IRRIGATING VEGETABLES IN NEW YORK 

 Paul Woke: 



Superintendent and Instructor, Department of Vegetable Gardening, Cornell 

 University 3 Ithaca. X. Y. 



PRACTICABILITY 



The casual observer in passing through the market gardening 

 sections in the neighborhood of our cities cannot fail to notice 

 lines of pipe supported on posts extending through many of the 

 lields. Unless he happens along at just the right time he will 

 wonder as to the uses of these lines. If he stops to inquire he will 

 learn that each bears tiny nozzles spaced three or four feet apart, 

 and that each is connected at the end with a water supply main. 

 A conversation with the owner of the place will perhaps lead to a 

 demonstration of the apparatus and he will see that these mina- 

 ture nozzels are capable of applying water to a belt of twenty-five 

 or thirty feet on each side, and that by means of a specially con- 

 structed union the whole line can be turned to cast water to cover 

 ground at a considerable distance, in the intermediate space, or 

 directly under the line, the latter being accomplished by means 

 of a vertical throw. The flow is controlled by means of an ordi- 

 nary globe or gate valve. 



WATEB SUPPLY 



The next question which naturally arises in the mind of the 

 observer is that of the water supply. There are few places where 

 water cannot be had under conditions which would make its use 

 profitable. In some instances a small pumping plant is estab- 

 lished by the side of a stream or pond. A three-horsepower 

 engine and a duplex pump is able to furnish 100 gallons of water 

 per minute at a pressure of 30 pounds and at a cost of about ten 

 cents per hour. As different areas can be watered successively, 

 this is sufficient to take care of several acres. Other gardeners 

 sink wells to a deep water-bearing stratum lying below. Some 

 use a number of driven wells connected together. Others use 

 single wells of large diameter which have a great gathering surface. 



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