The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-18
IRRIGATION AS PRACTICEO
 BY CONN. TOBACCO RAlSERS

water In more liberal quantities than
 any sprinkler could supply was nee | good soaking rain,' which is nature s
 method of making tobacco plants l flourish. One thorough wetting down | of the ground, such as a two days
 rain affords, is sufficient, when the plants have got we'll started, to en-
 sure a. satisfactory crop. To pro- l vide this thorough drenching of the soil in case of an inadequate supply I of moisture from the clouds was the | aim of the Olds brothers, and the ac- companying pictures give some idea of how it has been accomplished at the Eggert place. First of all, an ad- equate reservoir of water is necessary, which must be larger than any well
 or series of wells can furnish. For tunately there was an opportunity, by erecting a small dam across a run
 within a few rods of the tobacco fields, to create a pond of water of sufficient size for the purpose in view. AS a means of distribution, about B.
 900 feet of six-inch iron soil pipe was sunk a few feet below the surface
 tweeen the tobacco tents. .'Risers
 were provided at intervals, from
 which portable siX-inch pipes of gal
 vaniZed iron could be laid across the fields. which were sufficiently unev- en to cause the water to- spread through the furrows between the rows
 of plants, for a considerable distance Then a very inexpensive pumping out
 fit was arranged, consisting of a four
 cylinder automobile motor, retired from vehicle propulsion, and a small
 centrifugal pump. It was only nec-
 eSsary to raise the water to a height
 of ten feet from the pond level to
 secure liheral flowage to every part
 of the fifty-five acres under cloth. The
 water is forced at the outset clear
 fnl6 nd h rows as one length of the sheet iron
 pipe can reach have beenS thoroughly flooded this outermost length of pipe
 is detached and the process is contin-
 ued with the flooded, section by sec
 tion, until the whole of it is so com pletely soaked that, if you .epen to step into furrow Thefe ,.1e water
 has been turned on, your foot sinks
 into six or eight inches of rich dark mud,s and you wish you had not step-
 ped into 1t. Two or three bare-leg- ged Workmen with ShOvels by means of little dams and cross channels di- rect the water into one furrow after another. In this way the roots of
 every plant are given a thorough soaking. the fertilizer in the soil is dissolved, and the plants respond to the encouragement thus afforded by shooting upward at the rate of nearly SIX inches in one hot day, such as we have had a succession of during the past two weeks.
 It is probable that the total cost of this irrigation plant at the OIds brothers tobacco farm does not amount to more than s25 per acre and, at this low cost, all danger to their tobacco crop from the now reg ularly recurring midsummer drouth IS escaped. As the product of cloth covered tobacco fields is now proved to be worth not less than s1,300 gross per acre, the addition of $25 per acre to the cost for the sake of removing all anxiety about the rainfall and en- surlng the best results both in quan- tlty ana quality is the wiSest possibIe investment Of money. AS a matter Of fact the addition to the amount of tobacco which the Olds brothers will harvest this year as a result of their method of irrigation will pay them many times over for the compara- tlvely small amount of money which
 Wh1pple and their associates are So well pleased with the results of this experiment already apparent that they nave determined to create facilities for lrr1gating next year the whole or the 155 acres which are cultivated un- der the name of the Windsor Tobacco corporation. A small pond will be stored with water near their fields next spring and the same methods Wllli be employed to distribute the
 Watoi WHICH are employed by the OldS brothers at the Eggert place
 MT. Alfred A. Olds believes that this method Of irrigation may be employ ed by Connecticut farmers in produc- Ing other crops besides tobacco, with entire success and that in this way the farmers of this section will lbe able to free themselves entirely from dependence on rainfall for the abun- dance of their annual crops. In view of this possibility the demonstration Of the success of irrigation in North Bloomheld this summer may be a most important advance step in agri- culture In this part of the country.
 One of the most valuable things ac- compllshed for the industry by the Olds brothers is the demonstration by them last year that it is possible by sufficient care to reduce the loss or injury from pole sweat in the barns to very small proportions There was a. great deal of pole sweat last year, and it was considered a bad year In that respect by most of the growers. Yet the Olds brothers lost scarcely hundred pounds of tobac- co from that cause, and they expect to do as we'll in the future It can certainly be accomplished by taking sufficient care and by regulating con- ditions in the barns while the tobac- co is undergoing the curing process. It will be a great thing for the to- =