286 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



June 



for small fruits and early vegetables. 

 The firm admits that it made the mis- 

 take of going extensively into the field 

 of irrigation without sufficient tests of 

 the value, and have lately done away 

 with a large part of the irrigation sys- 

 tem which was first established on an 

 elaborate scale. They say that they 

 find that fine fruit is produced rather 

 through frequent cultivation than the 

 constant application of water. This ad- 

 mission shows that they fell into the 

 most common and most injurious fault 

 in the application of water, and one es- 

 pecially attributed to beginners, that of 

 over-irrigation. Now, on the other 

 hand, according to their own testimony, 

 thej^ have done away with irrigation, 

 yet none of their crops is raised without 

 the artificial application of water. This 

 illustrates the difficulty experienced in 

 getting statistics of irrigation in the 

 East, where the garden hose and small 

 ditch are not conceived to be irrigation 

 in any sense worthy of the name. 



The Hittinger Company plants its 

 strawberries in rows on little raised hills 

 and waters at infrequent intervals dur- 

 ing the growing season by letting water 

 run between the hills from open pipe or 

 hose. Lettuce is not ' ' irrigated ' ' at 

 all, yet the ground is thoroughly wet to 

 the depth of two or three feet, first being 

 watered with open hose and then by 

 trenches in which the water is allowed 

 to run for a day at a time. The lettuce 

 is then planted, and when ready for 



market is brighter, more crisp, and has 

 been grown with less trouble from plant 

 diseases than if it had been watered 

 every day or two. This, allowing for 

 the difference in the crop and the scale 

 on which it is planted, is identical with 

 the methods in use for the extensive 

 culture of lima beans in California, as 

 described in the May number of FOR- 

 ESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



The Hittinger plant makes use of a 

 special and very simple apparatus, and 

 one that is valuable where there are 

 inequalities in the surface of the ground, 

 for by its use the expense of leveling 

 and grading can be done away with. 

 The water supply is obtained from one 

 of the Boston city reservoirs, and comes 

 under a pressure of 25 pounds to the 

 square inch. In the center of each 

 quarter acre there is a firmly planted 

 post, six inches square and about seven 

 feet high. On top of this post is pivoted 

 a 2o-foot beam. A two-inch pipe runs 

 from a main pipe to the top of the post, 

 where, by means of an expansion joint, 

 it divides to form two ten-foot arms, to 

 the ends of which are coupled about 

 twenty feet of garden hose, terminating 

 in an ordinary nozzle. As the whole 

 apparatus revolves, it can be seen that 

 one man, with a force of water which 

 will throw a stream from 30 to 40 feet, 

 can effectually irrigate nearly half an 

 acre, and can so regulate the supply as 

 to suit the needs of a crop under any 

 condition or stage of growth. Six of 





MOVABLE SPRINKLERS ON FARM OF DAVID ASTLE, VINELAND, N. J. 



