16 



and in 190.5, owing to the wetness of the season, only one-half acre. 

 The soil is a sandy loam 12 inches tliick, with a sandy subsoil. The 

 furrow system and sprinkling are both used. In very dry weather the 

 land is irrigated every two weeks and is sprinkled twice a week, 

 recei\ang at most not over three irrigations per crop. The furrows 

 are 18 to 24 inches apart and 200 feet long. The water supply is 

 sufficient to water 1 acre to a depth of 5 J inches in forty-eight hours. 

 This is the maximum quantity of water applied at one irrigation, and 

 frequently half this quantity is sufficient. The depth applied by 

 sprinkling is very small compared with this. The ground is piped 

 with 1 ^-inch second-hand piping, which cost $200. 



The crops irrigated are celery, lettuce, and cauUflower, the celery 

 being only sprinkled. The cost of labor is $4.50 per week and board. 

 The owner estimates that in some years irrigation increases the returns 

 fully $1,000, and that as a rule it doubles the yield. The value of the 

 crops irrigated, per acre, are: Celery, $350 to $500; lettuce, $150; 

 cauhflower, $200; celeriac, $300 to $500. During a drought irrigated 

 cauliflower is cut two weeks earlier than unirrigated, and it brings 

 twice as high a price. In 1904 celeriac not irrigated was hardly 

 marketable. Irrigated beets were ten days ahead of those not irri- 

 gated. In the drought of 1901 the crop from 1 acre of irrigated 

 lettuce sold for $400, at 75 cents to $1.25 per bushel. Unirrigated 

 lettuce was a total failure. The cost of water was $40 in 1904 and 

 $6 in 1905. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



No. 2. At the Welsh Industrial Mission 4 acres in strawberries are 

 irrigated from a spring by the furrow system. The land usually 

 receives two irrigations a week apart. The water requires three to 

 four hours to run through the furrows, wliich are 260 to 300 feet long 

 and 3 J feet apart, the plants being set 18 inches apart. The }deld of 

 irrigated berries is 4,800 boxes per acre, the average price being from 

 5 to 10 cents per box. During a dry season a few years ago berries 

 brought 7 to 15 cents a box, $336 to $720 an acre, at a time when the 

 entire crop in the valley below was a failure. The superintendent, 

 Mr. Mack, does not attribute the results wholly to irrigation, but 

 estimates that it produces an increase of 25 bushels, or 800 boxes, per 

 acre, since the soil and climate at the mission are more favorable 

 than in the valley. In 1904 but 2 acres were irrigated. 



No. 3. The State Insane Asylum at Wernersville irrigates 105 acres 

 with sewage, the disposal of which is the primary object of the plant. 

 Sixty-five acres are in grass, pelding 2^ tons per acre, and 40 acres in 

 potatoes, }aelding 150 bushels per acre. The sewage is distributed 

 from a reservoir through 2^-inch and 3-inch pipe, to which a 2^-inch 

 hose is attached everv hundred feet for distributing: the water. 



