27 



potatoes, irrifjated onco, broiifjht S275, and was two weeks ahead of 

 imirri<;:ated potatoes, and, althoujj:li it was a good year, yielded twice 

 the crop. For one irrigation of potatoes 15 gallons of gasoline, at 13^ 

 cents, were used, and six days' labor, at SI. 50, or a total cost of Sll. 

 In some years irrigation will increase the potato crop fourfold. 



No. 23. Cuno Becker, of Cumberland County, formerly irrigated a 

 small tract of land by water pumped from a 2-inch driven well 45 feet 

 deep, the water standing 2-i feet below the ground level. A power 

 pump driven by gasoline engine was used to force the water into an 

 elevated wooden tank, which supplied water under 15 ])ounds ])ressure 

 to parallel rows of 2-inch pipe running over the land. These rows 

 were 10 feet apart, and on each was mounted a series of thirteen water 

 witches 10 feet apart. Fifteen minutes is sufficient to wet the ground 

 reached at one setting to a depth of 1.6 inches of water. Lawn spriidv- 

 lers were tried, but required too much labor to move them and too 

 much walking over wet ground. On irrigated land ev(>ry straw])erry 

 ripened, and the berries brought 4 cents per quart more than unirri- 

 gated berries, not over half of which matured. Irrigated beets, 

 lettuce, and cabbage were of nuich finer quality than unirrigated. 



No. 24. The State Asylum for Feeble-minded Children, at Vineland, 

 irrigates 10 acres by pumping from wells and 6 acres with sewage. 

 Three 4-inch bored wells 122 to 157 feet deep supply all the water for 

 irrigation and other uses. The wells are provided with 3-inch strain- 

 ers 10 feet long, and the water stands 20 feet below the ground. A 

 pump raises the water into a 50,000-gallon steel tank set 120 feet above 

 the ground. The normal capacity of the pump is 150 gallons per 

 minute. The boiler plant used for driving the pump is employed 

 for heating in the winter time. 



The land is irrigated by the furrow system, the furrows being 400 feet 

 long and 3^ feet apart. The water supply from the tank is led through 

 a pipe to a ditch at the head of the furrows. The plant will irrigate 3^ 

 acres in a half day. The irrigated land will grow two or three crops of 

 truck a year. Fifty thousand gallons of water are used to irrigate 3 

 acres of land, giving a depth of 0.6 inch. In 1905 irrigated potatoes 

 yielded 271 bushels per acre, receiving but two irrigations, the season 

 being wet. In dry weather the land is irrigated every week. Irriga- 

 tion will, on the average, add one-third to the potato crop. A man 

 and horse can prepare 6 acres a day for irrigation. 



The sewage output of the farm is about 50,000 gallons per day, and 

 is pumped through 250 feet of 4-inch pipe and elevated 6 feet by a 

 3-inch centrifugal pump driven by a steam engine. It discharges into 

 a cistern holding 20,000 gallons, whence it runs through 500 feet of 

 terra-cotta pipe and is distributed over the land by wild flooding. 

 Only a part of the sewage is at present employed for the irrigation of 

 3 acres of fruit and 3 acres of beans. 



