How did the old-timers water their crops?

[maddy]

As I dragged hoses around the property this morning, this question occurred to me. The more I thought about it, the more curious I became about how a generation of pioneers managed to grow anything. Ideas?

[rambler]

They settled in areas with enough water.

Where I live we need to tile and drain the ground to grow a good crop, too much water. When I have to go play in the mud, I gently curse my ancestors for choosing this waterlogged area to settle in.

Back in the day about 50% of my farm was hay meadow, too wet to grow a real crop, made pasture and horse feed, but generally too wet.

You must be in an arid region, little too dry?

In such areas they grew wheat or milo or other low water crops, if was too arid for that they ran a few cattle to scrounge some feed off the sand.

Today we adapt our environment to fit us, back then they adapted what they did to the conditions they were in.

Paul

[Seth]

Rain helped a lot. Seth

[FarmboyBill]

On my GGrandads place there was such a spring. They stuck a pipe in it for ease of filling barrels in wagons. Yes, there too, in NE Kans people came there to fill there barrels of water.
On Grandads farm they had a hand dug well. But because of erosion of the soil beside it, I think that that had something to do with lowering the water table in it. It started going dry when I was in high school. We NEVER watered the garden, tho I remember taking out water in 2 cream cans in our little red wagons when transplanting strawberries.

[kycountry]

Multiposted

[kycountry]

Again lol

[Yvonne's hubby]

My grandfather took a farm out of sagebrush in the "semi arid" lands of eastern oregon. (six or seven inches annual precipitation) He then proceeded to move the dirt from the high spots into the low spots with teams of horse harnessed and hooked up to old timey earth moving equipment. Once he got the land flat enough to be able to run water across it through corrugates about 4 inches wide and 3inches deep he constructed irrigation ditches to deliver water to the highest ground and run it across the fields to the lower ends. He got the water from the irrigation project which collected snow and what little rain water there was from literally thousands of square miles, collected in reservoirs and sent through a complex system of canals and pipelines to water hundreds of square miles. Those pioneers adapted nature to suit their needs instead of adapting to live without water. Most of those old canals and dams are still in use today, still supplying farmers with water who are providing fruit and vegetables to millions of people across our country today.

[jwal10]

The good easy land is all taken. Some of us have some of it. My water is from a spring, high up on the mountain, gravity fed. Modern should be better right. New plants have been bred but they are babied to grow in perfect conditions for a certain area to get maximum results. Won't grow some where else or different conditions. We have adapted, know what does good here, less water, in our conditions. There may be "better" varieties but we make what does good here, work for us, may not be as sweet or pretty or whatever but it works good for us. We use many methods to water, drip, sprinkler can, hose sprinkler, rain barrels, buckets, water wand. We have buried waterline. close to end point use....James

[Sawmill Jim]

They did a Rain Dance

[Brighton]

They carried buckets, from a spring or spigot or well, the same way I do now, mostly because I get sick of moving the hose every time I have to mow or drive out the driveway.

[lmrose]

Originally Posted by maddy

As I dragged hoses around the property this morning, this question occurred to me. The more I thought about it, the more curious I became about how a generation of pioneers managed to grow anything. Ideas?

My husband and father-in-law hauled water from the lake in barrels loaded on a cart and pulled first with horses and later with a tractor. In a dry year we haul in barrels too. We keep barrels under the eaves to catch rain. This year is starting out dry for us and not enough rain; just dew and fog. All our garden is planted in beds and heavily mulched . Having a green house helps us control the weather too which where we live is still cool this year. We also reduced hay eating animals to two goats and only have ten hens With uncertain weather we don't want a lot of animals to find feed for. Goats are browsers and will eat what cows won't. We won't have another big work horse either when Rex lives out his life. In a drought year or unstable weather the fewer animals the better. Now I have to figure out why my computer started this slanted writing!.

[JoeKan]

I think they prayed a whoooole lot more than we do.

[Bellyman]

In this modern day and age, I use a very old method. I carry water in watering cans and water individual plants. I don't try to water the whole garden, I water the plants. I suspect my forefathers did the same.

