The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1916-01-07
Make Use of'F|ood Water


watch increased hay and pasture
yields 90 swirling down every
creek and coulee in the shape Of
the waste or flood water. Water
in country of limited rain fall is
the most important agricultural
factor, yet thousands of dollars
worth ofiit is allowed to 60 to
waste each season through negli-
gence in conserving it.
This flood water is and can be
used by dry land,farmers in two
ways. The easiest and cheapest,
though not the best, method of
getting dollars out of this waste is
by catching the flood water as it
runs down the coulee and spread
ing it over the hay and pasture
areas by means of a small dam
and bitches. A small earthen
dam should be built in the coulee
at point higher than the highest
spot in the field which is to be
flooded. Not1ess than one inch
of fall for every one hundred feet
of ditch should be allowed.
In determining the site for the
dam, levels should be run from
the highest point in the field to
point high enough up the coulee
or creek so that the ditch connect
ing the two will have sufficient
fall to carry the water. If it is
not practical to put the dam as
high up as this. the best site
should be first determined then
the bitches run out on one or
both sides of the coulee to best
advantage. If a level or transit is
not available a ditchers triangle
or carpenters level and board
can be made on the farm and used
with reasonable accuracy.
In most cases these bitches can
be dug with the pillow and home |
made ditch slips, or by means of |
small road grader to be pulled |
by four or six horses. The ditch |
above the land to be flooded |
should be wide and shallow. the
size depending on its length and
the amount of water to be handled.
Below the ditch, furrors and
smaller lateral bitches following
the contour of the land will be of
great assistance in handling the
flood water. In fields of gentle,
even slope these will not be need
ed, provided the slope is long
enough to handle all the water
without waste.
The best practice is for the
owner to build his main bitches
and then observe carefully the
manner in which the water
spreads over the ground after
it leaves the ditch. He will find
that he can improve the overflow
from the ditch by deepening IT in
places and perhaps by building
check dams in it, if it is not
spreading the water evenly.
Then by watching the water as it
spa DIS across the field, he will
find that few burrows or shall
low bitches will spread it more
evenly and assist in holding it on
the land for a greater period of
time. In some sections under
more favorable conditions a def
mite system similar to terraces
could be worked out to advantage.
Flood water can be used in this
way on hay and pasture fields,
but it is not generally advisable
IN grain and cultivated fields.
The water and silt are hard to
control, are apt to cause lodging
and uneven growth and ripening
There is also danger of washing.
Wien used On the alfalfa and hay
fields care should be taken that
he field is not flooded when the
lay is heavy or after it is cut. At
his time the bitches should be
:iosed and the water directed
lown the coulee.
The experience of a number of
who are using flood water
n this way is that alfalfa fields .