THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



INSURES STRAWBERRY CROP BY IRRIGATION 



Overhead System Installed on Largest Strawberry Farm in World 



By F. W. PARK 



Always certain of rain The overhead irrigation system on the 

 Kellogg farm 



FEW people realize that the strawberry business 

 of the United States ranks only second in horti- 

 culture to the apple crop, and that each year there 

 is a rapid increase in this industry. 



The largest grower of strawberry plants in the 

 world is the R. M. Kellogg Company, Three Rivers, 

 Michigan. Beginning with 

 a few acres of straw- 

 berries, over thirty years 

 ago, the farm of this com- 

 pany has increased in size 

 until it now comprises an 

 immense plantation with 

 over 225 acres planted to 

 strawberries, and the 

 strawberry plants grown 

 on this farm are shipped 

 to every agricultural 

 county in the United 

 States, throughout the 

 provinces of Canada, to 

 Australia, China and Japan 

 and to many of the countries of Europe and South 

 America. 



To maintain its reputation for furnishing only 

 the most vigorous plants of pure breed, this com- 

 pany has constantly striven to improve its cultural 

 methods. One of the difficulties to overcome was 

 the uncertainty of the rainfall, and it was decided 

 that an overhead irrigation system offered the 

 logical solution of this problem, since the fine sprays 

 of this system afforded the best possible means of 

 watering delicate plants. The lands of this com- 

 pany are very level, and therefore well adapted for 

 an irrigation system, and the Portage River flows 

 along one side of the farm and furnishes an in- 

 exhaustible supply of water for pumping. Early in 

 the present year the primary irrigation system, 

 covering 65 acres, was installed, and to this the 

 Kellogg Company expects to add year by year until 

 the entire farm is under irrigation. 



After a thorough investigation of the overhead 

 irrigation systems operating throughout the coun- 

 try, it was decided to install the Skinner system, 

 made by the Skinner Irrigation Company, Troy, 



Another view of the irrigation system. 



Ohio, and the results of the first season of service 

 have proved very satisfactory. The accompanying 

 illustrations show interior and exterior views of the 

 pump house and a part of the overhead pipe system. 

 The quantity of pipe required for this initial 

 installation was in excess of 300 tons, and if the 

 overhead piping were strung out in a single line it 

 would extend a distance of approximately 25 miles. 

 The pumping plant is located on the bank of the 

 river, about the center of the side of the farm. 

 Water is elevated to the top of a bluff, about 50 

 feet high, from where it is forced through an under- 

 ground main discharge line, which extends across 

 the center of the farm, and from which 6-inch and 

 4-inch lateral lines lead to risers connecting with the 

 overhead system. All of the underground pipe is of 

 cast iron. The lengths of piping have bell and 

 spiggot ends and are leaded together. Each of the 

 feeder lines of pipe is equipped with a valve, by 

 means of which the water ma}' be turned on or off, 

 so that any desired part of the system may be placed 



in operation. 



All of the overhead 

 piping is of galvanized 

 iron, and ranges in size 

 from 2 inches down to Y$ 

 inch pipe, the greater the 

 distance from the source 

 of water supply, the 

 smaller the pipe. The 

 decrease in the size of 

 pipe in the ratio of dis- 

 tance is for the purpose 

 of maintaining a uniform 

 flow through the entire 

 system. 



The overhead pipes 

 which carry the water over the fields rest upon 

 risers about seven feet above ground, and at inter- 

 vals of about three feet along these lines nozzles are 

 placed through which the water flows. As the 



The pump house 



