Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-04-05
TpRTGArIoy IN FLoRrp. ETC

| IRRIGATION IN FLORIDA, ETC.
The state Of Florida lies within North
/ Americas regions Of heaviest annual rain
| fall, and yet the Floridians are fiudins
| that irrigation in agriculture pays hand
| somely fer Florida A goodly number Of
! irrigated farms and orange groves are al
! ready under the system, and so well do
| they pan cut 10 the arrangement that al
most everybody there is talking up irri-
/ cation in . way that will very soon vastly
| increase the area Of the state under Grti-
fetal water supply. Those Florida people
are progressive lot, therefore when they
see really good thing they arc not slow to
adopt It. They well know that they have
all the rainfall needed for crops did it il
variably come exactly as wanted, but
therein lies the rub. Crops TO do their best
must never pass day without full sup
| ply Of needed moisture in the soil, fact
the F'loridians have discovered, and hence
their general uprising, as it were, in favor
OF irrigation.
II is passing strange, under the circum-
stances, that Texas, should, to any great
| extent, conclude that Texas. with her much
lighter rainfall would not be particularly
benefited by irrigation It's ever thus,
h ,wever Great movements invariably
start slowly. The Texans viii fully get
into the spirit Of the thing after awhile,
however and then win come = revolution
n Texas agriculture not so much as
dreamed OF By her masses at this particu-
lar time.
Most Of the irrigation in Florida Is done
with water from artesian wells. The wa
| ter presents no kind Of advantage over wa
ter flowing from artesidn wells in Texas
We have heard the idea advanced that our
artesian water was too highly mineralized
for successful employment in watering
| crops. but the operations in Florida COM
plctely upset that theory, for the artesian
water there is much more highly mineral
lied than the artesian water here.
There has been for about two years a
large irrigated truck farm in the neighbor-
hood OF 81. Augustine, Fla, giving i'm
meuse satisfaction, and now comes late
issue Of the St. Augustine News telling all
about new one just getting under way
sixteen miles from the town. On the first
of August, 1890, the locality was simply
broad stretch of level and poor piney woods
land lying along the Jacksonville and ST.
Augustine railway. A MIR Hastings, con-
GLIDING that 1t might be converted into
fine irrigated farm, bought it al low figures.
He at once put down an artesian well which
gave him fair flow through a four inch
mir n T-sSNy,N in,
vestmeEt IL as early day rs possible, he
set large force Of men At work preparing
his land for culture, opening irrigation
bitches and building an extensive ''cucum-
Der house" Some weeks ago he began
putting upon the market an assortment Of
the finest vegetables, as cucumber, peas,
onions, water cress, beets, lettuce,
parsley and radishes. Some OF his cucum-
| bers measured twelve inches in length.
The cucumber house and its management
would doubtless be something new TO most
Texans, and therefore would seem to merit
q description here. 1t is Il building twenty
two feet wide BY $50 fee; long, and stands
near the artesian well. In its construction
posts were set in the ground to act as up
upon them outside rs the interior OF the
! wall. On the outside OF these boards was
! tackled two thicEnesSes OF roofing felt or
thick tarred paper, and over this felt was
nailed ordinary Notwithstanding in the
usual way. An absolutely air tight wall
WAS thus made. Nothing was said of the
| height Of the walls, but the presumption is
that they we're about the usual height
charscterizing our nursery greenhouses.
The top OF the structure IS covered with
sash and glass on the greenhouse plan.
Within this structure the tender plants
flourish and fruit throughout the winter.
They are grown in boxes filed with soil
and running the long way Of the house,
just as one often sees them for growing
tender plants In the nursery greenhouse,