8o 
VEGETABLE GARDENING 
plans, some of which have been described, have oeen 
used to a very limited extent since the early days when 
Peter Henderson was a practical gardener on Long 
Island. None of the methods, however, became univer- 
sally popular until the Skinner system was introduced 
in 1904. This is an overhead method used in hundreds 
of gardens and greenhouses. Its success, when properly 
installed, is universally admitted. 
FIG. 16. NOZZLES, QUICK ACTING COUPLING, AND 
FLUSH VALVE, SKINNER SYSTEM OF IRRIGATION 
The advantages of this system of watering may be 
^summarized as follows: (1) The water falls in the finest 
spray, thus preventing the washing and hard incrusta- 
tion of the soil; (2) the water is distributed with the 
greatest uniformity; (3) there is no injury to the plant 
by the force of the water; (4) very little labor is required 
to onerate the svstem ; ( O because the water falls as in 
