Irrigation of Citrus Groves 
F. W. Stanley. 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Although I have spent several years 
on the large irrigation systems of the 
West, I had to come to Florida to see 
all the different forms of irrigation go¬ 
ing on within a few miles of each other. 
For example, in the little county of Man¬ 
atee you can see spray systems of all 
kinds and descriptions—such as the 
overhead systems of parallel pipes com¬ 
monly known as the Skinner system, as 
well as systems of vertical pipes, each 
bearing a spray nozzle of some kind, such 
as the old Blake nozzle, fish-tail, Perry 
nozzle, Campbell nozzle, or McGowan 
nozzle, and various modifications of the 
above—all have their advocates, and all 
answer their purpose, the purpose being 
to make it rain, when nature wants a 
rest. Then in this locality we have the 
Sanford tiling system of sub-irrigation 
and the Hastings open furrow sub¬ 
irrigation system, and the various 
methods of running water on the surface, 
where a great deal of individual genius 
is brought to bear. Most of these sys¬ 
tems are applied to truck farming. 
But this subject is so broad and time 
is so short, I must specialize. I must 
confine myself to one particular phase of 
the subject, namely, “Irrigation of Cit¬ 
rus Groves/’ I have not time to go into 
the need of irrigation, as this means a 
comprehensive study of the rainfall, 
character of soil, depth of subsoil, posi¬ 
tion of hard-pan; topography and tem¬ 
perature, drainage, etc. But you all 
know that droughts of from 30 to 50 
days are common in the spring time, and 
that this is the time the young fruit will 
drop and burn if the soil becomes too 
dry. Dr. Drennen, of Orlando, with 
whom the Department of Agriculture is 
co-operating, has had his plant installed 
since 1906, and has found irrigation 
either necessary or beneficial every year 
with the exception of last year, and has 
not irrigated this year to date. But if 
the present weather conditions continue, 
this year will prove no exception to the 
rule. In the long drought of 1906, while 
the plant was still under construction, 
Dr. Drennen succeeded in getting water 
on only one-third of his grove, and that 
late in the season. The next year this 
one-third bore more than the other two- 
thirds, and brought a much better price 
in the market. Not only this but he lost 
100 trees on the unirrigated section, 
which would nearly pay for the price 
of installation. Of course this is very 
exceptional, but with a $1,000 an acre 
proposition we can afford to make some 
