29 



throe hours. A 2 ^-horsepower orasoHne engine drives a No. 2 cen- 

 trifiitial pump delivering 110 gallons per minute against a total lift of 

 15 feet. The discharge pipe is 4 inches in diameter and 500 feet long. 

 The engine consumes 3 gallons of gasoline in ten hours. 



The furrow system of irrigation is emploj^ed, the furrows l)eing 4 

 feet apart and 600 feet or less in length, set on a grade of 1 foot per 100 

 feet. The entire supply is usually turned into two furrows, requiring 

 fifteen minutes to run tlu-ough. One nuin can irrigate an acre in four 

 hours. The cost of labor is $1.25 per day. The owner estimates that 

 the cost })er acre for fuel and labor is $1 for each irrigation, the depth 

 applied being i to U inches. 



Sweet corn is irrigated if dry at the time the ears are setting, or if 

 needetl, while the ears are growmg. In a good year unirrigated sweet 

 potatoes will yield from 100 to 300 bushels per acre. They are com- 

 monly planted May 20 and harvested in October. September is the 

 most important season for the irrigation of sweet potatoes, a single 

 irrigation in September having increased the value of the sweet potato 

 crop S40 per acre. 



No. 27. J. H. Shute, of Gloucester County, irrigates 1 acre of land, 

 planted in truck and strawberries, with water pumped from a 1^-inch 

 driven well 25 feet deep, provided with a strainer 4h feet long. The 

 cost of the well was $14. The water stands 14 feet below the ground 

 level. A hot-air engine drives a double-acting pump, which lifts the 

 water into a wooden tank 31 feet above the ground. The tank holds 

 2,000 gallons and the pump will fill it in seven hours. An 8-foot wind- 

 mill is also used for pumping from the same well. The hot-air engine 

 uses kerosene for fuel, at a cost of 7 cents per gallon. In a ten hours' 

 run the engine consumes 2 gallons of kerosene. 



The soil is a dark waxy loam 12 inches deep, with a clayey gravel 

 subsoil. The furrow S3^stem of irrigation is employed, water being 

 suppHed to the furrows through a hose. The furrows are 100 feet 

 long and 3 feet apart. Water is furnished to the field through 

 1 4-inch and f -inch pipes. The irrigation of an acre of ground will usu- 

 ally require 6 tanks of water, giving a depth of 0.35 inch. It requires 

 two days to irrigate 1 acre. The cost of the plant was $455, of 

 wliich the engine cost $130, the windmill and pump $125. the tank 

 $150, and the pipe $50. 



Celery is irrigated twice a week in the driest weather, receiving at 

 most 15 irrigations per year. Onions are irrigated every two to three 

 days and yield 600 bushels per acre. In 1903 the crop from one-third 

 of an acre brought $250 and would have failed without irrigation. On 

 the same land during the same year 60 barrels of onions, at $2.40 per 

 barrel, had previously been raised, making $394 from one-third of an 

 acre of land. 



