Practical Irrigation: Its Value and Cost; With Tables of Comparative Cost, Relative Soil Production, Reservoir Dimensions and Capacities, and Other Data of Value to the P

Excerpt from Practical Irrigation: Its Value and Cost; With Tables of Comparative Cost, Relative Soil Production, Reservoir Dimensions and Capacities, and Other Data of Value to the Practical Farmer Present development is governed by the present cost; but future development will be governed by the value of the water in increased production, rather than by the present cost of obtaining it. The problem of the economic use of water is becoming of con stantly increasing importance. In many places the entire supply available is consumed by present methods of irrigation. Although apparently the irrigation limit has been reached, the storage of water, the prevention Of seepage losses, and the use of proper scientific methods of applying the water so as to prevent to a large extent losses by evaporation will usually increase greatly the area which may be irrigated. For instance, the losses of water by evap oration from the soil which may be avoided by proper irrigation are. Often astonishingly great. This is well brought out by the important investigations conducted by Professor Fortier, Chief of Irrigation Investigations of the United States Department of Agriculture. The subject of earth reservoirs has been treated at some length as it is felt that they have a large field of usefulness. The figures given for large reservoirs are intended rather to indicate the con siderations which should be used in their design, and also to sug gest their practicability or impracticability, as the case may be, than to be of use in individual cases where the topography of the ground must always be considered. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.