160 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
expenditure to deal with exceptional 
conditions. The next proposition of im¬ 
portance is the kind of plant. Here we 
stir up a multitude of questions. But we 
all agree the best plant is that plant 
which is the cheapest to install, and at 
the same time is durable and answers 
its purpose of applying water to thirsty 
trees. There is little doubt thakt the 
cheapest plant is the one that delivers wa¬ 
ter at the highest points of the grove, and 
supplies water in furrows in the middles. 
This is almost self-evident, as this elim¬ 
inates expensive pipe lines that are nec¬ 
essary if water is supplied by hose or 
spray to all points irrespective of grade. 
Right here most of you will say, '‘Oh, 
that may be all right in the West, but the 
sandy soils of Florida are a different 
proposition." You will say this system 
will saturate the upper end of the farm 
and insufficiently water the lower end— 
or perhaps fail to supply any water at 
the lower end at all. I am not qualified 
to say that this is not true in some cases. 
But I am qualified to say that water can 
successfully be run in open furrows in 
some of the sandy soils around Orlando, 
at Tampa and at St. Petersburg, and in 
the shallow soils of Bradentown and 
Palmetto. Because we have been able to 
make actual tests at these points; and 
again I can safely say that in most parts 
of Florida water can be run on the 
ground if the plant is laid out properly. 
The secret of success lies in having your 
pipe lines located on the high points of 
the orchard—even if the lines wander 
about in a most bewildering manner—- 
and having the power to turn enough 
water in each furrow so as to have suf¬ 
ficient head to reach the end of the fur¬ 
row in a very short time, and although 
a few gallons a minute in each furrow 
may run for days and not reach fifty feet, 
twenty to ioo gallons per minute in 
the same furrow will often reach the end 
in ten to twenty minutes. We have 
proven this in several cases, most notably 
in the Drennen grove at Orlando. In 
this grove we have eight-inch, ten-inch 
and twelve-inch vitrified clay pipe, laid 
on the highest ridges, and running wa¬ 
ter in both directions from the pipe lines, 
the water running from 400 to 600 
feet without trouble. The water is sup¬ 
plied from a large lake; pumped into a 
stand pipe on high ground through two 
steel pipes; thence the water is distrib¬ 
uted through the for tv-five acre grove 
by means of the vitrified clay pipe men¬ 
tioned above. The water is let into the 
furrows by means of six-inch low pres¬ 
sure valves, located in every tree row. 
The pump supplies about 500 gallons 
per minute, and one man can irrigate ten 
acres a day, and not supplying over one 
inch to one and a half inches of water to 
the soil—and all this is on deep, san¬ 
dy ground. 
I spoke of cost and durability. The 
cost of such a plant, including pump and 
engine, should not exceed $50 an acre. 
As for durability, terra cotta or cement 
pipe will practically last forever, which 
is far from the case with iron or steel 
pipe. 
The department of Agriculture, under 
the direction of Mr. Williams, surveyed 
the Walter Drennen grove at Maitland, 
and made an estimate of less than $33 
an acre to supply the distributing system 
