8 BULLETIN 462, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



November to the middle of May. While there is seen to be a little 

 rain in January and February, it presumably was not of lasting 

 benefit. 



The two droughts shown above are remembered throughout the 

 State. It is asserted by the older residents that during both of them 

 pine trees died from lack of water, and many of these dead trees are 

 still standing as monuments to dry weather. The effect on the citrus 

 industry also was serious. Although but few of the older trees were 

 killed, nearly all lost their leaves and spring bloom ; but orange and 

 grapefruit trees have wonderful recuperative powers. When they 

 have lost all their young fruit in the spring, they often will put 

 forth a late bloom in June and mature this crop the next season. 

 This is called the " June bloom " throughout the State, and is very 

 common when heavy June rains follow a dry spring. The fruit from 

 the June bloom often is inferior in quality and not so marketable. 



There is a vast difference between the citrus crops and the truck 

 crops in their need for water. The character of the soil enters largely 

 into this difference and will be discussed in detail later. The average 

 truck crop can not stand a drought of even short duration without 

 serious loss. It is a common sight to see truck farmers irrigating 

 their crops three or four days after a good rain, and in most cases 

 truck crops are irrigated a dozen times before a citrus grove is 

 considered in actual need of water. 



Working in cooperation with the irrigation investigations of the 

 Department of Agriculture, a vegetable grower of Hypoluxo has 

 kept records of irrigation and rainfall from 1909 to 1913. His plant 

 is fitted with a meter which records the exact amount of water used. 

 His records also show the dates of each irrigation and the separate 

 amounts of water used. The dates are now of interest in examination 

 of the rainfall chart of Hypoluxo. (Fig. 1.) The amounts of water 

 will be taken up under another heading. 



The soil is sandy and representative of much of the sandy ham- 

 mock along the coast and through other parts of Florida. The 

 plants watered were mostly peppers and eggplant, although at times 

 other crops were raised on the same ground. The soil may be taken 

 as representative of much of the trucking soil of the State. 



The season of 1909-10, although dry, as shown by the chart, was not 

 excessively so, yet it was necessary to water the plants twenty times, 

 as follows: twice in October, three times in November, twice in 

 March, ten times in April, and three times in May. The early irriga- 

 tions were for the benefit of the young settings, which needed water 

 often. The spring irrigations were made to keep the plants in a flour- 

 ishing condition, as peppers and eggplant bear continuously through- 

 out the season if well cared for. It was necessary to irrigate only 



