Kind of Crops to Irrigate.—Wheat, oats, barley, etc., may be helped with one irrigation from imminent failure to a wealth of production. But these rainfall grain crops do not come under the general classification that interests the regular irrigation farmer beyond his diversity plans for producing considerable variety. Fruits, roots, clover, alfalfa, vegetables and Indian corn are money crops under irrigation. Certain seed crops yield splendidly when watered. An apple orchard properly cared for and irrigated just at the right time will pay from five hundred to a thousand dollars per acre. Small fruits are just as valuable. These successes account for the high prices of irrigated land. In the East and in the great Middle West, valuable crops are cut short or ruined by drouth when the fruit or corn is forming. It makes no difference how much rain comes along at other times in the year, if the roots cannot find moisture at the critical time, the yield is reduced often below the profit of raising and harvesting the crop. Strawberry blossoms shrivel and die in the blooming when rain fails. Irrigation is better than rain for strawberries. Strawberries under irrigation may be made to yield more bushels than potatoes under humid conditions. One hundred bushels of strawberries per acre sounds like a fairy tale, but it is possible on rich land under irrigation.
The cost of pumping for irrigation, where the well and machinery is used for no other purpose, must be charged up to the crop. The items of expense are interest on the first cost of the pumping machinery, depreciation, upkeep and running expenses. On Eastern farms, however, where diversified farming is the business, this expense may be divided among the different lines of work. Where live-stock is kept, it is necessary to have a good, reliable water supply for the animals. A reservoir on high ground so water may be piped to the watering troughs and to the house is a great convenience. Also the same engine that does the pumping may be used for other work in connection with the farm, so that the irrigation pump engine, instead of lying idle ten or eleven months in the year, may be utilized to advantage and made to earn its keep. Well-water contains many impurities. For this reason, it is likely to be valuable for crop growing purposes in a wider sense than merely to supply moisture. Well-water contains lime, and lime is beneficial to most soils. It has been noticed that crops grow especially well when irrigated from wells.
Figure 128.—Power Transmission. Circular motion is converted into reciprocating motion by the different lengths of the two pitman cranks which cause the upper wheel to oscillate. Power is carried to a distance by wires. To reduce friction the wires are supported by swinging hangers. Sometimes wooden rods are used instead of wires to lessen expansion and contraction.
House and Barns Supplied from a Reservoir.—A farm reservoir may sometimes be built very cheaply by throwing a dam across a narrow hollow between two hills, or ridges. On other farms, it is necessary to scrape out a hole on the highest ground within reach. For easy irrigation a reservoir is necessary, and it is economical because the pump may work overtime and supply enough water so the irrigation may be done quickly and with sufficient water to make it effective. When the cost of the reservoir can be charged up to the different departments of the business, such as irrigation, live-stock and house use, the cost is divided and the profits are multiplied.
Power Conveyor.—Circular motion is converted into reciprocal motion to operate a pump at a distance from the engine. The short jack crank oscillates the driving pulley to move the conveyor wires back and forth. The distance to which power may be carried is limited by the expansion and contraction of the conveying wires. Wooden rods are better under extremes of temperature. Where an engine is used night and morning in the dairy house to run a cream separator, this kind of power transmission may be worked to operate the pump at the house. Light wire hangers will support the line wires or rods. They should be about three feet in length, made fast at top and bottom to prevent wear. The spring of a No. 10 wire three feet long is sufficient to swing the length of a pump stroke and the friction is practically nothing.
ELECTRICITY ON THE FARM
Electric current in some sections may be purchased from electric railways or city lighting plants. But the great majority of farms are beyond the reach of high tension transmission cables. In some places three or four farmers may club together and buy a small lighting plant to supply their own premises with both light and power. Unless an engineer is employed to run it trouble is sure to follow, because one family does all of the work and others share equally in the benefits. The solution is for each farmer to install a small plant of his own. The proposition is not so difficult as it sounds. Two-horsepower plants are manufactured for this very purpose. But there is more to it than buying a dynamo and a few lamp bulbs. A farm electric system should supply power to run all of the light stationary machinery about the farm, and that means storage batteries, and the use of one or more small electric motors. There are several ways to arrange the plant, but to save confusion it is better to study first the storage battery plan and to start with an engine large enough to pump water and run the dynamo at the same time. It is a good way to do two jobs at once—you store water enough in the supply tank to last twenty-four or forty-eight hours, and at the same time you store up sufficient electricity to run the cream-separator for a week. Electric power is the only power that is steady enough to get all of the cream.