Much has been written in regard to the supposed unhealthiness of the irrigated vineyards. The malaria prevalent in some vineyards is no doubt caused by irrigation; but it has been amply proved in Fresno and elsewhere that if the grower would know from the beginning how to so prepare his land that there would be no stagnant pools, no waste water, and no swampy grounds, the so much talked of malaria would be as rare in the irrigated vineyards as anywhere else. It is not the irrigation that causes malaria, but the waste of the water, the carelessness of the irrigator and the faultiness of the badly constructed irrigation works. After the vineyard has been irrigated a few years, the malaria leaves it entirely. This is the experience in Fresno where the vineyards, after years of irrigation, have become perfectly healthy. _Various Methods of Irrigation._--There are several methods of irrigation now practiced in the irrigated vineyard districts. We may irrigate by flooding the land or by leading the water in furrows between the vines. Both ways, but especially the former, may, if continued long enough, cause subirrigation, the most desirable state of irrigation. The choice of methods of irrigating does not always lie with ourselves, but depends upon the quantity of water at our command, the lay of the land, etc. Sometimes one method will in course of time give room to another, and again, after the lapse of a few years, continued irrigation may not be necessary or desirable. _Irrigation by Flooding._--This method consists of flooding the land either by means of checks and banks, which must have been constructed before the vines were planted, or in simply flooding ground which is naturally level. In either case the land must naturally not be too rough, and the water must be abundant, else this method cannot be used. It will always pay to engage the services of an engineer in preparing such ground for vines. The extra cost will be more than paid for in the first few years, when frequent irrigations of the vineyard are as necessary as they are expensive. The ditch supplying the vineyard should always run on the highest ground, and in no instance should it be run through low ground when high ground can be had, as the low ground may in the future have to be used for drainage, about which we will treat further on. From the main canal, branch ditches should run out at right angles if possible, or if the ground is very uneven they may follow the highest parts. The ground between these ditches should be properly leveled into checks. With checks the irrigator simply measures a piece of ground of any size which is surrounded by a levee or bank. This bank must be high enough to allow the water to cover all of the ground as soon as the check is filled with water from the ditch.