26 



BULLETIN OF 



Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. 



IRRIGATION IN HUMID CLIMATES. 



By Prof. C. S. Phelps, Storrs {Connecticut) Agricultural Experiment Station. 



While irrigation is not a new subject, its importance in those 

 parts of the United States where the climate is naturally humid 

 has not been fully appreciated. In European countries, even 

 where the rainfall is quite large, the advantages of irrigation are 

 better known. In the older countries of the world, where the 

 population is relatively dense and' the value of lands is conse- 

 quently high, every possible means that will aid in assuring full 

 crops must be adopted. For one hundred years or more irrigation 

 has been practised in the naturally moist climates of Italy, Scotland 

 and England. The methods of artificial watering used in the old 

 world gradually found a place in New England, and to-day many 

 traces of old irrigation ditches may be found, especially where 

 small streams could be easily diverted and a natural flowage be 

 obtained. Several plain evidences of such irrigation systems, on 

 old farms in Connecticut, have come under the observation of the 

 writer. Most of these systems have been abandoned ; in many 

 cases because the farms were abandoned and in others because the 

 streams did not continue to give sufficient flow when irrigation was 

 most needed. Within the last ten years there has been a new 

 interest in irrigation and a lively agitation of the subject through 

 the agricultural press of the east, and small fruit and vegetable 

 growers are beginning to appreciate the value of artificial watering 

 to a greater extent than ever before. Its high value has been 

 demonstrated in a few striking instances by some of our leading 

 fruit growers, and these instances, together with the general inter- 

 est manifested in the subject, have led to much inquiry regarding 

 methods of irrigation adapted to the east. 



