IRRIGATION EXPERIMENTS IN NEW JERSEY IN 1903. 



By Edward B. Voorhees, 

 Director New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Stations. 



ASPARAGUS, BLACKBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, GOOSEBERRIES, 

 CURRANTS, AND STRAWBERRIES. 



The experiments in progress to study the influence of irrigation 

 upon these crops were continued this year, though the records of rain- 

 fall and evaporation, as given by the table which follows, show very 

 clearly the reasons why no real advantage was obtained from the work. 



Record of evaporation from water tanks at New Brunswick, N. J., July, 1003, to 



July, 1903. 



Dates of reading 



1902. 



July 19 



August 3 - 



August 16 



August :A) 



September 1.3 . 

 September 27 . 

 October 11 .--. 



October 2.5 



November 8 . . 



March 7 (started) 



Maroh21. 



April 4 



April 18.. 



May2 



May 1(5 



May:^) 



June i:^ - 



June 27 



July 11. 



19ft3. 



Total. 



Gain(+) 

 or loss 



(-)of 

 water in 



tank. 



Inches. 

 -1.9.3 

 + .5.5 

 +1.70 



- .15 



- .30 

 +1.95 

 +2.93 

 + .80 

 + .85 



+1.56 

 +1.69 

 +2.45 

 -1.90 

 -1.98 

 -2.10 

 +1.60 

 +1.65 

 + .68 



Rainfall 



Inches. 

 0.44 

 2. .54 

 4. .51 

 1..57 

 1.32 

 2.81 

 .5.41 

 1.65 

 1.90 



2.51 

 2.97 

 3.83 



.18 



.11 



3.72 



2.87 

 1.18 



39.52 



Loss of 



water 

 by evap- 

 oration. 



Inches. 

 2.37 

 1.99 

 2.81 

 1.72 

 1.62 



.86 

 2.49 



.&5 

 1.05 



.95 

 1.28 

 1.38 

 1.90 

 2.16 

 2.21 

 2.12 

 1.22 

 1.86 



30.82 



It will be observed from a study of the table that the rainfall exceeded 

 the evaporation during the growing season by 8.70 inches. This is 

 the first year since the tank was established that the evaporation 

 has not exceeded the rainfall. In 1900-1901 the evaporation exceeded 

 the rainfall by 8.66 inches, while in the same period of 1901-2 the 

 evaporation exceeded the rainfall by 1.52 inches. It will be noticed 

 also that the only serious deficiency in rainfall occurred in May. This 

 drought was accompanied by cool weather; hence, while growth was 

 retarded, it was due quite as much to the low temperature as to the 



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