The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-04-13
EXPERIMENTS IN IRRIGATION
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS MAX
ING THEM IN DOUGHERTY.
Test Will Be Made on Forty Acres
of Cotton and Corn. Inten-
Sive Farming Next,

SiVo Farming Next.
The following from the Albany
Herald tells of the work which is be-
ing done in Dougherty county toward
irrigating the lands
"A cooperative experiment in irri-
CATION will be conducted this year on
Col. John P. Forts place, near Wal
ker Station in this county.
"a similar experiment. on a small
er scale. was conducted last year,
and the success of that trial induced
Col. Fort and the government expert
who is cooperating with him to car
~ on more extensive experiments
this year.
Last year one acre was irrigated
-one-half acre in corn and one-half
acre in cotton. This year forty acres
will be irrigated half in corn and
half in cotton.
Local Conditions Ideal.
Local conditions are ideal for the
cheapest methods of irrigation said
Mr.. Milo B. Williams, government en-
gineer, to a Herald reporter this
morning. Mr.. Williams represents
the Office of Experiment Stations,
United States Department of Agri-
culture, and is engaged in irrigation
investigations in the southern states.
I'm Florida, continued Mr.. Will
liams, where l have been engaged
in some cooperative irrigation eXpe-
Timents an expensive system of pip
ing is necessary, because of the char
acter of the soil. Here the soil will
permit of surface irrigation. The
water can be stored in a basin scoop
ed out on the surface and conveyed
through bitches through the area to
be irrigated
cat Col. Forts place new arte-
sian we'll is being bored Already
depth of 270 feet has been reached,
and Col Fort intends to carry the
we'll down to a depth of 700 to 1000
feet, or until a good flow of water is
obtained.
Artesian Water Stored in Reservoir.
THE water from the new we'll will
be stored in a reservoir of a capacity
sufficient to store an acre-fOot' of
water. An 'acre-foot' is the quantity
of water that would be necessary to
cover an acre Of land to the depth of
one foot. Col. Forts reservoir will
be a quarter of an acre in area, and
will hold four feet of water.
The reservoir will be located with
To 10 &c T,n OF
the water can be conducted by means
of gravity throughout the forty-acre
plat to be irrigated. The reservoir
will hold enough water to irrigate
five acres at a time. When emptied
it will be allowed to fill again, when
another five acres can be irrigated,
and so on until the entire forty acres
have been watered
Next Step in Intensive Farming.
Irrigation in the humid region
of the United States is one of the
next steps in intensive farming said
Mr.. Williams this morning. It's adj
vantages are self-evident. The farm
er who irrigates can plant to catch
the market, independent of weather
GOnulliOlS. ne uOtS nOI nave W llS5
ure against possible droughts, but
can put in his seed for various crops
at the proper time to bring them to
maturity when prices are best. He
is always sure of a crop whether rain
comes or not, and can raise larger
crops on a smaller acreage than is
possible without irrigation.
Interest in Irrigation Increases.
'Mr. Williams says the interest
shat irrigation is receiving through
out the southern states and through
out what is known as the humid re-
gion of the country is increasing very
rapidly The Office of Experiment
Stations, engaged in irrigation inves.
legations, is receiving inquiries and
requests for cooperation. In Geor-
gia at the present time the govern
ment is interested in cooperative eX
periments at Blackshear. Waycross
Augusta and Milledgeville, in addi
ton to the experiments on Col
Forts place in this county