44: STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



on for a half or three quarters of an hour each day, and the result is the 

 grass is nearly killed with sariace wetting. If they would allow it to 

 wet down a foot or two, and then withhold the water until the soil 

 becomes dry, better results would be obtained. When a lawn is watered 

 it should be done thoroughly. Let it soak down — don't sprinkle the land. 



The system practiced in California is to irrigate once every month, and 

 when "hey do, to give enough. I think the rain in general was from 

 three to four inches throughout the state. But we would not have had 

 as good results with two or three small rains. 



Dr. Beal: It is likely every enterprising man here is going to irrigate. 

 Many a man will undertake this who does not understand it very well. 

 It occurs to me if some conscientious man could go around, a man who 

 does understand this, and put in two or three sample irrigating plants, 

 it would be a good thing. This subject of irrigation is of the utmost 

 importance to the people of the state of Michigan, to the fruitgrowers 

 and the farmers. 



Mr. Morrill: I would like to ask Prof. Taft a question. A great many 

 people who need irrigation have not a lake nor body of water anywhere 

 near them. Can we depend upon water from wells, if we have to pump 

 it sixty or a hundred feet? 



Prof. Taft: I think I should want to draw the line at forty or fifty 

 feet. Of course, the deeper it is the more it would cost to pump it. If 

 you have some garden crops and must remain where you are, can not 

 move, be sure you have an ample water supply, before you go to a large 

 expense for an irrigating plant. Many of the irrigating pumps in use 

 today have six- eight- and even ten-inch cylinders, and will lift much 

 more water than the ordinary pumps. If one driven well will not fur- 

 nish an ample supply, several may be driven and connected with the 

 bottom of the cylinder. 



Mr. Gunson: I question very much whether crops are worth growing 

 if we have to keep continually watering; it certainly increases the cost. 

 I question whether this irrigation ever becomes practical or remains a 

 question of great state importance. If I or anyone else has a piece of 

 land in Michigan and must depend upon irrigation to raise the neces- 

 saries of life, we may as well go out of business. If we could get a mar- 

 ket for the produce at prices that would compensate us for this extra 

 labor and extra outlay, it is very possible we might be able to use it. If 

 we wish to irrigate, why wouldn't it be better to go into a land that is 

 adapted to it? It seems to me that on sandy lands there is no limit to 

 the water that can be distributed. Possibly on a clay soil you may be 

 able to use the water better. At present this subject of irrigation is not 

 well understood, as Dr. Beal has said, and a great many people would go 

 to work at a considerable expense. By the way, Mr. Morrill said he 

 would plant a thousand acres of cherries if someone would give him a 

 dollar and a half per bushel. I would like to ask him how much it would 

 cost him to grow this thousand acres of cherries, if he had to irrigate. I 

 expect to hear more of it. There was a. California land agent in this 

 town a year ago, getting people to go to Redlands, and he was bragging 

 about irrigation. In the fall he was back here again getting up a party 

 to go a little further north, where they didn't have to irrigate. On the 

 first trip he claimed that while the crops were good at the north, the 



