8 



The irrigation of truck not only greatly increases the yield, but it 

 matures the crops earlier, when they will l)ring higher prices, and may 

 allow the growth of one more crop during the year. It is particularly 

 during the years of greatest drought that the truck farmer who irri- 

 gates reaps his harvest, when prices are highest and his neighbors' 

 crop's poorest in quantity and quality. The distribution of rain is by 

 no means uniform, even in adjoining counties, and certain localities, 

 owing to the topography of the land, fail to receive many of the 

 showers which fall on the surrounding country. . 



It is commonly said that truck irrigation will pay only when the 

 market is close at hand, but much of the data presented show good 

 returns from the irrigation of truck land rather unfavorably situated. 

 In addition to truck gardens there are in many localities low meadow 

 lands which may be cheaply irrigated, and these two types of irriga- 

 tion practice constitute the present field for irrigation in the humid 



East. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



The land of the humid belt in the eastern and northeastern part of 

 the United States is generally of a rolling liilly nature, totally unlike 

 the broad level plains and valleys of the West. The difficulties of pre- 

 paring for irrigation large sections of land are correspondingly greater. 

 Comparatively few large farms, however, are found tlu-ough the East, 

 the land being cut up into smaller holdings. Of the territory investi- 

 gated, eastern Maryland, Delaware, southern and eastern New Jersey, 

 and Long Island are fairly level, while in eastern Pennsylvania and 

 northwestern New Jersey the land is nearly all liilly. 



RAINFALL. 



The fohowing table is taken from the Weather Bureau reports to 

 show for the section investigated the large variations in the annual 

 and seasonal rainfall for the last ten years. The "normal" rainfall 

 is simply the average since records have been kept. 



Annual and seasonal rainfall in eastern cities from 1S05 to 190^. 



