FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
55 
and have the power and pump- mounted, 
either on a tram car, or on wheels, so it 
can be mo-ved from; well to well. Pump 
from each well, and from the pump lay a 
line of iron pipe coupled together with 
brass hose couplings, so that it can be 
coupled and uncoupled quickly without 
the use of anything but a hose spanner. To 
the end section, attach one length ot good 
'hose to- enable the water to be turned 
in any direction ; in this manner a grove 
can be very rapidly watered and at but 
little cost. 
The writer once fitted up an outfit of 
this kind that pumped from five wells and 
one pond, and watered a 125 acre grove; 
the entire cost of the outfit, did not ex¬ 
ceed $1,500 and did the work as well as 
another plant that was put in to water a 
200 acre grove and costover $12,000. 
To sum up, irrigation is not an absolute 
necessity in Florida as it is in some states, 
but can be made to serve a very good pur¬ 
pose if properly used'. 
Washington, D. C, May 8, 1909. 
Mr. E. 0 . Painter, 
Sec. State Horticultural Society, 
Jacksonville, Florida. 
My Dear Sir: 
A trip this month to the Southwestern 
States and Territories will prevent me 
from accepting your kind invitation to be 
present at the annual meeting of the Flor¬ 
ida Horticultural Society to be held at 
Daytona May 18 to 21. Our office will 
be represented by Mir. Milo B. Williams, 
who is in charge of irrigation in the hum¬ 
id regions and I trust he will be able to- 
convince your members of the necessity 
of a helpful co-operation between the 
fruit growers of Florida and the irriga¬ 
tion branch of this Department. 
Compared with the arid region the cit¬ 
rus districts of Florida have an abundant 
annual rainfall but since 'much of this is 
waste in run off during heavy down¬ 
pours, the amount which the roots of trees- 
can obtain is frequently below rather than 
above what is required. Then, too, long 
periods occur when little rain falls. The 
Weather Bureau records show that at Or¬ 
lando from November 1, 1906, to March 
31, 1907, a period of five months, the 
rainfall was only a trifle more than half 
an inch. The quantity of water required 
by the citrus orchards of Riverside, Cali¬ 
fornia, including both irrigation and rain 
water, averages about 3 inches a month. 
For the past nine years at Tampa, Flor¬ 
ida, the average rainfall during October 
and November has been only 1 1-2 inches 
per month and for more than half the 
year it is considerably below three inches 
per month. 
The preliminary investigations made 
by Mr. Williams in your State during the 
past winter have convinced him of the 
need of installing irrigation plants to sup¬ 
plement the natural rainfall and as an in¬ 
surance against crop failures during dry 
periods. The lakes, rivers and artesian 
basins of the Peninsula furnish abundant 
water supplies at low cost and the onlv 
questions that are deserving of careful 
consideration are the installation of the 
right kind of a pumping plant that will 
perform efficient service, the adoption of 
the hest distribution system when both 
economy and efficiency are the main fac¬ 
tors, and the application of water in such 
a way and by the use of such implements, 
as will best serve the objects sought. 
