Cost of The first cost of water and the annual cost of maintenance form a very considerable item in the budget of the irrigator. As an equivalent for this expenditure he must expect to receive a return per acre for his crops greater than that obtained by the so-called dry farmer. As a matter of fact, he can raise few, if any, crops without irrigation, but with it he should he able to obtain a yield far in excess of the ordinary production because of his ability to control the water supply and to use it on a land upon which the sunshine is not cut off by frequent rain clouds. The cost of water is usually considered under two heads, first, that of the original investment in obtaining water by reservoirs, canals and distributing works, and second, the annual cost. The first cost ranges from $10 to $15 per acre, in case of the older and more easily built ditches, tip to $50 or $75 per acre or even more where it has been nec essary to provide expensive storage reservoirs or to overcome natural obstacles by building tunnels or masonry and concrete conduits. The average first cost of water in the United States is not far from $50 per acre. The com mercial enterprises which have undertaken to build irrigation works have usually attempted to control the land reclaimed and to sell land and water together at a price of $100 per acre or more including some improvements in the nature of removing the native vegetation, level ing the soil and planting alfalfa. Without such control of the land, investments of this kind have rarely been profitable. In case of works built by the government the right to the use of water is sold at from $25 to ;,-50 per acre or more according to local conditions, payable in 20 annual installments without interest. In a relatively few cases the land owners do not own a perpetual right, but rent water annually, but this condition, unfavorable for permanent devel opment, is being done away with All irrigation works must be operated and maintained at an annual expenditure, this being a notable item especially where it is necessary to clean the canals and banks of large quanu ties of accumulated mud, weeds and so-called moss, and to make repairs of more or less tem porary structures or to meet extraordinary conditions such as damages from floods or cloud-bursts. On the simpler individual or community systems, the cost may be 50 cents per acre per annum especially where the owners of the canals do the work them selves and are willing to submit to many inconveniences and occasional crop losses. On the larger, better managed systems where the works are kept in good condition, opera tion and maintenance may be from $1 per acre up to $1.50 or $2 per acre each year. In apportioning this charge it should be placed as nearly as possible on a metered basis, the payment for operation and maintenance being in proportion to the amount of water used in order to insure economy. As a rule too much water is put on the ground and it has been found that the least amount of water applied, consistent with fair plant growth, the larger and better the crop yields and less injury by seepage to the lands in the vicinity.
Crops.— In considering the character and value of the crops produced on irrigated land in the arid States and Territories, hay and for age form the most important item, being over one-third of the whole. Cereals—principally wheat, oats, rye and barley — come far below the forage crops; and next to these in order are vegetables, orchard fruits and small fruit In California the orchard fruits surpass the forage crops in value. The large production of hay and forage under irrigation illustrates the fact that in these States irrigation is, to a large extent, an adjunct of stock-raising. The pro duction of cereals under irrigation is relatively small. The total value of all the cereals pro
duced under irrigation in the United States is less than that of those produced in almost any one of the humid States of the East; In New York, for example, though it is not con sidered a farming State, the value of the cereals raised is more than double that of the entire amount produced under irrigation in the whole country. In many localities the irri gation of cereals and staple crops has been brought about by local conditions, such as dif ficulty of transportation and consequent heavy cost of importation. The irrigated cereals in such localities are raised almost wholly for local consumption, and do not enter the markets of the world.
Users' The first settlers frequently laid claim to the whole flow of the swam.
Soon after the first irrigation ditch was built others were constructed a few miles above or below. As long as the stream is of sufficient volume to fill each of the ditches, no difficul ties from this arise; but sooner or later the increasing size and number of ditches and canals result in diminishing the flow in the river to such an extent that it becomes almost dry and water does not reach the ditches farth est downstream.
The result has been that in many parts of the arid region owing to scarcity of water, lawlessness has prevailed, and every man has endeavored to obtain for his own crops as much as possible of the scanty supply. Usually the irrigators elected a watermaster to appor tion to each claimant a certain amount of water, or assign certain days or hours upon which water can be used. Often the quantity of the water has been settled only after vexa tious lawsuits or neighborhood quarrels. In most parts of the arid region, the States have undertaken the regulation of disputes, and have created special boards or tribunals to consider the matter and to apportion the water. See WATER LAWS.
Economic Consideration.— Throughout the arid regions of the world irrigation is essential to agriculture and developments may be ex pected to proceed to the limits of the available water supply. In the more humid regions where occasional droughts reduce the crop value, it is being practised as an insurance. The developments have been slow, however, because of the fact that during wet years the tendency is to neglect the maintenance of the works and when drought conditions develop, the time has passed when water can be applied to the best advantage. The extent to which irrigation may be developed in the United States is being investigated by tLe United States Geological Survey through its systematic measurements of streams and studies of under ground water. Not all of these sources can be utilized because of the great expense involved in building reservoirs, canals and other works, but with the settlement of the country and with greater skill and experience acquired in raising and marketing the crops there is a correspond ing advance in land values and in the ability to pay for expensive undertakings. All of the easy or cheap schemes have been entered upon beginning with those which have cost only a few dollars per acre for the water and later increasing to expenditures of upwards of $50 or more per acre. These more expensive undertakings have not proved financially profit able to the investors because of the fact that the values created by the investment in canals and reservoirs have been widely diffused and have not been recoverable by the men who furnished the money. Because of this fact future development in irrigation must rest largely upon obtaining public funds or upon utilizing the credit of the communities which are benefited by the works — the direct losses of interest or profit on the investment being more than balanced by the indirect gains.