The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-04-20
IRRIGATE YOUR BERRIES

II "Oulu ne interesting To hlON
how much our strawberry growers
| have lost from dry weather during
this season, compared with what the
outcome would have been had the
precipitation been normal A law
of nature, referred to in the Bible,
DEGREES that everything must tend
toward making the weak weaker and
the strong stronger. A plant weak
ened by drouth falls an easy prey
to insects and fungoid diseases and
cannot produce the quantity and
quality of fruit that a healthy, well
fed plant can. Also, in dry weather
the fertilizer applied cannot be dis
solved for the benefit of the plants
After a good shower following a
protracted drouth We often hear
farmers say, This shower was
worth hundred dollars to me-" or
two hundred dollasr, or five hundred,
as the case may be. Then, why not
make your own showers through ir-
rigation? 1t is singular that any
thing SO obviously benefitting as ir-
rigation is not more generally adopt
ed. A we'll, pump, a tank and a
shed can be had for about 5000 to
$250-the price of forty or fifty
crates of Strawberries selling at
from 81 to IS a crate, and it would
pay for itself, as rule, in one sea-
son, as 1t seems that we have come
into cycle of dry springs.
The modus operandi Of irrigating
is very simple. A well is bored on
the highest point OF the land in
tended for strawberry culture. A
kerosene engine, which can be had
for $50, and pump lift the water in
to the tank. The tank is on the
ground and may be made of brick,
cement, sheet iron or plank. At the
bottom of the tank is a valve through
which the water is allowed to flow
iirst into one furrow, then into the
next, and SO on. The slope of the
land does not allow the entire fur
row to be filled at one time, but the
water runs down to the lowest part
When this part is sufficiently water
ed, make a little dam higher up, for
watering the next portion above, and
SO on. The watering can be done at
any time, day or night and por-
ton of the patch may be watered
each day during dry weather. A
twelve-year boy can do the pump
ing and manage the watering. While
some of the water sinks downward,
the greater portion spreads sideways
and is sucked to the top of the beds
through capillary attraction, feed
ing the plants, dissolving fertilizer,
killing cutworms and crickets and
all harmful insects that burrow and
uepOSlI JHelI GIBBS III the SIouhu'
A strawberry plant, counting both
sides of the leaves, the stems and
the myriads of little hairs with
which they are studded, has prob
ably five square feet of surface. Wet
paper having that area, expose it
to the sun and the wind and see how
quickly it dries. The evaporation
from the plant leaves is going on all
the time. and to supply it the plant
is compelled to spend much of its
substance, which should go to max
ing fruit, in making roots to reach
into the sterile subsoil for water
pint of Strawberries just after pick
ing, then mash the berries and dry
dry weigh them again. The weight
of the dry residue will be found to
be hardly five per cent of the fresh
berries. so you can see how much
Of the berries is only water, and,
therefore, how necessary it is that
the plants have sufficient supply
of water. When you sell irrigated
berries you sell, besides, water,
which cost you very little to get
and it will more than make up for
| the cost of the fertilizer.
While the European war lasts, and
/ for some time after it ends potash
will be very high in price and, per-
haps, be impossible to get at any
price. But there is an inexhaustible
, supply of it in the ground if it is dis