IRRIGATION IN HUMID CLIMATES 



409 



Irrigated 



Not Irrigated 



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Irrigated 



Weather Bureau. No part of the country, no matter 

 what its total annual rainfall may be, is wholly free from 

 periods of drought. Occasionally, these periods are so long 

 and so severe as to cause almost the absolute failure of 

 crops with all the evils attending crop failure. It is to 

 protect the farmer against such periods of drought that 

 irrigation in humid regions is advisable. 



243. Results of irrigation in humid regions. Irrigation 

 in humid regions, as already suggested, is not a new prac- 

 tice; it has simply 

 failed to arouse any 

 large interest among Plat 1 

 the people living under 

 humid conditions. In 2 



recent years, consider- 

 able experimental 3 

 work has been con- 

 ducted in various 4 

 parts of the humid 

 regions of the United 

 States, having in view 

 the determination of 

 the advantage resulting from the use of irrigation water 

 in localities that may safely be classed as humid. 



Bowie investigated about 125 irrigated meadows, in 

 four counties, in the state of Pennsylvania, the average 

 yields of which were contrasted with similar unirrigated 

 meadows in the same localities. The average of the 125 

 observations showed that irrigation just doubled the yield. 

 In other states, similar investigations of meadows have 

 been made, with practically the same results. In the 

 eastern United States, irrigation doubles the harvests 

 from ordinary meadows. 



Not Irrigated 



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FIG. 119. Comparative yields of strawberries, 

 irrigated and unirrigated. (Connecticut, 



1895J 