Some might have had a wind machine that would pump water into a tank that was either on a hill or on a stand to give some pressure. Some might have had rain barrels to capture rain water coming off of the roof.

I do not know when water hoses came on the scene or when irrigation line came into being.

People who survived and thrived were generally resourceful enough to figure out what they needed to do to get the job done. That might have taken on different forms depending upon their personal situation, which could have been different than just the farm next door.

[Harry Chickpea]

They didn't water as much. When I had a garden in Vermont, the hired hand next door came over before snow-out and dumped about three spreader loads of manure. That garden didn't need watering all summer. It DID need lots of hoeing, but that is what I remember my grandmother constantly doing in her garden as well.

[geo in mi]

We accepted whatever yield we got, rain or no rain. But, corn was planted in rows 36--40 inches wide, and spaced at least eight inches apart, so it was easier to scavenge moisture when it got dry. We planted winter wheat, with about eight inch row widths(that's as close as the discs could get on the McCormick grain drill with the steel wheels), and hoped for good spring rains to bring it up to head out. We did fall plowing, if possible right after harvest and left the fields rough to soak up the wintertime moisture--then hoped for a dry spell at planting time to get into the clay fields and work it up. Some farmers began to design terraces and contour strips to hold back erosion and keep water in the fields, not in the Wabash River...(believe it or not, a lot of the land in Indiana is not flat as an ironing board). And most of all, we diversified our farms, growing more than just a yearly rotation of corn and beans and corn. We planted corn, beans, wheat, oats, and clover hay. We grew milk cows, beef cows, hogs, chickens, ducks, and rabbits. If one crop failed, we had a bit of a backup plan.......

I carried the water to Mom's garden when it got dry, and filled up the tin cans she placed beside each tomato plant or squash vine so it would soak down to the roots in the Indiana clay.

Climate change? Some years were too wet, some too dry. We lived with it. I do remember the ruts ten inches deep in the woods where the Regular cut tracks going to and from the fields. But I also remember two and three inch cracks in the hard Indiana clay garden. I remember ten inch ears of corn--I remember nubbins.....

geo

[haypoint]

A few dry years or a few too wet years often times put farmers off their land. Just the way it was. Dust Bowl is an example.
Tiling fields to drain off excess water and irrigation to maintain moisture are just insurance for a decent yield.
Fruit growers often install overhead fans to ward off a late Spring frost.
How did the old timers do it? They did it with unimaginable hours tending crops, accepted low yields, tolerated huge topsoil losses through wind and water erosion, raised large families for free labor and often died young. Ahh.... the Good Old Days...

[Ohio dreamer]

They had large families, too. On dry weeks kids toted water to the most tender crops. If it got too dry, they moved on.

[Paumon]

Dad built a waterwheel in the creek and used that to deliver water to wooden sluices and thence to canals and ditches he dug, something similar to the one below. Waterwheels have been used for irrigation for many centuries.

[bergere]

Why many families had a tons of kids back when... my Dad's family had 10 kids. They worked on the Family farm, to make sure everyone had enough food.

Think, if I remember correctly, they had a Water Ram, which made it a little easier to get water to certain areas. Other wise, they just kept their fingers crossed mother Nature would rain when needed.
My Aunt and Uncles hoofed water and weeded when needed.

[Terri]

People in my area made good use of the winter moisture for their crops.

Corn went in early when the soil was moist. As the top of the soil dried, the roots of the field corn went deep to find moisture. Field corn can stand a bit of dryness later if it gets enough water earlier: the yield is decreased if there is not enough moisture later on but not usually killed.

Also, my area grows good winter wheat. The wheat is planted in the Fall and begins to grow, then the snow covers it and it goes dormant for the winter. In the spring the wheat greens up early and by the time it gets dry in the summer the wheat is already heading up and the roots are about as deep as they are going to get. By the time the soil is dry down deep the wheat should be about ready to harvest.

Some areas irrigate, but where I live in Eastern Kansas most people do not. I believe the farmers do irrigate in Western climate where things are very much dryer.