46 BULLETIN 462, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



These lands need water badly when the rainfall is light, as the 

 ground dries out rapidly. Conditions here are similar to those in the 

 Manatee section. It will be seen from the Fort Myers rainfall chart 

 (fig. 3) that long droughts are very common, probably as much so 

 as in any part of the State. 



SUMMARY OF IRRIGATION PLANTS IN USE. 



The above descriptions include all types of irrigation plants for 

 trucking and citrus culture which are of any importance. It will 

 be noted that all the plants are owned and operated by individuals, 

 the irrigator owning his own water system and using it as he sees fit. 

 He is not confronted with the water-right problems which vex the 

 western irrigator, nor does he have to wait his turn for the water or 

 pay irrigation district assessments. On the other hand, he has had to 

 depend for information on men who were not experienced in irriga- 

 tion methods, which often has meant poorly designed and costly 

 plants, while his western neighbor has the advantage of the experience 

 of previous generations of irrigators. The irrigation plants in Flor- 

 ida are scattered over a large territory, where the experience of one 

 district may be of little use in another. 



It will be noticed, however, that where there are uniform conditions 

 of soil, water supply, and cropping, similar methods have been fol- 

 lowed. This is true especially of the sections where flowing wells have 

 been obtained. It is interesting to note that in the Sanford and 

 Hastings trucking districts and in the Fort Myers citrus district irri- 

 gation is general, probably 90 per cent of the cultivated acreage being 

 under irrigation. The average price of installation is low, probably 

 less than $10 per acre for the open-ditch systems of Hastings, $20 

 for the Fort Myers systems, and about $125 per acre for the systems 

 used in the Sanford district. The need for irrigation is not to be 

 denied and should be heeded if the water can be applied without too 

 great expense. 



Leaving these areas for less favored ones where water can not be 

 supplied at such reasonable cost, entirely different conditions will be 

 found. Many designs of plants are in use, most of them very ex- 

 pensive. This is due not entirely to the lack of flowing wells, but to 

 the fact that soil conditions will not permit the adoption of the 

 open- ditch or subirrigation methods, and the expense attached to 

 pumping water would not allow such wasteful methods of applying 

 water even if the soil conditions were favorable. Instead of the 

 cost of plants ranging from $10 to $125 per acre it varies from 

 $100 to $500 per acre, with very few near the lower figure. Large 

 expenditures for the irrigation of truck crops doubtless are justified 

 in many cases, but there is some question whether this is true in the 

 case of the groves. 



