Jerome County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1919-1920, 1919-04-03
WHY NOT ROTATE?

Under the continuous flow of wat
er delivery the steady care Of water
becomes very burdensome to the
farmers on the smaller farm units
They need time for other work, but
with small head must give pIac-
tically constant attention to irrigat-
ing a forty acre farm may receive
20 inches. or half second foot OF
water 4 considerable portion OF
this supply is often lost in convey
ing it from the headgate to the farm
and there is further loss in the
field ditches sot hat the stream may
not set up more than twenty or
twenty-five cOrrugations under the
most careful handling Assuming
the corrugations to be spaced "A in
ches apart and the runs 400 feet
long. about half an acre could be
set up at once There will be some
pickup from the ends of the fur
rows. however. which can be set up
again, and perhaps three-fourths of
an acre will be receiving the water
simultaneously BY changing the
water twice in tWenty-four hours. an
acre adm a half can be irrigated At
that rate it Will take almost month
10 get over the forty and IL is theH
time to start over again. This con
staut attention and anXieXy to keep
up with the crop requirements is "a
severe strain and is not conducive 90
best results i'm farm management
1t is the farmers working under
such conditions that rotation helps
the most suppose that John Smith.
Henry Jones. William Brown and
all are served by the same lateral
Jointly they receive water delivery
of two second feet John Smith
takes the two second feet first and
after deductting loss of say ten per
cent in getting the water to his fields
can set mp $50 to l75 corrugations
With the same assumptions as to
spacing and length of run. say a third
of the water running through TO he
set up again. and changing the wat
er night and morning. he can irri-
gate around eight acres = day. and
be through in five days Henry Jones
then takes the water and does the
same thing. then William Brown
and Richard Roe take their turns. in
succession. and at the end of twenty
days all the farms have had 2 good
irrigation and each man has had to
devote only five days to the work.
giving each an opportunity TO get
caught up with cultivation. weed
eradication. fencing. harvesting and
the countless other jobs that need
attention around a farm. besides get
ting the water back to the crops soon
er than would be possible under con
tinuous flow.
For the rotation plan to work out
successfully. however. il is impera
tive that a definite and fixed schedule
be worked out in advance and that
the schedule be rigidly adhered 10
Farm bitches must he made of suth-
cient capacity. and the field system
so arranged that the larger head
IAN be handled without danger OF
washouts or breaks, and provision
made against excessive loss of water
from run-off into the waste bitches
With "A well arranged schedule.
each man knows AT the beginning
of the season just when to expect
the water and just what days he will
have to devote to irrigating II is
an immense advantage and convent
ence to be able to make his plans
Here is where the com
pany's engineering department may
be able to render assistance. and a
free service is offered to interested
water users along the line of plan
ming rotation schedules.
Il. b. DARLINGTON
Chief Engineer