1903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



347 



of the drains are opened to carry off the 

 excess water, and the operation has been 

 completed with but little expenditure 

 of time and labor. It can be readily 

 understood, however, that this system 

 is available for use only where the con- 

 ditions described exist. Where the 

 hard-pan comes within 3 or 4 feet of the 

 surface, this is a complete and satis- 

 factory system, rendering its user abso- 

 lutely independent of rainfall ; but soil 

 conditions have to be thoroughly under- 

 stood before such a system is installed ; 

 otherwise every bit of work and expense 

 might be wasted. 



Another Florida system, where crops 

 are tilled by hand, is based on the use 

 of overhead iron pipes with sprinklers. 

 A pump connected with a well forced 

 the water through a main pipe run 

 straight across the center of the field 

 and from this main pipe laterals are run 

 out at right angles to each side, clear 

 across the field in the other direction. 

 At intervals along these laterals are 

 stand-pipes about 4 feet high, and on 

 top of these are rotary sprinklers. The 

 lateral pipes are only about a foot above 

 the ground and are supported on solid 

 board partitions, thus dividing the field 

 into compartments, each of these being 

 tilled separately. The most unique 

 thing about this scheme is the protec- 

 tion it affords against frost. When 

 there is any danger from freezing, 

 wooden bows are put across these beds 

 or compartments, and sheets of cotton 

 cloth are stretched over these ; then the 

 main supply pipe is connected with the 

 steam-boiler and steam forced through 

 all the pipes, raising the temperature 

 beneath the sheets, and over the whole 

 field , many degrees above the frost mark. 

 This insures the grower against the two 

 causes which operate toward a loss of 

 crops in Florida drouth in spring and 

 early summer and freezing in winter. 

 Thus equipped, the gardener is inde- 

 pendent of the vagaries of nature as 

 known in Florida, and has reduced the 

 question of production to a certainty. 



The foregoing systems are examples 

 of what has been done by wide-awake 

 irrigators in Florida in adapting special 

 means to special needs. The method 

 employed on the leading farms, after the 



water supply has been secured from 

 well, stream, or lake, is to run continu- 

 ous underground cement pipes to hy- 

 drants, plugs, or standpipes, from which 

 the water is distributed in furrows. The 

 pipes are made and laid at the same 

 time by a machine working in a trench 

 previously prepared, and extend without 

 break to any part of the field. The pipe 

 is composed of two parts sand and one 

 of cement, with a usual inside dimension 

 of 3 inches and an outside one of 6 

 inches. Sand is obtainable everywhere 

 in the state, and the cost of such pipe 

 is about 10 cents a foot. 



Texas Passing by the extensive rice 

 irrigation works of Louisiana and Texas 

 and other Southern States, as enterprises 

 requiring great areas and large capital, 

 although there are many small tracts 

 which gro\v rice profitably, we come to 

 the general question of the value of irri- 

 gation in these states as an offset for 

 drouth conditions. A glance at the 

 figures for the four principal crops of 

 Texas cotton, corn, wheat, and oats- 

 shows their total annual valuation to be 

 about $200,000,000. A dry year cuts 

 these values in half, which represents 

 an actual loss to the state of $100,- 

 000,000. It is not to be expected that 

 irrigation will save this amount in a 

 season of drouth, but it should do much 

 to obviate a large part of the loss. 



The coastal plains and the artesian 

 belt in the neighborhood of San Anton;c 

 could make greater use of irrigatio 

 than at present. Mr. F. F. Collins o' 

 San Antonio, irrigates from an artesian 

 well, making his crops sure, and ex- 

 plaining that therein lies the big profits 

 in farming. He purchased 148 acres cl 

 mesquite prairie, having sufficient slept 

 to allow water to reach all parts of it b> 

 gravity. His well flowed 1,000 gallons 

 per minute, enough water to irrigate 

 400 acres. A second well was put down, 

 but the combined flow was no greater 

 than that from the single one, showing 

 that the first one had just about gauged 

 the capacity of the water vein. 



The farm was divided into i2 1 J -acre 

 plots, each with a small, comfortable 

 house and good barn. Water pipes were 

 conducted from a 4, 000,000- gallon reser- 

 voir, into which the well discharged 



