130 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
These valves should ordinarily be placed 
in every other tree row so not to be struck 
by plow or harrow. 
We have found by a series of experi¬ 
ments that water can be run over the 
sandiest of Florida soils if there is some 
grade and you have large heads of water. 
If the soil is the ordinary soil you will 
be able to distribute the water in four or 
five furrows running parallel about two 
to three feet apart in each middle. If the 
soil is very sandy you will need to make 
one furrow with a turn plow, in or near 
the center of each middle and rush a big 
head of water to the end, then flooding 
each tree beginning at the bottom. It 
is a good idea to plow a couple of cross 
furrows perpendicular to the water fur¬ 
row, thus helping you flood your trees. 
If the soil is too sandy or as is the case 
around Miami too rocky to use the fur¬ 
row method, or as is the case in some 
parts of the West Coast too flat and 
bumpy, we can still use this same sys¬ 
tem by the utilization of the “Slip 1 Joint 
method.” This method of distributing 
water is used extensively in the west to 
irrigate alfalfa, where the ground is not 
leveled or the heads are too small to flood. 
This slip joint pipe, is simply a por¬ 
table galvanized sheet iron pipe of light¬ 
weight, usually made in ten foot lengths 
and slipped together like stove pipe. One 
man can handle a ten foot joint of ten- 
inch pipe with ease. Six-inch pipe will 
be large enough to handle 300 to 400 gal¬ 
lons per minute, and can be handled much 
easier than hose. 
I will not go into much detail concern¬ 
ing methods of handling and making such 
pipe, as methods are almost self evident. 
The pipe fits onto the valve described 
above and water is flooded around one 
tree at a time by beginning at the top 
and putting on a couple of joints when 
you wish to water another tree. In other 
words this pipe takes the place of water 
furrow. It is more trouble than handling 
the water furrow, but it is adaptable to 
all conditions and does not permit any 
waste. I wouldn’t use it if conditions 
would permit of the furrow or flooding 
method. 
In conclusion I wish to emphasize that 
the methods described above are advo¬ 
cated because they are cheap and efficient, 
and can be adapted to nearly, if not all of 
our Florida conditions. The cost of such 
a plant on the average grove, should be 
from $20 to $40 per acre, for the distri¬ 
buting system alone. The pump and en¬ 
gine, a steel line needed, should average 
somewhere between $40 and $50, mak¬ 
ing the total from $50 to $80, per acre. 
The lower figure favoring the large plant. 
Understand that this is for average con¬ 
ditions, and would not fit cases where 
the grove was a long distance from water 
supply and lifts were excessive. 
Compare this with the cost of installing 
some of the present plants, costing from 
$250 to $500 per acre. And remember 
that interest on first cost and depreciation 
goes on for ever, whether you are irri¬ 
gating or not. For instance if a plant 
costs $500 to install, you should allow* 
20 per cent for interest and depreciation 
or $100 a year, or you must make $100 
more per acre on the irrigated grove than 
on the non-irrigated. If the first cost was 
$50 this would amount to only $10. 
I will not take time to go into details 
