El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-10
FARMING
DEEP BURROWS BEST
IN SUBIRRIGATION
Cheaper Than Filing and
More Effective in Row
Crops and Orchards.

State College, n NJ, April 1O.-Sub-
irrigation may be accomplished in two
ways. says a State college bulletin,
Just issued. Either by the use of deep
burrows or by the use Of tile made OF
cement OF Of burned clay. The cement
tile should be quite porous and the clay
tile should be unglaZed- These thing
should be placed from 10 to is inches
deep in the ground and from u TO IS
feet apart The sizes OF tile vary from
three TO six inches, the smaller being
the more common One can see at
once that the expense Of putting In
such system VIII be large and in Or
der to make IL paying investment
the crops grown must be those which
will yield returns large enough to war
rant the expenditure.
In using deep burrows, the spacing
IS from four TO six feet and the fur
rows are from eight to ten inches deep
The water is allowed to flow slowly
through these burrows allowing IT to
percOlate from the bottom OF the fur
row A stream Of 200 gallons per min
ute viii supply from 20 to so burrows
with sufficient water and the burrows
may be 800 feet long This method
Of irrigating is best adapted to grow
crops and TO orchard irrigation. It is
the most economical method Of apply
ing water. although the cost Of prep
aration may exceed that required for
flooding methods Those who are
pumping water. however, must take
into consideration those methods OF
applying water. which make for econ
n T.
10 the soil below the surface, thus re
dGcing the losses by evaporation It {
does not affect the mulch prepared 4
previous to irrigation There IS much 1
less chance Of WaterloggiBE the soil I
and hence the benefits accruing 10 the ]
crop are much increased
Look Into Soil Conditions.
Before investing any money in plac- !
ing thing for sUbirrigatiOn purposes :
one should first investigate the char
acter of the soil and subsoH in order
q d.
for subirrigation conditions The con-
ditiOnS which are favorable and neces-
Sary for successful SuDlrr1gaIlOn by
means of tile are A soil from two TO
five feet deep underlaid with an i'm
perviOus substrata OF clay or hardpan- I
The soil should be of a rather porous
nature, yet of sufficient density TO
hold the water. The purpose OF the
imperViOuS substrata is to reservoir I
the water which is applied through the Z
tile system and prevent 1t from per
cOlating below the root feeding area I
OF the crop il IS intended TO irrigate.
IT viii require more water the first
few irrigauiOns than for subsequent
ones in order TO iii the soil just above
the imperviOus strata Even though
the soil be light the water viii sink
at once TO the substrata Of impeTviOGs
material and then viii spread laterally.
Il there IS no SuDStrata water applied
by the tile methods is lost to the
greater part of the soil It sinks
downward in the loose soils and wastes
into the SLASLLt1-fs dA-DL l-LlS the crop
little good
There are several factors which are
ant to cause failure First-NO system
has been designed which is known to
be adapted to deep rooted crops. Root
lets will enter almost any opening
that water can pass through and as
il is necessary TO place subirrigaUon
tile from IS TO is inches below the sur
face. there are very few crops but
what viii reach the tile. stop up the
openings. and even break the tile. =
Second-In porous soils with good IN
derdralnage the water will most GER
tainly waste downward under the tile
lines and not spread laterally. Third
in heavy compact soils the water
VIII not spread lateraliy or downward
more than three or four feet before
yTaterlOgging the ground directly over
the tile FOurth-If close spacing Of
thing IS resOrted to the cost Of the
system soon becomes prOhibitive.
BY means Of a soil auger one can 1
readily determine the character of the
substrata or the same thing can be ac-
1Omplished by digging a pit The I
with which soils take water I
IAN also be determined by placing the :
-lle as indicated in the foregoing part
lf this article Then after the water
has been run through the tile for a