2G 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETT 
from east to west are also closed by a 
wooden plug in the first ten pockets; 
consequently the whole volume of water 
comes to the eleventh pocket through 
the water-tight pipe. The wooden plug 
there prevents its further flow to the 
north, and the two irrigation pipes run¬ 
ning from east to west on each side of 
the pocket not having wooden plugs in¬ 
serted in them, carry off the water, and 
it passes through every joint of the pipe, 
and by capillary attraction is drawn to 
the surface and thoroughly moistens the 
soil from twelve to fifteen feet on each 
side of the pipe. While I have here 
named the process of only one pipe, a 
dozen or more pipes can be used at the 
same time, only depending upon the 
amount of water delivered by the arte¬ 
sian well. So much for irrigation. 
DRAINAGE. 
Now, the same system is used for 
drainage. In case of a heavy rain or 
continued storm, when on undrained 
land the water would lie upon the sur¬ 
face of the ground, I keep my land per¬ 
fectly dry by simply removing all the 
plugs from all the water-tight pipes or 
mains and also from the irrigation pipes. 
The surface water sinks into the ground 
and into the irrigation pipes through the 
cracks at the joints and then runs into 
the pockets, and from there it is taken 
by the water-tight pipes or mains and 
conducted to the open ditch outside the 
field. The result of an experiment made 
by me soon after I completed this sys¬ 
tem showed the following results on 
about an acre of land where I was plant¬ 
ing some seed beds, the beds being 
raised about two inches above the gen¬ 
eral level: At 7 o’clock in the morning 
the water was turned on; at 11 o’clock it 
had risen so it was standing in the little 
paths between the seed beds; all plugs 
were then removed and the water allow¬ 
ed to escape. At 3 o’clock in the after¬ 
noon the ground was so dry that it was 
easily worked with hoe and rake. The 
irrigation pipes should be placed four¬ 
teen inches below the surface. It is well 
to have the water-tight pipes or mains an 
inch or so lower. The pockets in my 
field are made of brick and cement which 
is lasting but expensive. The same ob¬ 
ject can be accomplished by boxes made 
of wood, but these will not always be 
water-tight, and, as they decay, would 
necessarily have to be replaced. It is 
absolutely necessary to have all pipes en¬ 
tering the pockets made of iron, as, if 
earthen pipes were carried to the pock¬ 
ets, they would probably be broken by 
the swelling of a wooden plug which 
might be dry when inserted and conse¬ 
quently expand when the water touched 
it. 
THIRD SYSTEM OF PIPES—EXTRA PRECAU¬ 
TIONS. 
As water lying on the surface of the 
ground is very injurious to both celery 
and lettuce, our principal crops, I have 
taken extra precaution to prevent over¬ 
flow from sudden and violent rains, and 
below the whole of the system that I 
have above described I have laid six- 
inch water-tight mains at two different 
points in the field, running from north to 
south; and connection with these is 
made at eight different points from the 
pocket; at the outlet of these pipes is an 
iron valve. They are seldom used— 
only in case of violent storms ; then the 
valves are opened and the plugs in the 
