The Florida agriculturist., 1908-01-01
SUB-IRRIGATION.
An Exposition of the Methods Which Successfully Praccd
at Sanford, Florida.
at Sanford, Florida.

mental stages except to say we ditch
ed the land and tried to drain it, with
only partial success. We drove wells,
and when it got too drv we wet Our
lands, first On the surface with disas
trous results, then. with bitches, at
much expense and on1v Indifferent
success. Finally complete success
crowned Our efforts, and [ am tempted
to say we have perfect system of
sub-irrigation and b-drainage
drainage is absolutely essential, as
we'll as irrigation. The system is
simplicity itself. It consists of
driven we'll one or two inches in di
ameter, costing an average of per-
haps SIS, irrigating five or ten acres
Of land. The land is very level, but
usually has a gradual slope The
we'll, put on the highest point so that
the water runs to all points by gravity,
empties into four or five inch main,
usually terra Gotta, with joints ce-
mented to make it water-tight, which
is laid on one side of the field At in
tervals of from twenty to thirty feet,
twenty-five being the usual distance.
this main is tapped, and discharges
into row Of three-inch clay or ce-
ment tile. Please note that practi-
cally there is no such thing as porous
tile. The water runs in Or out at the
Joints, which are only one foot long
The tile is laid in bitches cut 18 to "a
inches deep, running across the field.
with very slight grade from water
main to discharge ditch. The supply
Of water to each row of tile is con-
trolled by a small standpiDe with a
plug. At the discharge or drain ditch
another standpipe, Or pocket as they
are called, enables one to stop the
egress of water, and if desired to
flood the field or saturate the soil at
will This is not, or at least should
not be done, except to prepare the
land for setting out plants. At all
other times better results are obtained
bv running water through the tile.
re1ving on caDillary attraction to
bring I'D all the moisture needed.
This obviates getting the land water
soaked and caked, and allows access
of air and heat to the soil
So much for irrigation, which as
Won see on1v costs the opening of the
valve on your we'll and needs no
watching. For draining, you have
on1v to close the valve at the we'll
pull out the plugs at YOUR DISCHARGE
Or drain ditch, and get out Of the rain:
md no matter how hard it rains to-
dav. YOU can cultivate tomorrow. The
svster once installed is permanent,
and if properly done needs no repairs
o'' "1terat;ons
You will readily say that ought to
make the raising of good crops a Dret-
tv certain thing-and it does. It is
not onlv certain, but the yield is
enormous and the quality very ST.
Derior Please note that the results
OF Our system, Of which 7 am briefly
to speak. were ACCOMPLISHED BY peo-
n1e without capital and practically
without credit certainly without
experience in truck growing o.
course much time was lost and some
disasters followed the experiments
necessary to reach the present success
In addition to the irrigation and
DRAINAGE. the general treatment Of
the soil has improved. our farmers us
ing more BARNARD manure, compost,
muck etc., each year. The evidence
of Improvement is in the superior
quality: large and annually increas-
lno weld per acre No crop has been
tried on these lands, to nv knowledge
that has not grown to perfection and
given entire satisfaction AS yet eel
erv leads in volume and profit AS II
recently prepared the statistics for
IN address to the Florida State Rank
ers' Association, 7 will give them
showing the increase. present deve1-
ODment and net results:
Season 1899 celery ................... 100 crates
Season l9Nl celery Observation-Disclosures. 9200 crates