January 23, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



41 



rates the coarse particles still more from each other, and it is 

 lessened by admixture of such substances as lime and muck. 

 On wild vegetation, growing on undisturbed land, drought 

 seems to inflict less damage than it does in other states. 

 Without pausing to consider these seemingly contradictory 

 phenomena, it suffices to say that the spring drought in 

 Florida is an obstacle that cannot be overcome or counter- 

 acted except by some system of irrigation. 



may be termed intensive gardening, and in localities where 

 there is good demand for garden produce. It is a modifica- 

 tion of Mr. A. N. Cole's system — an adaptation of it to sandy 

 land, the prhiciple involved being the retention of water sup- 

 ply just beneath the roots, so that by capillary action it may 

 readily be supplied to them as needed. The first essential is 

 an abundant supply of water, as from an artesian well, and the 

 second is a subterranean reservoir or trench which will retain 



Fig. 88. — Tlex Araelanchier. — See page 40. 



In a soil so porous as that of Florida surface irrigation is 

 impracticable. Windmills and other mechanical means of 

 raising water are too expensive, except in peculiarly favorable 

 locations. Artesian wells are most satisfactory, but they are 

 not for poor men; and after a flow of water is obtained there 

 arises the problem of distributing it to best advantage. 



On the eastern coast of Florida, at Daytona and a few other 

 places, there has come into use within two or three years a 

 system of sub-irrigation, which answers admirably for what 



a small quantity of water, and allow an excess, as from heavy 

 rainfall, to escape. 



The productiveness of the first gardens thus irrigated was so 

 surprising that last winter a stock company was formed, with 

 a capital of $50,000, for the establishment of an extensive gar- 

 den at Ormond. In their construction parallel trenches are 

 dug two hundred feet long by four feet wide and twenty-two 

 inches deep, they being sixteen feet apart between sides and 

 ends. A thin mortar is then prepared, composed of one part 



