32 



a hose to 2-inch mains running throufjh the farm. These mains are 

 taken up in winter. The pump will operate twenty-one water witches, 

 which are run for an hour and a half in one place for a thorough irri- 

 gation, after which the pipe is moved in sections a chstance of 25 feet. 

 It takes three men fifteen minutes to move and set up a line of twenty- 

 one sprinklers. 



The soil is of a black waxy consistency 1 foot deep, with a clay sub- 

 soil. It requires one hundred hours to irrigate 12 acres. In dry 

 weather truck is irrigated every week. The crops grown consist of 

 celery, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, and radishes. Two crops a year 

 are usually grown. 



No. 33. F. J. Forthuber, of Essex County, irrigates 15 acres by 

 pumping from a creek. A 20-horsepower vertical boiler supplies 

 steam under 79 pounds pressure to a duplex steam pump with a 4-inch 

 suction pipe 50 feet long and a 3-inch discharge pipe 1,200 feet long, 

 with outlets 50 to 100 feet apart. The vertical lift is 70 feet, but the 

 water pressure usually carried at the pump station is 70 to 100 pounds. 

 Hard nut coal, at a cost of $4.25 per ton, is used for fuel, the consump- 

 tion being 500 pounds in ten hours. The annual consumption is 6 to 

 12 tons. Water witches are mounted on f-inch pipe rising vertically 

 from a li-inch pipe line. The water-witch line is connected with 

 unions every three lengths (60 feet). The pump supplies twenty 

 water witches, wliich are spaced 20 feet apart, and it takes three men 

 fifteen' minutes to move a line of twenty. If the land is very dry 

 they are run in the same place for an hour. Tliis irrigation is repeated 

 the next day, and after that once or twice a week. The pump deliv- 

 ers 150 gallons per minute and will irrigate 1 acre in ten hours, giv- 

 ing a depth of about 3.5 inches. 



Lettuce, celery, and other kinds of truck are irrigated not over 

 six times per crop, starting in May. Celery and lettuce are the crops 

 most improved by irrigation. 



The total cost of the plant was $2,000, and the owner estimates 

 that in 1902 irrigation increased the value of the crops $1,000. For 

 the last two years it has been of no material benefit and is said to 

 do considerable harm when followed by heavy rains. 



No. 34. Henry Schumacher, of Morris County, irrigates 10 acres 

 of truck from the city waterworks, paying $1.50 per thousand cubic 

 feet. A l^-inch main is run through the farm for a distance of 

 600 feet, vnih taps 100 feet apart. Six water witches on half-inch 

 pipe are mounted 15 feet apart on a section of l|-inch pipe. With 

 the usual pressure they will irrigate a space 15 feet wide. Three men 

 are required to move the line of w^itches, which are run one-half hour 

 to an hour in the same place. Eight hundred feet of f-inch hose, 

 costing 8 cents a foot, is used, in lengths of 200 feet or less. The 



