The Daily Missoulian., 1913-08-13
NOT ONLY IN WEST
IS IRRIGATION
UTILIZED
PROFESSOR FoRTiER VISITS IN
BOHEMIAN AND DESCRIBES
HIS FIELD OF WORK.

Bozeman. Aug. 12.-(Special) 1.-THE
west no longer has monopoly of ir-
rigation," said Professor Samuel For
tier, chief of irrigation Investigations
for the federal government, who ar
rived in Bozeman last night with Mrs
Fortier, and is spending today in
Bozeman on government business He
was giving some account of the prog
ress Of the government work in irri-
cation experiments, and describing the
rapid extension of practical irrigation
all over the country.
Professor Fortier was for several
years director of the Montana expert
ment station here and professor Of
civil engineering in the state college
and knows all about irrigation i'm the
west, for before coming to Montana
he spent several years in Utah as irri- |
gationist for the Utah experiment sta
ton and went from Montana to CAL
ifornia, from which state he was
called to Washington to take charge of
the work in irrigation for the depart
ment Of agriculture.
When ] went to Washington" said
Mr.. Fortier. Il supposed that irriga-
ton was a useful system for the arid
west only. I did not dream of the
rapid and remarkable textens;on of
usefulness which the last decade has
witnessed Now irrigation is employed
in the tobacco districts of the Con-
necticut valley, in the fruit and truck
farms of New Jersey, in the citrus
nf IN aa fha rio finlA AS
Of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi ana
Arkansas as well as in the great
plains and valleys of the mountain
states and on the Pacific coast.
The work of our department is to-
adapt the irrigation method to the
particular locality where it is ana tne
methods differ widely between the
east and the west In the east we
show the farmers how to insure their
crops against drouth, by an expendi-
ture which, though Is seems high, is Of
ten saved by the gain in the first years
crop. In the west we are trying to
help the farmer on new land in those
trying years between the first break
ing and the improved and productive
farm.
LAS an instance of the revolution
wrought by the introduction of irrlga-
ton, the rice industry may be in
stanced Only few years ago the
raising of rice was confined to the
Carolinas, where it was raised in nat
ural marshes. Now 80 per cent of all
the rice raised in the United States is
raised in the states of Texas, Louis
lana, Mississippi and Arkansas, on lr-
rigated land; and rice can now pe
raised at a much higher elevation than
was previously supposed. There are
now 100000 acres of irrigated rice
fields.
I'VE have been doing great deal
Of work in testing out and expert
menting to find the most efficient
methods of pumping water on large
scale for irrigation purposes. New
Mexico is our headquarters for this
work, though we are also doing
good deal in Arizona and southern
California. In this region water is
used for flooding the fields. very much
in the same way as is done here IN
Montana.
THE flooding method is used also IN
Florida Florida is hardly an arid
country; it has an average of %
inches of rainfall each season. But
there is a time in the fall when the
orange groves in Florida need water
as much as they do in California, ana
irrigation systems are now being gen
orally installed in the citrus groves
of that tropical state.
Eastern farmers will not stand for
open bitches, and in the irrigation
work along the north Atlantic sea
board the water is carried in pipes un-
der the surface. One reason is that
the water is not needed every year;
II is ordinarily needed only for few
days at most: and the open bitches
would be very much in the way most
of the time So the water is piped to
the high points and is kept in stand :
pipes there ready for use when needed.
In New Jersey the yield of alfalfa has
been doubled by using irrigation for
the second and third cutting. In truck
farming. which is carried on very eX-
tensiyely in that state, and in which
the product of a single acre under or
tainary circumstances may reach a
valne of from $50 to $500, the farmer
may be quite willing to spend IRON
800 to $50 to install an rflsatlor
system Tor an acre oT lWo, eAs Siof
Insurance.; and may easily save th'
value of his irrigation system the firs
year.
Overhead sprinkling represents tn
most costly and the most perfect sNs
tenn yet devised. 1t costs from Sl25 z
$3.50 per acre to install, but can b
used with very little labor, and give
perfect results in such crops as celery
lettuce, strawberries and asparagus
Pipes from two to one inch In diane
ter are supported in lengths up TO 6o
feet on supports which hold ther
seven feet from the ground, so that
horse may be driven under them !
cultivating the crop. These pipes ar
furnished with nozzles of very sma
diameter. screwed into the pipes pei
pendicularly from above, at interva
of from 12 to Is feet. Water
pumped to a pressure of from 80
40 pounds to the inch, and is then at
mitted to the horizontal pipes Fro
one end these long pipes are turned b