Prev | Current Page 312 | Next

Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952

"Dry-Farming : a System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall"

This means that the cost of raising enough water to
cover one acre to a depth of one foot through a distance of forty
feet would average $4.36. This includes not only the cost of the
fuel and supervision of the pump but the actual deterioration of the
plant. Smith investigated the same problem under Arizona conditions
and found that it cost approximately seventeen cents to raise one
acre foot of water to a height of one foot. A very elaborate
investigation of this nature was conducted in California by Le Conte
and Tait. They studied a large number of pumping plants in actual
operation under California conditions, and determined that the total
cost of raising one acre foot of water one foot was, for gasoline
power, four cents and upward; for electric power, seven to sixteen
cents, and for steam, four cents and upward. Mead has reported
observations on seventy-two windmills near Garden City, Kansas,
which irrigated from one fourth to seven acres each at a cost of
seventy-five cents to $6 per acre. All in all, these results justify
the belief that water may be raised profitably by pumping for the
purpose of irrigating crops.


Pages:
300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324