Rain When the Farmer Wants It 



What an overhead irrigating system 

 has done for a New Jersey farm 



MOST people think farming is a 

 gamble. They ha^•e good reason to 

 believe this, because the farmer is 

 dependent on the weather and nothing is 

 more fickle than that. But just the same, 

 one shrewd Jerse>man has found a thor- 

 oughly effective way to make his fruitful 

 acres ripen on schedule time and with an 

 amazing bounty — let the rains fall or the 

 sun shine as they will. 



Charles F. Seabrook has a farm at 

 Bridgeton, New Jersey, of 273 acres, and 

 nearly half of this area is irrigated so that 

 the thirsty plants may be satisfied in keep- 

 ing with their lusty growth. Xo, Mr. Sea- 

 brook is not a rainmaker, as the term is 

 ordinarily understood, but he is able to 

 produce beneficent showers at will over an 

 expanse of no acres. It is a pipe dream 

 come true. This is literally correct, for he 

 employs an extensive installation of over- 

 head conduits from <v:"' ich the necessar>' 

 water is sprayed so that it falls like a 

 gentle rain upon the soil. In this he 

 imitates Nature at her best and avoids 

 some of her mistakes. 



A heaw rain beating down upon the 

 earth packs the surface. Instead of soak- 

 ing into the ground much of the water 

 remains upon the surface. The sun comes 

 out and dries it up, and at the same time 

 bakes the earth and leaves a hardened 



crust. Unless this is broken up, but little 

 of the next rain can filter into the earth 

 beneath. The gentle rain artificially pro- 

 duced by the overhead piping does not 

 injure the soil's texture, and wellnigh every 

 drop works its way into the ground and 

 does its share towards stimulating plant 

 growth. 



Most of us know little of the part that 

 water plays in the cycle of vegetation, nor 

 do we realize how much water is needed in 

 plant life. For even,- ton of hay that is cut 

 from the field, five hundred tons of water 

 have been required to bring the grass to matu- 

 rity! The water works down through the 

 soil dissolving the plant food so that the roots 

 can thus absorb nourishment. From the 

 roots the water passes up through the stalk 

 to the leaves, by which it is exposed to the 

 air, and evaporates. The more vigorous the 

 plant the greater its thirst, and the more 

 abundant the leafing the bigger the demand 

 for moisture lest the circulation fail and the 

 foliage wither in the sun. 



In order to promote active growth, Mr. 

 Seabrook fertilizes his soil \er\- richly, and 

 then in order that his growing crops may be 

 nourished abundantly he sees to it that his 

 acres are commensurately irrigated. When 

 Nature is disposed to help he lets her do so, 

 but when she lags he comes to the rescue. 

 Thus his growing crops never lack rain. 





Overhead conduits are installed in such a way that practically none of the growing space is in- 

 terfered with. The water falls in a gentle spray imitating Nature's method at its best 



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