Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1913-06-02
Freeman Plan" Claimed to
Conserve Water, Cut Labor
Bills in Two and Eliminate
Waste Of Land.

W6aht Va ANAANe
Carlsbad. y. NJ. June Am exper.
iment of tremendous value 10 owners
of irrigated lands n being brought To
successful conclusion under the
Carlsbad project The Freeman" plan
cOnservea water. reduces labor bills
one half, does not relard or Interrupt
growth. eliminates waste 81 land. will
NOT leach ont fertile soil and viii In.
rigase four acres 81 land with half the
labor ana in the same time that Il
now takes to water one.
The Old was.
Lee r. FREEMAN seven years ago
came from central Texas to the Pscos
valley IN search Of health for his
children. Freeman first took up land
under the Barstow project south OF
Carlsbad. For two years Freeman
followed traditional methods Of irri.
gallon. Ilis bitches we're small. and
hiss checks" ar portions Of land 20
boz irrigated from the bitches were the
usual tiny plots, running about four
90 the acre.
They were thirty feet wide. and ii0
wards long. and water was turned in
ditch bank. Water was turned out
nv filling up the same hole. n there
happened to be big head. the break
In the ditch hank was rapidly cut
away. aud Freeman frequently all hut
exhausted hs strength Nv filling up
the cut This Is the system that has
always heen used but too much water
Oh land W sometimes as great curse
as none al All. and FReemam often
flooded his lands.
The New Way.
After two years Freeman set his
wits az work ana has now evolved a
system of irrigation that will undouht-
rdly be- IN general use on every pro
iect In the west witkin rive years
The first work was 10 Install gates
az the head ~ his checks. The idea
of gates IN the ditch bank was not
particularly new. for they had been
loo use IN alfalfa folds Tor some time.
hot Freeman didn't stop with them.
lie could now handle his water with
out wearing hip boots. or working
himself To exhaustion under a blazing
sun hni he found that h- was using
twice as much water as he needed
the lower end 81 the check. the upper
end. nearest To the ditch was almost
begged. The distribution 90 tho mois'
ture was uneven and wastefui.
Freeman studied tie found that
by turning larger head than usua
on his checks the wafer would rush
over the ground In a wave until tbs
lower end Of the check was reached
when the gate on the upper end OF
the check would be closed The high
~ part Of the check would not b'
water logged In the short time thai
the water was crowding over u an'
tho lower cad whpid receive it's needed
moisture IN BRIEF time.
Larger bitches.
Freeman had 90 change the size nj
hts bitches, In order TO conduct thu
greater head 81 water to his land. bu
the idea was right Then he saw tina
his checks were too small. that Ia
could handle more water on more lan'
VA shorter time than before and h'
increased the size Of his checks. until
nn his farm three miles south o
town he has made them an acre II
extent. four times larger than tn
usual checks on "a farm under tn
Carlsbad project.
Comparative Cost.
There can he no question Of the as
founding success Of this system. an
Freeman gives figures In support o
his method. lie recently purchased
40 acre tract known as the "Bruc
Jones" land. u used 90 take 81
dpys and nights To irrigate II, Mex
can irrigators employed being pal
about SEQ for the work. A wee
ngo. with u new set Of bitches. thi