596 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



also irrigated after the cutting of the second crop August 15 and Sep- 

 tember 10. The total amount of water applied varied from 5.19 to 

 8.97 in. 



"From the 5.83 acres of ground were cut 19.14 tons of hay, containing 15.3 per cent 

 water. The second crop this year on adjacent land not irrigated was 1 ton per acre, 

 and using this as a basis of comparison the increase of the second crop due to irri- 

 gation averaged 2,071 lbs. per acre, or 12,074 lbs., equal to 6.04 tons on the 5.83 acres. 

 To this should be added the third crop of pasturage, which exceeded 2 tons from the 

 whole area, making the gain due to irrigation 8 tons in all." 



Experiments with cabbage. — This is an account of a continuation of 

 experiments of the previous year (E. S. 11., 8, p. 689). 



"The primary object of the cabbage experiment was to see if it is not possible to 

 grow a larger number of good heads upon a given area where an abundance of water 

 is applied at the right time by irrigation than is possible where the natural rainfall 

 alone is depended upon. . . . 



"The rows were all set 30 in. apart, and on one-half of the plat the plants were 

 set 15 in. in the row and on the other 30 in. in the row, or at the rate of 13,939 and 

 6,969 plants per acre, respectively." 



The actual stand per acre was 12,030 plants in case of thick setting 

 and 5,470 in case of thin setting. 



"A larger percentage of plauts headed on the more open stand and 

 also a slightly larger percentage on the not irrigated land than on that 

 irrigated." 



The cabbages were irrigated 4 times (July 21, August 3 and 10, and 

 September 3), applying a little over 2 in. each time, or 8.25 in. in all. 



The results per acre were'as follows : 



Average weight per head and yield per acre of cabbages. 



Thin planting: 



Irrigated 



Not irrigated 

 Thick planting: 



Irrigated 



Not irrigated 



Firm heads. 



Total. 



Average 

 weight. 



rounds. 

 7.60 

 6.95 



5.13 

 4.46 



Pounds. 

 30, 610 

 29. 480 



40,590 

 40, 100 



Loose heads. 



Average 

 weight. 



Total. 



Leaves 



and stems 



(total). 



Pounds. Pounds. 

 4. 88 ! 6, 227 

 4.23 ' 4,624 



3.23 

 2.39 



5, 943 



Pounds. 



4-j. r.vd 



49, 220 



64, 100 

 57, 630 



The cost and profit <>/ irrigation by pumping. — An exact estimate of 

 the cost of irrigation at the station could not be made because the 

 plant was not used to its full capacity. Observations, however, showed 

 that with a ton of coal costing $4 the plant raised 0.9248 acre-inch of 

 water each hour a distance of 26 ft. at a cost of 16.74 cts. per hour for 

 fuel. 



"With coal costing 16.74 cts. per hour, and charging 15 cts. per hour 

 each for engine, engineer, and water distributor, the cost per acre-inch 

 would be 66.76 cts/' Applying these figures to the above experiments 

 it was found that "in spite of the very high cost of the water used 

 there is still a decided balance in favor of irrigation in humid climates 

 even for ordinary field crops such as corn ($2.16 per acre), potatoes 



