8o 



VEGETABLE GARDENING 



plans, some of which have been described, have been 

 used to a very limited extent since the early days when 

 Peter Henderson was a practical gardener on Long 

 Island. None of the methods, however, became univer- 

 sally popular until the Skinner system was introduced 

 in 1904. This is an overhead method used in hundreds 

 of gardens and greenhouses. Its success, when properly 

 installed, is universally admitted. 



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FIG. l6. NOZZLES FOR THE SKINNER SYSTEM OF IRRIGATION 



The advantages of this system of watering may be 

 summarized as follows: (i) The water falls in the finest 

 spray, thus preventing the washing and hard incrusta- 

 tion of the soil ; (2) the water is distributed with the 

 greatest uniformity; (3) there is no injury to the plant 

 by the force of the water; (4) very little labor is required 

 to operate the system; (5) because the water falls as in 



