480 RKl't-UiT OF OFFICE <>F EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



(•J) The (Iclcniiiiialioii of l()^^s(•s from sccpujic Jiiul cviiporjilion from 

 ijfnmiHl CON crcd l»v vines iis well us from reservoirs. 



(iV) Tiie (letermiiKitioii of ihc, crt'cct of standiii<^' water at (lill'erent 

 temperatures on berries and vines in \arious staj^es of development 

 and under various conditions of wi'ather. 



(4) The determination of the coellicient of resistanec of peat ditches 

 used for carryin*;* water to and from tlie vines. 



(5) The (letcM-mination of the most eli'ective methods of usintr water 

 to prevent injury fi"om frost. 



(<i) T^he eli'ect upon the cranberry marshes of the drainage of adja- 

 cent areas for fanu purposes. 



Tiu' results of the present 3'ear, while not conclusive, show liow 

 greatly the success of this industry will be promoted ]»y an efticient 

 system of caiials for getting the water on to the ground and getting it 

 oil". On June 11 of -this year there was danger of frost. Those who 

 had pi'oper ditches saved their crops. Those who were not so provided 

 lost them. A conservative estimate of the loss in the Cranmoor and 

 blather regions places this loss at $25,000. The damage due to 

 improper drains in this region, which prevented the removal of the 

 water in tmie, w'as greater than that from frost, so that from these two 

 items in the two districts there was a net loss this 3'ear of over $75,000, 

 a sum whicii would pro))ably be nearly sufficient to construct a system 

 of canals to meet the demands of l)oth districts. 



NEW JERSEY. 



E. B. VooRHEEs, Director New Jersey Experiment Station, in charge. 



For several A^ears this Offic<^ has been cooperating with the State 

 experiment station of New fJersc}' in a study of the benefits of irriga- 

 tion to market gardeners and experiments with methods of distributing 

 and applying water to the sandy lands along the Atlantic seaboard. 

 The report of l*rofessor Voorhees in V.H)-2 illustrated and described 

 some experiments with ditch lining which had proven effective. 

 Further experiments in this direction were continued this 3'ear. 



In addition to the investigations at the station and in the sandy 

 lands of southern New .Jersey, Professor Voorhees visited a num])erof 

 the market gardeners Avho are irrigating in the vicinity of Ncav York 

 and Boston, in order to learn something of their methods and whether 

 or not it has paid. All of the reports were favorable, some of the 

 results surprisingly so. The general conclusion seems to be that 

 whenever market gardeners can obtain a water supply b}' gravity', or 

 b}^ pumping it to a height of 30 feet, it will pay to irrigate, and that 

 abilit\' to secure an emergenc}' supply at much greater expense often 

 saves a year's crop. Tlie 14 market gardeners interviewed this 3^ear 

 have been iriigating from one to twenty-five j'^ears; not one proposes 

 to abandon the practice. 



