IRRIGATION IN FLORIDA. 45 
on, the portable pipe is connected by pushing the joints together, 
and through it the water is transported to any desired part of the 
grove. The furrows carry the water some distance, which reduces 
somewhat the labor necessary in transferring the lengths of pipe. 
The work is hard and requires some experience and judgment, but 
the results are highly satisfactory and the plant is cheap and durable. 
The pipe costs 20 cents per foot, or $200 for the entire distributing 
system, which is less than $10 per acre. The cost of the well, pump, 
and engine was very high, on account of the difficulty of drawing 
water from a bored well where the water level stands 50 feet below 
the surface of the ground. Construction of a pump pit was difficult, 
as the sandy soil extends to great depths. If this place bordered on 
a lake, as do many of the Florida groves, the total cost per acre would 
have been light. 
IRRIGATION OF GROVES FROM FLOWING WELLS BY THE SURFACE METHOD. 
The method of irrigation from flowing wells, as practiced exten- 
sively in Lee County around Fort Myers, is cheap and efficient. The 
groves irrigated by the free flow of water from artesian wells are 
necessarily on the lower lands, as flowing wells are not obtained on 
the higher elevations in the State, and, as a rule, can not be expected 
above the 50 to 60 foot contour. (The highest elevation in Florida 
is about 275 feet above sea level.) The ground surface in the Fort 
Myers flowing- well area is mostly level, nearly all the groves requir- 
ing drainage during the rainy season. The trees usually are grown 
on ridges or embankments of earth in order to keep them above 
standing water in times of heavy rainfall. The depressions between 
the rows also act as drainage ditches to carry off any excess water. 
The average depth of wells here is about 500 feet. Some have 
a strong flow and exert a pressure as high as 20 pounds at the 
well when capped. The cost of wells depends on the size and depth 
and varies from $500 to $1,000. The average well in most groves 
will water 20 to 40 acres. Some of the larger groves have a number 
of wells in convenient locations. 
Between 2,000 and 3,000 acres are irrigated by this method in Lee 
County. Some of the larger groves contain 100 to 500 acres, the 
average size of the irrigated grove being about 50 acres, most of 
which is in grapefruit. 
Distribution of water in this section requires no particular refine- 
ment of methods, as the supply is abundant and there is no operating 
cost after the well is dug. For the distribution of water most of the 
growers use open ditches, which require no particular attention. 
Others run water in several furrows in each space between the tree 
rows, sometimes using rough wooden control gates. 
