The Columbus journal., 1903-03-04

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irrigation BY Pumping.
From Farmers Review: Where the
lift Of water Is less than ten feet and
water near at hand irrigation will pay
on ordinary crops. Where the lift Is
greater It will only pay on costly and
profitable crops like small fruits and
vegetables where high quality is .
factor in the markets. My experience
has been with strawberries only and
largely for nursery purposes where it
was desired to grow plants under the
most favorable condition in order to
fully develop their fruit producing or
ganism and therefore imperative that
they should not be injured by pro-
tracted drouths.
A twenty-five horse power gasoline
engine and No. centrifugal pump
lifts about 100000 gallons Of water
thirty-iive feet high and forces 1t
through twelve hundred feet Of q
stx-inch iron pipe and thence through
IN eleven-inch duck hose to any part
OF the farm up to . half mile where 1t
arm tube four feet long and four
inches in diameter every four feet,
letting the water out into narrow
About $4,000 gallons are applied to
IN acre at one watering. only one man
being required to superintend the
distributing. OF course the amount
used varies according to conditions.
The main point Ii to get the water
into the subsoil and then let 1t perco-
late out under the plants and rise to
the surface by capillarity. 50 that the
plants never suffer from saturation
out grow naturally. The application
Of small amounts to the surface II
very bad under any circumstances. It
packs the surface 80 Is to exclude air
from the roots and capillarity II 30
active that the water would evspor-
ate before the immediate surface
would be dry enough to cultivate. and
in an incredible short time the plants
would be seen to wilt.
We are very careful never to food
the surface but cultivate the ditch full
as soon as possible and stir the sur
face every week afterwards and SO
even in the hottest weather the wat
ering will keep the plants growing in
prime condition for fifteen days, but
we Keep the pumps running and man
age to make the round of our So acres
of strawberries In less time than indi-
Gated. The engine is run to its full
est capacity and consumes about for
ty gallons of gasoline in ten hours,
costing at present IL cents per gallon,
or $3.50 for ten hours.
1t requires the time OF the hoe squad
Of about 30 men who lay down their
tools walk directly to the hose and
pick up the whole and carry 1t to new
ground where couplings are quickly
made and water again turned ON. Il
also requires one man and horse to
make the bitches and another to cul-
tivate. estimate the total cost at |
$12 per day Of ten hours.
II . wind mill were used q storage
tank would be necessary and the |
water should be applied Ut night % it |
would soak deeply and the surface be
cultivated the following day.
The water should be carried to the |
distributing point in hose because the |
seepage in ordinary soil would be
large. The hose should be literally |
large and made of No. 4 cotton duck,
edges hemmed and stitched together
on q harness sewing machine. the
being made by inserting q
tube like stove pipe and strapping
the hose to each end.
For ordinary crops the same amount
Of expense and labor expended In till.
age to conserve spring rains will ma
ture full crops and except where the
lift Is small and water in abundance
good results in strawberry growing
can be had by fall mulching and hold
Ing the water down by leaving it until
after berries are picked In spring.
Few people realize how much water
is required to properly fill the soil Of
an acre of land and il the area to be
irrigated is large an ordinary well
would hardly meet requirements.-R.
NJ. Kellogg.
How Plants Get Carbon.
Prof. F. H. King: Of course not all
Of the carbonic acid in the air which
passes across q clover field can be
nor indeed all of that which
enters the intercellular air passages
of the green parts of the plant, and
hence it follows that very much larg-
er volumes of air than have been
stated must be brought into close con.
.act with the growing clover in order
70 meet its needs. This air, however.
cannot come into intimate relations
with the green chlorophyll-bearing
,ells of the clover in the field with
'ut Of necessity permitting the evap-
,ratiOn Of large quantities of water
rom the plants; and this brings us
% realize how imperative is the de-
nand for water by rapidly growing
'rOps. The writer has found. for ex.
lmple, by direct measurement that
he air passing three feet above q
.lover field, and at q moderate rate.
wen as early as May 30 in Wisconsin.
When the air temperature II only
'2.4S F., may have its relative humid
ty increased from A to 48 per cent
" the moisture taken from the field;
md this means that $50 pounds of
yater are required to make even the
observed change of humidity in .
olume of 152. .6OO. 900 cubic feet of air. =
which is the amount required to car )
y to the clover crop its carbon. sup ,
osing all the carbon which the air ,
ontained to be utilized.