The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1915-08-27
TOO MUCH WATER
IS Being USED
Continued from Page ~

duce the best results from. Look at 1t.
The arid regions are receiving from
$50 to 1890 inches for crop purposes
now. An addition of a little over half
an inch carries us out of the arid
region--into North Dakota. 2.60 in
ches puts us into middle California
with a supply of 1850 inches. Our
best agricultural country receives
from "a to rs inches of water for it's
crops. When you increase to u and
80 inches the crops are not as good.
The editor here interjected the re.
ply to these tables by stating that ir
rigation produces far better crops
than the best agricultural part of the
United States, and was confronted by
the reports from the Agricultural Col
lege of Logan, Utah, showing that ir
rigation did this thing, but that they
produced the best results by appli-
cation of less than "a inches to the
acre, and that this was due to the fact
that man applies for that very reason
and not more; and that actually from
| eleven to eighteen inches applied part
| ly by man and partly being in the
ground at the commencement of the
| irrigation season, produces better re-
suits than 26 inches applied irregu-
larly as nature generally does it. In
fact that the plants have to strike an
average from this irregular supply
made by nature, but man can cut off
the excess. and by making the supply
regular, produce the best results with
a less amount than nature gives.
A second point that Mr. Mcclellan
t~ ~ Ia 1v, <1,{ ne
large areas of agricultural land need
ing small quantity of water to be
applied to create proper crop produc-
ing results and limited water supply
the point we should strive to attain is
not the amount that can be produced
per acrde, regardless of the water
supplied to it, but the amount that
can be produced per acre inch or acre
foot of water. The Agricultural Col
lege at Logan, Utah, has taken 30
inches of water, and applied the full
amount to three, four, five and six
acres-or ten, seven and one-half, six
and five inches per acre-and proved
that while the amount per acre was
less when the water was spread over
more than one acre, the yield per acre
inch was far more for each acre Gull
tivated
For illustration, take the Twin Falls
tract of say 100000 acres Of land and
given three acre feet per acre. The
precipitation of twelve inches, makes
yearly supply of As inches per acre
This is nearly twice what nature gives
for the best part of the United States
and when properly applied by man
the "a inches is more than sufficient
Nine inches is ample with the nine
inches nature supplies, and that
amount can be properly applied witt
not too great an expense for ordinar,
crops There would then be 100000
acres of land that can be irrigated
: with the same amount of water as i:
now guaranteed the Twin Falls set
tiers for their 100000 acres.
Now, Mr. Mcclellan says7fhis is nj
| pipe dream, but he proved it on hi
fathers ranch for eight years; agri
| cultural experiment stations in differ
| ent states of the arid region are prov
ing that it is the limited amount o
| water supplied to the plants tina
produce the best results in food values
in the plant by practical demonstra
ton, and are showing that there is
very small margin of water suppl.
between crop failure and crop sue
cess A study of these two table
: proves the same thing And there i
not one proof that can be brought for
: ward that will show that the waite
supply furnished by nature and adde,
to by man should exceed 26 inches 70
tho hocf rocu1tc whom thara ic al