i'm the form Of a farmers bulletin
Experiments looking to the same end
are being carried on. AS with ca
mails. the question OF saving the
losses from lateTals is a question OF
expense, and what we are looking for
is some cheap check on these losses,
the saving Of which means the adj
dition of another third to the re-
claimed area.
Great as are the possibilities Of
saving by stopping the losses from
canals and laterals. they are not 50
great as the possibilities OF saving i'm
use Our measurements of the guam
titles actually used by farmers show
that some use from five TO ten times
as much water as others who are
raisinf the same crops under similar
conditions. and who secure equally
as good if not better resurns. There
is no way Of telling what proportion
of farmers use TOO much water, but
the measurements referred to seem
to Justify tho estimate that on an
average farmers use at least twice
as much water as is necessary under
present methods. If this saving can
be made. it means a doubling Of the
area which can he reclaimed and
that with little expense to anyone.
since most canals cover much more
land than they now supply with wa
ter. The department can. Of course,
DO nothing to enforce economy In
use. II can only point out the fact
that equally good returns from the
land now irrigated can be secured
with half the water, in the nope that
self-interest viii induce farmers to
use the smaller quantities. one
method has however, been suggested
by our Investigations. That is TO
base charges for water on the guam
titles used rather than on the acreage
irrigated
Report From New Mexico.
"A report from New Mexico shows
that farmers who paid according 10
the quantities they received used q
per cent less water than others un-
der the same canal who paid a fiat
rate per acre and used what they
wanted. A similar test in Idaho
showed that those who paid for the
quantities received used % yer cent
less than those paying the acreage
Tate-an average for the two sections
of % per cent. A large majority OF
farmers receive water from ditch
companies Of some kind, and where
ever they do this means of inducing
economy is available. But most
farmers use these excessive quanti-
ties Of water in the belief that it is
necessary to do so. The department
therefore, has large opportunity for
usefulness in showing them the bene-
fits Of a more economical use.
THE estimate that farmers are
using twice as much water as is nee
eSsary is based on the measurements
previously referred to. which show
that some farmers use from five TO
ten times as much as others. But we
are not stopping with this study Of
what is being done. We are carry
ing on experiments to get at the ac-
tuaI necessities Of different crops un-
der different conditions To estab-
lish the minimu mquantities which
must be supplied 10 plants we are
ma king determinations of the guam
titles Of water actually used in the
processes Of growth. To these guam
titles must be added enough to sup
ply the losses which are unavoidable
under field conditions. These losses
viii vary with different soils and
with different methods Of cultivation,
but it is believed that an approx