The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1906-04-27

H * VaSh1ntgon, April DEMONSTRATION
of unusual interest to the farmers of the
semi-arids and so-called arid regions Of
/ the west is now in progress under the
Edirection Of DR.. Elwood Mead, chief OF
Ithe irrigation and drainage inyestiga-
Etions Of the Office of experiment sta
IItions A g$s gls9U
/ After careful investigation Of theGeii-
ditions which confront tfrr settlers of
Ethe regions OF scant rainfall, the office
Ihas come to the conclusion that there
/ lis. need of carefully conducted expert
Ir1ents to determine and advise farmers
Iwhat are the best methods of crop pro-
lduction in dry seasons. Two methods
Fare being investigated as feasible. q
I First: For each farmer to provide
flor: himself a small irrigation plant from
which he can irrigate a few acres of
his farm and on which he can be in
sufed Of such crops as will maintain
his family and live stock in case of
Excessive drought.
Second: By means of special imple-
ments and extra cultivation to conserve
all the available moisture in the soil
for the benefit Of the crop. instead of
[allowing the rain to pass over the sur
face into the streams and thus be entire
| ly lost, to the field.
For the purpose of these investiga-
tions experiment stations have been es-
Itablished at Wichita Falls, Texas, Chsy-
lenne Wyoming and near Imperial Ne
braska, and the plan is to establish sim
! liar stations in the rest of the states. in
| the west where such experiments are of
value TO the settlers. s,fx 5 sz,.,l ~.
For the purpose of demonstrating
what can be done by irrigation of small
tracts from individual irrigation plants,
three different methods are adopted
at the three stations already established:
At Wichita Falls the water. for irriga-
Itlon is obtained from a storage reservoir
which Is made by constructing an earth
| dam across small creek bed and which
Eobtains its supply from the surface wat
| er of the water shed above and is lltil-
lied on the farm as desired. S
AT the, Cheyenne station the water is
pumped from creek into a dirt reser-
| voir 1000 feet away and IS feet above
by means of specially constructed wind
mills of large capacity Experience in
the past has shown that windmills for.
Irrigation purposes have not been able
| to supply sufficient water to irfigate
more than one or two acres. The rea-,
son for this is that the wind velocity
fls very variable and is oftener eight
miles per- hour than twenty Irrigation
Epumps.. are designed for large capacity
land considerable power and consequent
~ they do not begin to work Until the
wind velocity is 10 or IL miles per hour,
and when3the wind increases to rs miles.
per hour very little more water is puna-.
Eped than at IL miles.
Prof. G. J. Zintheo, in charge of farm
machinery Investigations of the office.
Eofa experiment stations, has had design
/ led; ans attachment for wi1dmills which
Will automatically Iegulata ftfe. fengthoof
the stroke of the pump with the velocity
ofttl1e wind So that 3at wind velocity!
ofrfve miles per hour the stroke, of the
pump is but inches in length and al
small amount lof water is pumped, while.
at 80 miles per hour the stroke is in
creased TO twenty four inches and a.
great volume of water is pumped. Thus
all the available power of the wind is
utilized and the efficiency Of windnills.
for irrigation purposes greatly increas-
ed Experiments with two-wheeled.
windmills compared with single wheeled
mills and The automatic pumping at
tachinent are now being conducted at
the Cheyenne experiment station which
promise to be of great value to the in
|dividual irrigator. Experiments are all
$50 being conductstd with winter irri-
CATION compared with summer irriga-
ton BY this means double irriga-
ton period can be established as the
water which runs away in winter can
BE conserved and stored in the soil and
the spring freshets can be utilized for
summer irrigation on another piece Of
d AT the Nebraska Station the. irrigas
don experiment consists in pumping
water from a dug we'll by means OF a
gasoline engine and storing it in a
feservoir for use on garden truck and
suchsicrops as are needed for home
consumption. In each case careful
record is kept Of the cost Of establish
ing and maintaining the different kinis.
Em irrigation plants The efficiency Of
/ The plant and the increased yield of
crops is due to the irrigation Thus the
farmers may learn the value Of the in
yestment In Such plants.
sI 1t is believed that when the cost Of
\ a ii