Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1911-06-01
FIT FOR IRRIGATION
Many Crop Failures Attributable
to Faulty Leveling.
Machinery Necessary for Proper
Preparation of Land Is Simple and
Inexpensive-Shou Always
Be in Order.

(By ]. II. SQUIRES. New Mexico Agri-
cultural College,
More crop failures on irrigated
lands may be traced to faulty level
ing than TO any other cause under
the control of the farmer. Poorly
leveled lands are expensive TO irri-
gate, both with regard to the amount
of water and the amount OF labor re-
quired; and in addition, the plants in
the different parts of the field are so
unequally watered that unsatisfactory
crops are the result The machinery
necessary for leveling on the small
farm is simple and inexpensive. and
should be kept in order that all
spare time of men and teams can be
used to the best advantage. On the
small farm all that is necessary is
small scraper. a p!ew. and a plank
drag.
In leveling. the first thing to do is
to decide just how the land can be put
into shape by moving the least
amount of dirt. A good way to begin
is TO set stakes to represent borders.
and see how they may be located in
order to obtain the best results. If
is not necessary that an entire field
within border be so; and each bord-
er may drop lower or rise higher than
the one adjoining. without any serious
inconvenience in either seeding or har-
vesting. Borders should not be spaced
too wide. Forty-five to sixty feet will
be a good width if the field is at all
sloping; and it is not best to make
them more than 100 feet apart, even
when the land is level.
Locate each border definitely, and
mark it by throwing up a couple of
burrows, or in any other way that is
convenient. Then beginning the high
end of the field, work out the first
border. taking all excess dirt from
the high places and spreading it
where needed in the low places. In
sandy soils the borders should not be
more than 200 or 300 feet in length,
but on clay soils no limit need be
set for the length. For the location
of the borders, especially If they are
long. it is almost necessary that
level be used. These may be pur-
chased for about SIS to $40. Perma-
nent borders should be built at the
time of leveling. These should be
| just high enough to control the
movement of water. and should be
wide enough to prevent any danger
of their being dragged down by ma
chinery or washed down by the run
ming water. A convenient and very
satisfactory way to build such Dor
ders is to drag up the dirt with a
scraper and deposit it along the lines
of the border; where it should be
smoothed into the desired shape.
If the borders are built with a
broad base and slowly sloping sides,
crops can be grown along the sides
and top without any diff Guilty. The
| base of such borders should not be
less than eight to ten feet wide. After
all borders and the checks or cross
borders are complete, 1t is best to
go over each section of the field and
true up all slight inequalities that
may have been missed in the first
leveling. Here again the level Is of
great value, as 1t points out these err
rors much more closely than the best
trained eye. II there is free and
abundant supply of water. and the
field will not need it for some time, II
is we'll to give it a trial irrigation;
making a note of all the points that
are either low or high. and correct
ing these as soon as the soil Is dry
One thing that must be borne in
mind is that where any large amount
of earth is hauled into a low place
the level of the land VIII be destroyed
by this soil settling after the first few
irrigations, unless allowance is made
for this and a slight excess of soil is
moved in This is hard to estimate
and for this reason it is well that the
crop, like alfalfa, the first year aftel
any decided leveling. The small grains
are perhaps the best crops to try OF
newly leveled fields. They do not oc
cupy the soil for a great length o
time, and can stand an excess o
water in any place that happens t.
be low. perhaps, better than ma
jority of the crops grown In this re
gion. Then, too. the surface is lef
in an excellent condition for correct
ing slight inequalities in level tina
may yet remain. When these col
rections are made, the soil should b
ready to put in alfalfa or any othe
crop that will be on the land TO
years with no fear of drowning on
the lower levels. Great advantage Il
operation results from the use of wei
built boxes and gates for the TURF
outs and other control of water.
subsequent bulletin will treat G
these more fully.
Raise More Market Poultry.