56 Practical Farming 



need for irrigation on these lands is generally admitted. 

 But few as yet realize the importance of irrigation in sec- 

 tions where the rainfall is abundant, where it is dififerently 

 distributed. Our South Atlantic states have an abundant 

 rainfall, which is at times excessive, but at other times 

 they suffer from protracted drought. Cultivators, espe- 

 cially the market gardeners, are beginning to understand 

 that a supply of water available in dry weather often 

 makes all the difference between success and failure of 

 the crops. Instead of running water on the surface in 

 ditches the market gardeners of the South have devised a 

 system of overhead irrigation by means of iron pipes 

 elevated on posts high enough to work horses under. In 

 some cases the water is forced by a steam pump directly 

 through a main pipe of large size, from which lines of per- 

 forated pipes of smaller size branch forty feet apart from 

 each other. By this means a general shower is made over 

 the whole plot of land. In one instance we have exam- 

 ined eighteen acres are thus watered. In other cases the 

 water is pumped to an elevated tank and from there dis- 

 tributed by natural flow to the pipes. 



Another value has been found in this method of over- 

 head irrigation. This is for the purpose of warding off 

 damage from late spring frosts. The shower is kept up 

 during a frosty night, and the cold water, being always 

 above the frost point, with its latent heat prevents any 

 damage from the frost. In hilly districts where there are 

 running streams and low lands bordering them, irrigation 

 may often be done with economy on a small scale by the 

 natural flow of the stream being turned from above to 

 take a higher level in a ditch along the base of the uplands 



