CHAPTER XL 

 IRRIGATION. 



O matter how rich our country may be in an 

 agricultural way, or how deep and black the 

 soil, it would soon cease to produce if moisture 

 were withheld, as all plant growth absorbs 

 food in liquid form. In the first place the very 

 microbes, whose function it is to prepare the 

 meals underground, cease action and become 

 dormant when the soil becomes dry, but are 

 awakened to active life at once upon coming into contact with 

 moisture. Unfortunately there is no known land on this wide 

 earth where it rains just enough either to suit plant development 

 or to please everybody, hence if we wish to be uniformly success- 

 ful we must supply as well as remove water artificially. In loca- 

 tions where the moisture supply is under absolute control, the most 

 intensive and successful farm operations are carried on and the 

 greatest amount of products grown per acre. . 



Successful planters, being ambitious, are continually striving to 

 do better, hence better methods are adopted as quickly as they are 

 a proven success, and for this reason many are preparing to 

 irrigate in all parts of South Florida, especially since our crops 

 here are grown principally in or during the dry season of the 

 year. 



There is considerable inquiry in regard to the irrigation sub- 

 ject, and various kinds of plants are being installed. The styles 

 of plants are governed by the kind of soil and subsoil, whether 

 sand, muck, clay, or marl, the latter three possessing the faculty of 

 retaining moisture to a much greater degree than the first named. 

 The water supply also governs the kind of plant installed to a 

 large degree. On land with sand or rock subsoil, irrigation is 



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