In the farming game it pays to act fast, so any crops that are ready are getting their first irrigation today. The thing is, how does the farmer get the water in that ditch to the wheat. The first step is the "tin."
This is a "tin." (under water, doing what it does) I'm guessing that we call them that because at one point they used to be made out of tin. This one is made out of galvanized steel, I believe. What it does is dam up the flow of the water in the ditch, raising the level.
The next step revolves around this guy. This is an aluminum syphon tube. For those of you who don't know how a syphon works, I'll endeavor to explain how. If you've ever played with the straw in your drink at a restaurant, you know that by sealing one end you can lift the fluid inside. In order for something to move another thing must* take it's place. In the case of the straw, it would be air taking the place of the liquid, but you're blocking that by plugging the top. To start a syphon tube, a person will do much the same thing, filling it full of water then holding a hand over the end of the tube then lifting it so that the water in the tube is above the level of the ditch. (just like the straw would be full of fluid above the level of the drink.) Now here's where the shape of the tube comes in. Since the front of the tube (on the left up there) is longer when measured from the highest point (the hump in the middle) when compared to the rear of the tube it holds more water which is therefore heavier. When you release your hand from the end of the straw, gravity pulls the fluid back down to the level of the glass. A tube is layed down horizontally next to the ditch so that the back end is still under water. When you release the front end the water wants to do the same as it does in the straw, but in this case the highest point of the container is not the open end of the straw, but the contained middle of the tube. Since there is no way for anything to fill that space the heavier amount of water in the front of the tube lifts the lighter amount in the rear of the tube. Since the rear of the tube is left in the water, instead of pulling air in like the straw, it pulls in more water which once it gets pulled over the highest point of the tube adds more weight to the front end which pulls more water, etc. This creates a continuous cycle that will continue as long as the rear of the tube can keep pulling water. (Are you more or less confused now?)
Things like floating weeds can plug the tube, stopping it's flow and the irrigation of thirsty plants. As I'm sure you can guess, that's bad. So irrigation requires frequent checking. How frequent depends on how much there is floating in the water that day. things like onion skins and certain fish can shut off and entire field of tubes. Fortunately, fish in the ditches is a rare thing and the onion skins are only really around at harvest time.
For now its all about removing whatever blew into the ditch over the winter and making sure water runs down each row. Water tends to go where it wants and this first irrigation can be a bit labor intensive. The syphon tube is only one of many ways farmers irrigate their crops. I'll be sure to let you know about the other kinds. The important thing is, with water in the ditches, the business of plant growth can really take off.
*For those of you that are saying: "But what about vacuums?" Vacuums require a significant amount of force and don't really exist in nature. And no, outer-space is not included in the realm of nature.
No comments:
Post a Comment