8 BULLETIN" 462, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
November to the middle of May. While there is seen to be a little 
rain in January and February, it presumably was not of lasting 
benefit. 
The two droughts shown above are remembered throughout the 
State. It is asserted by the older residents that during both of them 
pine trees died from lack of water, and many of these dead trees are 
still standing as monuments to dry weather. The effect on the citrus 
industry also was serious. Although but few of the older trees were 
killed, nearly all lost their leaves and spring bloom ; but orange and 
grapefruit trees have, wonderful recuperative powers. When they 
have lost all their young fruit in the spring, they often will put 
forth a late bloom in June and mature this crop the next season. 
This is called the " June bloom " throughout the State, and is very 
common when heavy June rains follow a dry spring. The fruit from 
the June bloom often is inferior in quality and not so marketable. 
There is a vast difference between the citrus crops and the truck 
crops in their need for water. The character of the soil enters largely 
into this difference and will be discussed in detail later. The average 
truck crop can not stand a drought of even short duration without 
serious loss. It is a common sight to see truck farmers irrigating 
their crops three or four days after a good rain, and in most cases 
truck crops are irrigated a dozen times before a citrus grove is 
considered in actual need of water. 
Working in cooperation with the irrigation investigations of the 
Department of Agriculture, a vegetable grower of Hypoluxo has 
kept records of irrigation and rainfall from 1909 to 1913. His plant 
is fitted with a meter which records the exact amount of water used. 
His records also show the dates of each irrigation and the separate 
amounts of water used. The dates are now of interest in examination 
of the rainfall chart of Hypoluxo. (Fig. 1.) The amounts of water 
will be taken up under another heading. 
The soil is sandy and representative of much of the sandy ham- 
mock along the coast and through other parts of Florida. The 
plants watered were mostly peppers and eggplant, although at times 
other crops were raised on the same ground. The soil may be taken 
as representative of much of the trucking soil of the State. 
The season of 1909-10, although dry, as shown by the chart, was not 
excessively so, yet it was necessary to water the plants twenty times, 
as follows: twice in October, three times in November, twice in 
March, ten times in April, and three times in May. The early irriga- 
tions were for the benefit of the young settings, which needed water 
often. The spring irrigations were made to keep the plants in a flour- 
ishing condition, as peppers and eggplant bear continuously through- 
out the season if well cared for. It was necessary to irrigate only 
