“The irrigated meadows round Milan are another well known example.  Nearly 22,000 acres are irrigated there with water derived from the sewers of the city, and they yield crops of from eight to ten tons of hay as a rule; occasionally some separate meadows will yield the fabulous amount—­fabulous to-day but no longer fabulous to-morrow—­of eighteen tons of hay per acre; that is, the food of nearly four cows to the acre, and nine times the yield of good meadows in this country.” ("Fields, Factories, and Workshops,” pages 116-117.)

" If irrigation pays “—­and no one now questions that—­“the whole Western country of rich soil, which asks but a drink now and then, will be turned into a Garden of Eden.” (Maxwell’s Talisman.)

Agriculture may be revolutionized with the advent of irrigation.

A new method of disposing of sewage and at the same time irrigating the soil, has come into use recently, and will be found valuable to those who are situated so that they can make use of it.

The sewage from buildings is drained into a large tank where the heavier matter can settle to the bottom.  When the water rises nearly to the top of the tank it is siphoned into another tank, and from there it is piped about the field.

The piping is very simple—­ordinary drain tile conveys the water.  Beginning at the highest point of the field to be irrigated, a six-inch (or larger) line of tile should be laid along the highest ground with a fall of not over one inch to each ten feet.  From this main trunk should be branch lines of “laterals,” laid from eight to twelve feet apart, as they would be laid for draining a field.  These branch lines may be laid at an angle to the main trunk as may be most convenient; all the joints must be covered so as to keep out the flirt.  The whole system should be laid deep enough in the ground to be secure from frost; but to be most effective it should not be over fourteen to sixteen inches below the surface, hence sub-irrigation cannot be used very successfully in the Northern states.  In a sandy loam soil with a clay subsoil it works best at sixteen to twenty-four inches.

This is substantially Colonel Waring’s method of sewage disposal.  To get the best use of it for plants, the water should be assembled and kept in the sun for ten to twelve days, then turned into the pipes until the ground is well soaked, and then shut off and not allowed in the pipes again for ten to fifteen days, according to the weather and condition of moisture in the soil.  The crop should be cultivated between each watering.

However, as Bailey says, “Evidently in all regions in which crops will yield abundantly without irrigation, as in the East, the main reliance is to be placed on good tillage.”

“Most vegetable gardeners in the East do not find it profitable to irrigate.  Now and then a man who has push and the ability to handle a fine crop to advantage, finds it a very profitable undertaking.”  ("Principles of Vegetable Gardening,” page 174.) Bailey, however, was not thinking of “overhead irrigation.”