The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-05-23

F. NJ. Stanley, U. S. Department OF
Agriculture.
Although l have spent severai
years with the large irrigation sys-
TENS of the west, l had to come to
Florida to see all the different forms
Of irrigation going on within few
miles of each other. For example,
in the little county of Manatee you
can see spray systems OF all kinds
and descriptions, such as the over
head system OF parallel pipes, COM
monty known as the Skinner system,
as we'll as systems of vertical pipes,
each bearing a spray nozzle of some
kind, such as the Old Blake nozzle,
fishtail, Perez nozzle, Campbell noz-
zle, or McGowen nozzle, and various
notifications of the above. All have
their advocates. and all answer their
purposes. the purpose being to make
it rain when nature wants a rest
Then We in this locality have the
Sanford thing system OF subirriga-
ton, and the Hastings open furrow
subirrigation systems, and the va
rious methods of running water on
the surface, where a great deal OF
individual genius is brought to bear
Most OF these systems are applied to
truck farming.
But this subject is so broad and
time is SO short, ! must specialize. |
must confine myself to one particular
phase of the subject-namely, irriga-
ton of citrus groves. have not time
to go into the need of irrigation, as
this means comprehensive study OF
the rainfall, character of soil, depth
of subsoil, position of hard pan, topo-
glaphy and temperature, drainage,
etc. But you all know that drouths
from 80 to SO days are common IN
the spring time, and that this is the
time the young fruit will drop and
burn if the soil becomes too dry. DR..
bremen, of Orlando. with whom the
department of agriculture is cooper"
ating, has had his plant installed
since 1906, and has found irrigation
either necessary or beneficial every
year with the exception of last year,
and has not irrigated this year. to
date. But if the present weather
conditions continue this year will
prove no exception to the rule. In
the long drought of 1906, while the
plant was still under construction,
DR.. Drennen succeeded in getting Wa.
ter on only one-third of his grove,
and that late in the season. The
next year this one-third bore more
than the other two-thirds, anil
brought much better price in the
market. Not only this, but he lost
100 trees on the unirrigated section.
which would nearly pay for the price
of installation. OF course this is
very exceptional, but with $1,000
an-acre proposition we can aord to
make some expenditure to deal with
exceptional conditions.
The next proposition of Importance
is the kind OF plant. Here we stir up
multitude of questions But we all
agree the best plant is that plant
which is the cheapest to install, and
at the same time is durable and an
swers it's purpose of applying water
to thirsty trees. There is little
doubt that the cheapest plant is the
one that delivers water at the high
points of te grove and supplies water
generously to the middles. This is
almost self evident, as this eliminates
expensive pipe lines that are neces-
sary if water is supplied by hose or
spray to all points, irrespective of
grades. Right here most of you will
say, "Oh, that may be all right in
the west, but the sandy soils of Flor
ida are different proposition. You
will say this system will saturate the
upper end of the burrows and insult
ticiently water the lower end-or,
perhaps fail to supply any water to
the lower end at all | am not quail
:1oi to say that this is not true in
some cases. But | am qualified to
cay that water can successfully be
run in open furrow in some of the
sandy soils around Orlando, at Tampa
and at st. Petersburg and in the
shallow soils of Bradentown and
Palmetto. Because we have been able
to make actual tests at these points,
and again l can safely say that in
most parts of Florida water can be
run on the ground if the plant is
laid out properly. The secret of sue
cess lies in having your pipe lines
located on the high points of the or
charf, even If the lines wander about
in a most bewildering manner, and
having the power to turn enough
waier in each furrnw 50 as to haya