22 



The Plant World. 



ticular locality, the book will prove a disappointment to him and 



perhaps be misleading. 



After condemning the folly of over irrigation in general, 

 which is a very common practice among farmers, the author 

 goes on to say: "A rosebush needs water * * * A garden 

 hose thrust near a bush and allowed to flow freely for an hour 

 or two every day will furnish enough moisture for the roots." 

 But in the extremely arid region of southern Arizona with high 

 summer temperatures and low humidity, the writer of this 

 article maintains a rose garden of thirty bushes representing as 

 many varieties by watering six to nine hours a month according 

 to the season of the year, with a three-fourths inch hose under 

 rather light pressure. This is less than one-fourth the amount 

 of water which the author recommends for a rosebush. Culti- 

 vation is made use of as suggested in the book. 



In the chapter on windmills the author speaks of a "Merry- 

 go- Round" mill which cost four dollars and seventy-five cents 

 (54.75) for material, and which pumps an eight inch stream of 

 water irrigating ten acres. He does not, however, state the 

 rapidity of the flow of the stream, the depth from which the water 

 is pumped, the amount of annual rainfall supplementing irri- 

 gation nor the kind of crops grown. In Arizona, a well installed 

 modern, twelve-foot windmill and 4000 gallon storage tank 

 costing at least four hundred dollars (S400.00) will supply suf- 

 ficient water for domestic purposes for two or three houses, 

 irrigate two or three dozen trees and shrubs throughout the year, 

 and occasionally, a garden of a few square rods during the fall, 

 winter and spring months. Winds are not continuous here, as 

 a rule, and the depth of pumping is commonly from forty to 

 one hundred feet. The statement in the book is entirely mis- 

 leading, therefore, if one has in mind a locality where any con- 

 siderable amount of irrigation is necessary, or if one has to pump 

 water from even ordinary depths. In conclusion the writer 

 would not be understood as condemning the book; but while 

 there is much of real merit in it, it also has serious faults from 

 the standpoint of practical irrigation. 



J. J. Thorxber, 



