IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS. i83 



heads per acre; onions, 300 bushels per acre; strawberries, 'iOo bushels 

 per acre. They raise no small o-rain under irrij^ation ;uid ( ;ui raise 

 corn without irri<4ati()n on lands watered the previous year, the sub- 

 soil funiisliini^- all the moisture the crop needs. 



One drawl)ack; to the use of these wells is the salt contained in their 

 waters, and the fear of injury to the soil from its use in irrigation has 

 retarded development. 



MISSOURI. 



H. .T. Waters, Director Missouri Agricultiiriil College Experiment Station, in eharge. 



The cooperative investi<;ations carried on with the Missouri State 

 Experiment Station were begun in I'.iol. Since that time the station 

 has built a small storage reservoir. The water used in these experi- 

 ments comes from this reservoir and the city waterworks. 



During the season of 1903 the experiments included the irrigation 

 of strawberries, asparagus, nursery stock (consisting of apples, peach, 

 and plum trees), onions, and a late irrigation of corn. The season as 

 a whole was not calculated to make a favorable showing for irrigation, 

 as the rainfall of the summer months was considerably more than 

 the average. None of the crops were irrigated until August. 



The irrigation of strawberries in V.H)l and 1902 having shown its 

 value, this feature of the experiment was dropped. In 1902 one plat 

 of iri-igated strawl)erries produced 276 crates per acre, while the unir- 

 rigated one produced only 2S. Another irrigated plat produced 290 

 crates per acre, while the unirrigated produced only 39. Similar 

 results were obtained on all the iri-igated and unirrigated areas. 



The strawberry beds were irrigated this 3'ear to determine the effect 

 of watering young plants. These were set in rows 4 feet apart, the 

 l)lants 2 feet apart in the rows. The irrigating ditches were made bj'^ 

 opening a furrow on one side of each row of plants with a single- 

 shovel plow. The i)lants were placed on sloping ground and the furrow 

 was run on the upper :side of the row, as near to it as possible. P^nough 

 water was applied to cover the land to a deptli of o^ inches. There 

 were copious rains, wliich apparently supplied all the moisture needed 

 by the unirrigated i)lants. Nevertheless, the ell'ects of this watering 

 can not be determined until next season. The critiail period in the 

 life of a strawberry plant is during the month of August, and past 

 experiments in irrigation have shown that, it' watei- is supplied in 

 August, it affects the yield of fruit the next year. This year will 

 determine whether an abundant supply of water furnished artificially 

 is f)f more valu«> than a moderate amount suppliefl by rain. Aside 

 from the ii-rigation, the plants on the ii-iMgatcd and uiiii rigated areas 

 wer(^ treated in the same way, and l»oth will be mulched alike during 

 the winter. 



In the irrigation of asparagus the sections of the field irrigated arc 

 7 years old and have received each autumn for three pr four years a 



