23 



occasionally two. The rurrow iiicthod of irrii^ation, with a hose, is 

 einployod, the rate of flow hoin the hose beinj; about lOJ <:^alloiis 

 per minute. The furrows are 240 feet long and 3 feet apart, and it 

 requires thirty minutes for the water to run through them, on the aver- 

 age. It re(|uires forty hours to irrigate 1 acre of ground, tlie cost for 

 water being S3. 30. The soil is a heavy loam 12 inches thick with a red 

 shale gravel subsoil. In 1905 water did not cost over $25, and the 

 total cost of pij)e and hose was only $25. 



Prizetaker onions yielded 900 bushels per acre. Three crops of 

 lettuce of 50,000 plants per acre for each crop are usually grown on 

 the same land, selling wholesale at from 2 to 6 cents a piece. Early 

 cabbage is planted 15 indues apart in rows '2h feet apart, giving 14,000 

 heads per acre. One acre of beets yielded 7,000 bunches, bringing 5 

 cents per ))imc]i. Tliirty thousand stalks of celery were planted per 

 acre, yielding 8,000 bunches, 3 to 4 stalks per bunch, selling at 12 cents 

 per bunch. Spinach is seldom watered. Irrigation fully doubles the 

 crop on an average and in 1905 saved the crops from failure. 



Xo. 19. W. P. Stokes, of Burlington County, a florist, formerly 

 irrigated his gardens with a ])ump driven by a 2i-horsepower gaso- 

 line engine. The water was distributed by pipes and the furrow 

 system of irrigation used. The pump was set in a pit 28 feet deep 

 and obtained its supply from three 2-inch driven wells 53 feet deep. 

 The last few years the rainfall has been ample and the j^lant has not 

 been used for irrigation. A system of subirrigation has been tried, 

 a line of inverted U-shaped tile being placed on boards about 15 

 inches below the ground. The soil is so sandy that this was unsuc- 

 cessful, as the water all sank out of sight before reaching the end of 

 the tiling. 



Xo. 20. Henry A. Dreer, of Burlington County, irrigates 5 acres 

 of land by w^ater pumped from a dug well 8 feet in diameter and 15 

 feet deep. The well is lined with brick and cost, complete, $200. 

 The w^ater normally stands 5 feet below^ the ground level, and it is 

 not lowered more than 1 foot at the highest rate of pumping. A 

 duplex steam pump raises the water from the w^ell into a system 

 of distributing pipes. The pump is providetl with an automatic regu- 

 lator, which, b}' throttling the steam supply, holds the pressure in 

 the mains constant at 50 pounds, forcing the water into a 3-ineh 

 main 700 feet long, from which it is distributed through the field. 

 Horizontal pipes are run parallel to the rows every 50 feet, the length 

 of the pipes being from 250 to 750 feet. These pipes are run about 

 3 feet above ground and are set on 2 by 4 inch wooden supports 20 

 feet apart. They are tapped for small- brass plugs every 4 feet, the 

 holes for the plugs being all in line. Each of these plugs has a pin 

 hole in the center, which serves as an outlet for the water. The 

 overhead pipe line is connected bj^ a union to the supply pipe in such 

 29606— No. 167—06 4 



