ORANGE CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 43 



"The objections to some systems of sub-irrigation have been 

 that the fibrous roots of weeds and plants would work into the 

 pipe through the openings for the escape of water, and thus 

 choke up the pipe ; also, that as the water was running out of 

 the pipe, at the lower end of the tract, after the water from the 

 supply pipe had been shut off, the pipe would suck mud from 

 the openings at the upper end, thus filling up the pipe. Both 

 of these objections have been overcome by the system adopted 

 by Mr. Hamilton, as neither roots nor mud come in contact 

 with the openings in the pipe. 



"The advantages of sub-irrigation are many. In the first 

 place, but a very small proportion of the water used by the 

 flooding system is needed by using this system of pipes; hence, 

 a given water supply will extend over a much greater surface. 

 This is a great saving, as water is worth more than land. When 

 the system of pipes is once established, the work required per 

 acre is much less than when the surface is being continually 

 flooded. Again, the work of irrigating an acre of orchard by 

 this system is nothing as compared with the necessary work of 

 making the ditches and basins every month, before the irri- 

 gation, and plowing and cultivating them up again, as is now 

 practiced. 



"The ground cannot bake when sub-irrigation is used. A 

 man can irrigate when he pleases, and cultivate when he gets 

 ready, and no harm is done. The moisture will extend from 

 twelve to sixteen feet each way from the irrigating pipe, in a 

 sandy or loamy soil, so that when a system of pipes is laid 

 through an orchard, with a pipe along each row of trees, the 

 entire area of the orchard is kept moist and in condition to pro- 

 duce crops. 



"Some five years ago we had a long conversation with I. N. 

 Hoag, who was then Secretary of the State Agricultural Society. 

 He had seen a system of underground irrigation tried in Sacra- 

 mento. He gave the theory a hearty indorsement, but the 

 system referred to by him is liable to the criticism above men- 

 tioned the pipe would fill up with roots and suck mud. 



"Can the system be cheapened any? 



" We do not wish to be understood as advising the system of 



