The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1911-07-25
FIT FOR IRRIGATION
Many Crop Failures Attributable
to Faulty Leve!ing.
Machinery Necessary for Proper
Preparation Of Land 10 Simple and
lnexpensive-Should Always
Be in Order.


Be in Order.
By J. H. sQUIRES. New Mexico Agrt-
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 irrt-
gate. both with regard to the amount
Of water and the amount OF labor re-
CURED; and in addition. the plants in
the different parts OF the field are go
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 plow, 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. II
Is not necessary that an entire field
within a 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 II the field Is at all
sloping; and it Is not best to make
> them more than 100 feet apart. ever
when the land Is level
Locate each border definitely, and
mark 1t by throwing up a couple o.
burrows, or in any other way that II
!, convenient Then beginning the higl
. end OF the field. work out the frs
, border, taking all excess dirt from
the high places and spreading l
: where needed in the low places Il
:. sandy soils the borders should not b
more than 200 or 900 feet in length
but on clay soils no limit need b
set for the length. For the locatio
q Of the borders, especially II they ar
long, it is almost necessary that
level be used These may be pul
chased for about SIS to $40. Perm'
q nent borders should be built at III
d time of leveling. These should {
Just high enough to control II
movement of water. and should
wide enough to prevent any DANCE
OF their being dragged down by m
1t chinery or washed down by the ru
ming water. convenient and vel
ct satisfactory way to build such DO
ders is to drag up the dirt with
scraper and deposit it along the lint
of the border: where it should
:" smoothed into the desired shape.
10 If the borders are built with
broad base and slowly sloping side
= crops can be grown along the sid
and top without any difficulty. tt
base of such borders should not
less than eight to ten feet wide Aft
all borders and the checks or Gro
borders are complete, IT is best
go over each section of the field a.
true up all slight inequalities tn
may have been missed In the fiji
leyeling. Here again the level Is
great value, as 1t points out these
rors much more closely than the bs
trained eye. If there is free
\ abundant supply of water. and
~ field will not need 1t for some time,
is we'll to give it a trial irrigato
- making a note of all the points II
are either low or high. and CORE
ing these as soon as the soil Is
>, One thing that must be borne
Va. mind is that where any large amo'
ala of earth is hauled into low pla
ur the level of the land VIII be destroy
ad nv this soil settling after the first I
TN irrigations. unless allowance Is me-
81 for this and a slight excess OF SOIL
moved in. This is hard to es1ma
nv and for this reason 1t is we'll that
ing field be not seeded to q perman
ms crop. like alfalfa, the first year al
m any decided leveling. The small gra
OF are perhaps the best crops to try
- newly leveled fields. They do not
~. cupy the soil for a great length
me time. and can stand an excess
l." water in any place that happens
: be low. perhaps. better than
MS yority Of the crops grown In this
OTIS gion. Then. too. the surface Is
% In an excellent condition for corr
i leu Ing slight inequalities In level
r.. may yet remain. When these
he. rections are made. the soil should
ldi- ready to put in alfalfa or any OF
IA crop that Will be on the land
years with no fear Of drowning
ms the lower levels. Great advantage
the operation results from the use OF
anu built boxes and gates for the u
;ai outs and other control OF water.
red subsequent bulletin will treat
uld these more fully.
ito Raise More Market Poultry.
1t. II has been asked will the ia
ox-artuallv he driven to the wall