The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1914-02-19
Pointers on Better Irrigation
State Society of rrgators Presents Many Good Ideas
How to Get Results On Farms---Partal Report
From Rchfeld Delegate to Boise.

The Recorder is able to presen
few extlTacbs from the report
Of G. S. Hopes, president Of The
Farmers Society of Equl.y, who
was sent as a delegate 10 the.
Conference of irrigators and r.
wee kago. MIR. Hopes will make
complete report at the next
meeting of the socie y.
In all my experience and | thil
| have enjoyed more than the
a meeting large or small, where
subject followed one after the
O her in quick succession, and
while large portion of them
technical, intended for the en-
gineer. there was not one of thel
but what could have been under
stood bya pratical progressive II.
rigation farmer, or in other
words he farmer Of tomorrow,
and we find farmer and engineer
mingling freely in the discus
sion of the different subjects. |
was very much impressed with
the to- al absence of that lack of
harmony, which is usually so
prominent in meetings which cor
tain any noticeable number 10
farmers.
"The knowledge agined by
mvself in attending hits meeting,
| hope | may be able 40 pass 1t
on. value considerable above
the time and money spent in ac-
quireing it, and | don't believe
| am exaggerating when | say,
that in one short hour | learned
more of he fundamental prlnclp
ais of irriagtian, than | haev
been able % dig out personally III.
the last two years, principles
which are vital to 'he success
of irrigation farming and | want
to S ay to you all, while it IS
fresh on my mind, If you have
twenty five dollars left from the
comm segasons business, winch
you want to invest in a now
borough understanding of your
business | don't know where you
can gel more for your money
than by attending the next con-
ference of Irriga ion Engineers
Operation men and Representa-
i've farmers. which will be held
in Boise about this time in the
Discussing the economical us
Of water Us apipled to small
grams. four years Of careful in
YES igalinn goes to prove, tha
the yeald in proportion to the
amnunt Of wa or used, increases
ualiI the apl i',allor of water q
mounts to from 1.5 10 30 acre
feel anl then d crcases until
lie application reaoEes 80 acre
feet, when the y'cid is actually
lower !I;aE when lln water was
used at all, he distribution of
this water Is required about as
follows: May 10 per cnet, June B;
per cent, July 80 per CEN, Aug
ust 16per cent, of course this
must be varied to meet weather
conditions in the different sea-
sons, but 64 per cent OF the
water is required during ,he
months of June and July.
The amount Of water used
dirlng Tic season influenced by
the fir lily If The soil, in many
Instances more grain has been
produced on the older tracts, wit
one acre foot Of water, where IN
grain was planted on old alfalfa
or Glover sod. than was produced
with over twice that amount on
he raw soil in the same locality
Another point warth your at
.ention, thatt the light summer
rains have but very little influ-
ence onthe dmy Of the water,
heavy rain fall 0.5 of on inch
ormore seems to have some little
effect, but the Idaho atmosphere
during the summer is so dry,
and he soil is so warm, that
lighter rains than this seem to
do more harm than good for
they not only evaporate, before
they have time to penetrate to
lively destroy any soil mulch that
may have been formed by cul-
tivation.
This duty practically applies to
potatoes as we'll as small grain,
and bear in mind this point, don't
attempt to irrigate your crop up
if there isn't sufficient amount
Of moisture in the soil to start
the growth, you will beamply re-
paid for your troubles, if you ir-
rigate the field before planting
then hold I with dust mulch. |