Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1911-02-23

On the land with uniform slope /
or slope in onedireetio and at reg
ular intervals. the most common
practice is to run a supply ditch I
down the slope along the highest
boundary of the field. and from this
ditch run the laterals through the
field across the slope and contour
with just enough grade to carry
the water
The laterals running across the
fields are placed at more or less reg /
ular intervals from $50 to 600 feet
according to the slope and nature of
the soil.
On the light sandy soil they must
be placed close together. or the land
near the ditch will get too much wa
ter before the land farther away
has received enough. but on heavy
soils the bitches may be placed far
Their apart. as the water soaks in
more slowly.
The fact is most people use more
water than is necessary and do
great deal OF harm to their soil and
also their crop. In the application
of water to land and crops, the choice
of method is to be made in accord
ance with general conditions, the
slope of the land, the character of
soil, and the labor requirement in
the application of crops.
Probably the most common meth
cd of irrigating crops is flooding from
field bitches. and flooding between
levies. called the border method and
the furrow method.
These methods are described as
follows
Flooding from field bitches or lat
erals is the most common method Of
applying water to grain, alfalfa and
other grass crops.
1t requires the least preparation
for fields and therefore appeals to the
new settler. Ordinary raw land can
be prepared for flooding at an ex-
pense of from SO to Sc per acre.
In grading for this particular meth
cd it is not customary to make many
changes in the natural surface of the
land. Only the knobs are removed
and deposited in the low places.
Fields hav g a firm soil an fall
OF p feet ard over up to 100 feet
have been flooded successfully by
this method of irrigation. This meth.
cd consists of running contour lat.
erals through the field at right angles
to supply lateral. These laterals are
run on a light grade from SO to SOC
feet apart, and running the water
from these laterals over the surface
of the field without other direction
than is given to it by the irrigatoi
with his shovel
7 1t requires more labor in apply
ing water than any other metho,
= and requires a large head of water
The direction of sowing If tn,
= drill is used is of Importance wher,
, land is to be flooded The miniatur,
] drill furroms can be taken advan
tage Of where they run with tn,
slope to lead the water quickly ov
5 err the land in flooding. and when /
Z it is desirable to check the rate o
= flow on soils which have rattle
4 steep slope. This would appear to b.
of considerable assistance in food
= ing and is worthy of a trial.
2 1t flooding the device most com
- monty used to turn water from
ditch on the land is a canvas dam.
y 1t consists simply Of rectangula
+ piece of canvas, one side of whicl
r is rolled around and nailed to a piec
z Of 2x4 or a round piece Of wood, lon
S enough to reach well across tn
t ditch.
= Check gates are sometimes put il
but not often.
{ Water is run in one or more lat
D erals at the same time. dependinI
r upon the size of the stream deliver
+ ed to the irrigator. The usual strean
e run in lateral is from one to on
and half second feet.
f Water is turned into one OF NOR
D laterals and flows down to the frs
S dam. where it is held up and mad
p to flow through the openings in tn
e lower bank Of the ditch and flo,
e across the field to the next ditch
}. Then this section has received enoug
S water the dam it taken up and re
r moved farther down the ditch an
o the operation is repeated until tn
L entire field Is irrigated