PRINCIPLES OF PLANTING AND CULTIVATION 51 



pressure. This pressure can be secured by the use of a standpipe 

 or elevated tank, or by pumping directly into the mains. The 

 distribution of water by means of a " rose sprinkler " attached to a 

 hose is the simplest form of a sprinkler system and is extensively 

 employed in the frame culture of cucumbers, beets, radishes, and 

 plants not injured by overhead watering. 



A sprinkler system that can be used in field practice was devel- 

 oped about 1900 ; this was based on the use of large eddy-chamber 

 nozzles, each capable of sprinkling one square rod. The nozzles 

 are so distributed that the area to be wet is entirely covered. Since 

 the capacity of the nozzles, under forty pounds pressure, is one 

 inch per hour, the system is highly efficient and well suited for crops 

 that may be so watered. This plan is one of the best for irrigating 

 lawns. The pipes can be laid at the time the lawn is made and the 

 nozzles placed on a level with the surface so that the lawn mower 

 will pass over them. The system is efficient and not an obstruction 

 or an eyesore. 



One of the earliest sprinkler plants with which the writer is 

 familiar consisted of long lines of perforated gas pipe attached so 

 as to be rotated, and supplied with water under pressure. This 

 device was designed by a private gardener for watering a strawberry 

 bed. The pipes were set near the surface of the ground and so 

 arranged that by changing the angle from time to time the bed 

 could be watered on either side of the line of pipe as far as the jet 

 of water would carry. This idea has been modified at various times 

 and is now made the basis of one of the systems in common use. 

 Instead of having a simple perforated pipe, small nozzles of various 

 designs are fitted to tapped perforations, and the supply pipes, 

 instead of being placed on the surface of the ground, where they 

 interfere with cultivation, are placed on posts high enough to be 

 out of the way. This system is used in greenhouses as well as in 

 extensive field operations. It is a favorite plan of watering with 

 cultivators who use muslin-covered frames. It is economical of 

 water and is satisfactory for many crops. 



The muslin hose. A simple but useful method of wetting seed 

 beds and certain plants, where the water supply is not under high 

 pressure and where the furrow method cannot be employed, consists 

 in using a muslin hose. This is merely a tube of the desired length 



