Alamogordo news-advertiser. (Alamogordo, Otero County, N.M.) 1912-1914, 1913-05-30
Experiments Of Tremendous
Value to Owners,of Irrigated
Lands Being Successfully
Worked Out Near Carlsbad
WATER Is CONSERVED:
LABOR BILLS REDUCED
New System Enables One Man
to Water a FortyAcre Tract
In One Day Without the Aid
Of Hip Boots and Big Hoe

An experiment of tremendous val
ue to owners of irrigated lands is
being brought to successful con-
clusion under the Carlsbad project.
Ii is the work of comparative
stranger to irrigation. of man who
seven years ago had never seen an
irrigated farm. and who, disregard
ing age-old traditions regarding the
use of water, struck boldly out and
evolved method of irrigation near
iy perfect in its results. The
Freeman" plan Conserves water.
reduces labor bills one half. does
not retard or interrupt growth,
eliminates waste of land. will not
leach out fertile soil. and will irri-
gate four acres OF land with half
the labor and in the same time that
ii now takes to water one.
The use" of water today is prac-
tically the same as that employed
by the lordy caballero on his wide
spreading ranch hundred years
ago. Sporadic attempts have been
made to irrigate by piping. or by
underground tiling, but the great
first cost of such systems and their
doubtful utility has prevented theiI
general use. Labor was cheap and
land plentiful, when irrigation was
first practiced In the arid southwest.
If water was wasted, there would al
ways be enough of frijoles and RED
pepper grown to last until the next
season. 1t mattered little if lands
were water logged, or that it took
three men half day, wading In
water to their knees, to- irrigate an
acre OF land. Such lavish waste Oi
time and water would spell ruin u
the small irrigation farmer of to-
day. They did indeed nearly spell
ruin to Lee +. Freeman, who sew
en- years ago came west to the Peco
Valley In search of health for his
children. Freeman came from the
rain belt of central Texas. and first
took up land under the Barstow pro
jeet. south OF Carlsbad.
For two years Freeman followed
traditional methods OF irrigation
His bitches were small, and his
checks" or portions of land to bt
irrigated from the bitches were tn,
usual tiny plots. running about fou
To the acre. They were thirty feei
wide. and one hundred and ten yard
long. and water was turned int
them by making break In the dltc
bank. Water was turned out b!
filling up the same hole. II there
happened to be big head. the brea
III the ditch bank was rdpidIy ou
away, and Freeman frequently al
but exhausted his strength In fill
ing up the cut. Sometimes the pres
sure OF water was so great that tw'
or three times as much water as III
needed would rush on The liant
through the break before the cu
could be colsed. This IL the sys
lem that has always been used, bu
100 much water on land Is sometime
AS great curse as none at all.
After two years Of Just sue
grueling labor on his farm. Freema
had enough. He told his wife tina
IL that sort OF work was necessary
on an irrigated farm. he was throug
with irrigation. But he knew tha
IL wasn't necessary, and he went I
work 10 change the system. Free
man didn't pull out and go bac
home, but set his wits at work. an
has now evolved a system OF irr
cation that will undoubtedly be
general use on every project Ia th
west within five years.
The first work was TO install gat'
nj the head of his checks. The
were primitive affairs. made out {
four sticks OF wood. and althoug
they sometimes washed out an
vent floating gally down the fiel'
he gradually evolved a type OF gai
that would stay. The idea OF gate
In the ditch bank was not partieI
larry new, for they had been In us
In alfalfa fields for some time. b,
Freeman didn't stop with them. u
could nov handle his water witho'
wearing his hip boots, or workin
himself to exhaustion under a bla
ing sun, but the size OF hls cheeks
began to bother and he found thi
he was using twice as much wat'
as he needed. BY the time the wa
er had spread to the tower end
the check. the upper land neare
to the ditch was almost logged. III
distribution of the moisture was al
even and wasteful.
Freeman studied on the probe
and the answer came. BY turning
larger head than usual on h
checks the water would rush oy,
the ground In = wave until the lo'