Charlevoix county herald., 1904-12-24
The Work
of Water

| we nave as yet many y uuSoiNSu
problems in agriculture, and among
them is the work that water must do
in the production of crops. We are
largely in a mist as to the amount OF
water needed on land to produce
certain amount Of grain or of fruit.
| The experimenters that have been
at work on this problem in various
parts of the country can only tell US
that they are coming closer and clos
err to some kind of a general base.
| Professor King found out that 1t
took several hundred pounds of wa
| ter to produce pound of different
| kinds of grain; but to produce
pound of apples the amount of water
will be found to be very much less.
| Some of the most effective expert
ments have been made in New Mex
leo, at Mesilla Park. To them we are
indebted for some very valuable data
as to the cost of using steam in the
pumping of water, employing wood as
| fuel. We had naturally taken 1T for
granted that it would not pay to use
steam in pumping water for irrigat-
ing land. We now know that steam
is one of the cheapest agents that
can be employed in the raising OF
water for such a purpose.
But one of the important things
that must be settled is the exact work
to be laid on water. II the expert
ments have shown anything it is that
the most profit comes when the exact
amount of water required is supplied.
Every inch of unnecessary water
used is added expense. II q good
deal too much water Is used the ex-
pense may be equal to the profit. So
1t becomes a matter of knowledge
and the knowledge is money. The
| wise irrigator knows that irrigation
pays; the uSwise irrigator is strongly
fixed in the belief that 1t does not
pay.
This truth is coming out in the dis
covery in a good many localities that
less water is required than it was
thought Would be required for the
production of crop of any particu-
lar grain. In New Mexico they are
about settling down to the conclusion
that twenty-five inches of water ap-
piled throughout the growing season,
from seeding to harvest, is the most
profitable amount. A larger appli-
cation may increase the yield OF
wheat, but the increase is made at
the expense of large amount of wa
ter, and this water cost is far greater
than the value of the increase of the
grain. Thus it was found that seven
,r,;p
at each irrigation gave Is bushels of
wheat. That was at the expenditure
of 35 inches Of water over the whole
area. twenty-five inches of water
gave ISL bushels. At this rate it
took one and two-thirds inches Of
water to produce one bushel of wheat,
while the extra three bushels was
produced at an expenditure of ten
inches of water or at the rate of
three and a third inches of water for
each bushel of wheat. Clearly wheat
would have to be very high in price
to make it pay to produce it at this
cost
Another thing that is being brought
out by trials with irrigation water is
that water does not sink rapidly into
the soil. When thirty-five inches Of
water were applied to the wheat field
none of it sank in deeper than five
feet AS soon as the ground could
hold it without being more than sat
urated it prevented its downward
movement. This is help to the irri-
gator. 1t prevents the teaching away
OF the water and it saves the fertility
, that may be in the soil naturally or
that has been artificially applied.
The roots of many plants, including
corn, clover and alfalfa, will go down
five feet or more and so can make
} use of all the water applied.
: In the humid states the land has
become saturated to great depths be-
cause q litse water has been added
each year throughout the centuries.
But this is not the case in many re-
gions in the west, where the surface
soil is hundreds of feet above soil
! water. In such cases the water
moves down very slowly, where ii is
: applied in proper quantities for crop
/ production. If it had the general
tendency to move down, as most peo-
t pie suppose, there would be no trouble
from the rising of alkali; for in that
r case the alkali would be carried far
below the roots of the crops and
: would stay there.
But the water sinks into the dry
sDil for five, ten, fifteen feet or more,
: dissolves the alkali it finds and then
begins an upward movement, being
pumped up by the air. 1t brings up
: the alkali with it and in evaporating
leaves the chemical as layer on the
j top of the soil. The work of water is
: gradually being better understood and
: it will be made to perform greater
tasks than have hitherto been laid
on 1t.
Cowpea Hay for Pigs.
oil CnwnQo haV nnrniuO inVn uca &C