No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 625 



aenemio, lacking in water, so ma}' a plant and in both cases they be- 

 come dry and many, many times the plants die. The soil loses its 

 sub-organic character, but given a certain amount of water and it is 

 at once alive or vitalized. We know that the great bulk of some 

 plants is nothing but water and that much of the substance of a plant 

 is taken from the soil water, yet many fail to appreciate the fact 

 that for every pound of solid matter thus added to a plant in growth, 

 it is necessary that several hundred pounds of water must be taken 

 in by the plant. Many plants on hot days exhale their own weight 

 in water in the course of a few hours, while others may exhale tons 

 ir a few days. In some cases it has been possible for scientists to 

 measure such water and they tell us that there must be on an aver- 

 age of four hundred pounds of water pass through some plants for 

 every pound of dry matter added and furthermore that there seems 

 to be a direct relation between the quantity of water supplied to the 

 soil and the quantity of the crop yielded. This fact is illustrated 

 very plainly by comparing the cacti growth on the dry lands with 

 the luxuriant forests in other sections where the soil is supplied 

 with more water. It is still further noted in the variation in crops 

 from season to season. This ratio can, of course, only be approxi- 

 mated as soils differ in composition and texture as do the yields of 

 tender vegetables and fruits as compared with grains, nuts and dry 

 forage. At present, however, it may be briefly stated that the agri- 

 cultural duty of water may be to produce 1-1000 part of its weight 

 in the average crop and 1-4000 of its weight in grains. 



So far it has been inferred that water is needed only to bring 

 crops to maturity and nothing has been said as to the need of water 

 to promote even and rapid germination of the seed in the ground on 

 the value of water at the time of setting plants in the open ground 

 from green-house or cold frame. Uneven germination produces 

 an uneven crop and how many thousands of plants are lost every 

 year at transplanting time because of two or three hot days, when 

 v^^ater cannot be supplied fast enough by the soil. It is appropriate 

 at this point to present a few results that have been obtained by 

 two or three of the state experiment stations. 



RESULTS OP EXPERIMENTS 



Experiments at the Michigan Station have shown that cabbage 

 yields have been increased to the amount of |150 per acre, some 

 varieties doing better than others. 



Tomato yields were increased to an average amount of |100 

 per acre, while potatoes showed a gain of 150 bushels per acre. 



The New Jersey Station reports the following results with beans: 

 Non-irrigated plots, 17 pounds; irrigated plots, 45 pounds. Peppers, 

 non-iirigated plots, 717 fruits; irrigated plots, 1,277 fruits; or at 

 the rate of 80 pounds on the non-irrigated plots and 147 pounds on 

 the irrigated plots. Celery, non-irrigated plots about 136 pounds; 

 or 1 to S in "market" value of the crop, the irrigated plots yielding 

 329 pounds. 



40—6—1911 



