164 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
tion. It is needless to say that in sec¬ 
tions where high-priced crops are pro¬ 
duced, as is the case in Florida, there 
is seldom a crop, or season, when the 
increased returns as a result of irrigat¬ 
ing will not pay the cost of irrigation. 
Many growers who have irrigated part 
of their acreage have reached the con¬ 
clusion that it is not profitable for them 
to grow crops on other than irrigated 
land. 
Now, let us return to the method of 
applying the water. The above exper¬ 
iments certainly show that the loose 
condition of the soil, as would result 
from the use of a good spraying sys¬ 
tem, saves more than enough water to 
compensate for the evaporation of the 
water as it passes through the air. In 
one of our horticultural meetings, one 
man stated that when he took a bath 
he preferred to take one all over in¬ 
stead of only washing his feet; and he 
believed that spraying the plants from 
above was more beneficial for the same 
reason. 
In connection with this, we have the 
experiment of a professor who, noting 
that in dry, hot and dusty climates, 
some of the plants kept putting forth 
new leaves. Investigating the matter 
carefully, he found the pores of the old 
leaves were clogged with dust. The 
new leaves seemed to be an effort on 
the part of the plant to develop addi¬ 
tional breathing space so the water 
taken by the roots could be dissipated 
into the air. The professor found that 
by washing and sprinkling the leaves, 
the growth of new leaves was stopped. 
We all know we do not bathe the body 
for the purpose of absorbing water 
through the pores, but to open the 
pores so the moisture, or perspiration, 
can be dissipated into the air. This 
condition will also hold good in plant 
life. 
I have also obtained some informa¬ 
tion which, while not relating to South¬ 
ern crops, will practically show the 
same conditions. In California, where 
so many of our irrigating experiments 
have been made, an effort was made to 
determine the effect of various quanti¬ 
ties of water applied to crops. On 
wheat, various plots were watered with 
different amounts of water from seven 
to twenty-seven inches. It was found 
the maximum crop was produced from 
the plot receiving the eighteen inches 
of rainfall during the season, and the 
minimum from the plot receiving 
twenty-seven inches, which was about 
half of the amount of the crop receiv¬ 
ing the eighteen inches. The crop re¬ 
ceiving the seven inches was slightly 
better than that receiving twenty-seven 
inches. While the amount of water 
varies for different crops, these experi¬ 
ments show that a specified amount 
produces the most effective crop and 
that more or less than this amount does 
not produce a maximum crop. A max¬ 
imum crop cannot be secured by any 
method of irrigation unless some 
means are devised whereby every 
square inch receives the proper amount 
of water. 
Kindly allow me to state here that 
with the Skinner System of Irrigation 
this can readily be done. Many of you 
are familiar with the construction of 
this system, which consists of lines of 
pipe approximately fifty feet apart, 
