The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1908-02-21
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much care cannot be taken to get
the land level so the water will
spread over all of it.
For garden. most row crops, trees
or where the quantity of water is linn
tied. furrow irrigation is usually
practiced.
Fruit trees. when first set. can be
put out in a furrow. Later, burrows
are usually plowed on either side of
the trees allowing the water to soak
the ground around the trees.
Whenever possible, follow the wa
ter with cultivation as 500 as the
ground is dry enough not to pack.
The dob soil, if it is 1ot cultivat-
ed after watering, when not shaded
bakes, cracks and dries out very rap
idly.
All cultivated soils, when exposed
to the sun, should have a dust mulch
to keep the ground from drying out.
By c~ultivating more, we shaH raise
far better crops with much less water
Recently, saw an eight Or ten
year old orchard, northeast of Dexter.
across the Pecos, being watered in a
manner well worth copying, where
one needs t make all his water
%icount. The land is sandy. burrows are
thrown up about three feet from the
trees, leaving the trees in the middle
of a six-foot land, in which the water
was turned. This gave the tree roots
enough moisture to last several
months. This man was irrigating his
trees and not his whole orchard.
Old hay or straw, from the stack
yard, covering the ground two or
three inches thick for two o. more
feet around the trees, will be found
one of the best means of retaining
the moisture. This also keeps the
weeds from growing.
One good method of winter irriga-
ton is to furrow the land, water it,
and as quickly as it can be gotten
On, harrow it across the burrows. The
more working the top soil the better.
The listing method of planting corn
has many advantages. The seed is
placed in the lower moist soil. If
any rain comes the corr gets a dou-
BILE benefit. In cultivating, the roots
are down deep under the dust mulch.
and if the cultivation is done at the
right time, the suckers are gotten rid
of. If irrigation is needed to help
bring up the corn, or while it is very
small, the corn gets all the benefit.
Most corn is irrigated twice, once be
ifora pJon+in~ onI onoo oftnr tho corn
is up.
Alfalfa requires more water than
other crops grown in our valley.
When short of water, growing one
seed crop in place of the two middle
crops is said to bring in as much mo
ney, and saves one or two i~rrigations.
One irrigation is usually considered
sufficient for each cutting of alfalfa.
Last veal / used two on well drained
land with very good results. Disking
alfalfa, directly after the hay is out
of the field, 1 believe. is beneficial.
Also a heavy disking in the spring.
With artesian wells flowing less
than 1000 gallons per minute, which
are needed to irrigate more than 10
or Is acres, good reservoirs should
be built so water can be stored dur
ing the night to be used with that
running during the day. The larger
the head of water, h better results
when flooding is done. But do not
make the reservoirs too large, as the
loss is much greater from seepage
and evaporation.
We have $50, 900 acres in the arte-
sian belt, of which only about $4,000
acres are in cultivation, and in this
belt the acreage people will be glad
to put in cultivation will nearly al
ways exceed the water they have for
it. SO it is very necessary that we
all try to learn from each other how
to get best results with the least wa
ter.
The Water Users Protective Asso-
| citation hopes soon to print time cards
for distribution among those farmers
who will assist in gathering data of
the amount of water used on acre
ages of different crops for the benefit
of those who keep them and the AS
ISOLATION.
Last year 584 carloads of house |
hold goods were unloaded by new
Corners at Roswell, the larger part
going on farms.
The Water Users Protective Asso-
citation wishes to help these newcom
ers in every way possible regardingl
the use of water. |
the Secretary can be found Satur-
days in Office No. 2, Gaullieur Block. /