IN THE CITRUS INDUSTRY 27 



As no rain is expected between May i and November i, 

 it is necessary to supply the trees with moisture by artificial 

 methods. One common practice is to apply the water once 

 a month during the dry season, but the amount applied and 

 the manner in which the operation is carried on vary ac- 

 cording to the soil, the slope of the land and the success 

 of cultural methods employed for conserving the moisture. 

 The most usual way to irrigate an orchard is to make 

 furrows between the rows of trees, and then turn into the 

 furrows a constant stream of such a size that it will prac- 

 tically all be absorbed by the time it reaches the lower end 

 of the row. An even distribution of water to each tree 

 for the same number of hours is the ideal, and a skilled 

 irrigator can estimate and regulate these streams with 

 amazing accuracy. Each furrow is numbered, and the ir- 

 rigator from the lower end of the row inspects the furrows 

 and notes on a card the condition of each. Good irrigators 

 work much harder with their heads and their pencils than 

 with their shovels. According to the composition of the 

 ,soil the number of furrows between two rows of trees varies 

 from one to eight and the time that the water is allowed 

 to run in each furrow varies from four or five hours to 

 two or three days. 



Irrigating water is ordinarily supplied through concrete 

 pipes with automatic turn-outs or through flumes, either 

 concrete or wooden, laid along the highest side of the grove. 

 Lack of water for irrigation is one of the most effective 

 checks to an extension of the producing area, and it is the 

 height of folly to plant a grove without being reasonably 

 sure that water can be developed on the land or delivered 

 to the land from more remote sources. Differences in the 

 cost of water for irrigation purposes are among the most 

 important causes of differences in cost of production in 

 various districts. Water may be obtained from bored wells 



