.56 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
This Office has been studying such 
questions in the West for the past ten 
years and if any of the experience thus 
gained or the data collected' will prove of 
service to your industry, we shall endeav¬ 
or to place both at your disposal. 
Respectfully yours, 
Chief' of Irrigation Investigations. 
By Prof. Milo B. Williams. 
Mr. President , Ladies and Gentlemen : 
In the advancements that are being 
made in the science of agriculture at the 
present day, the farmer is realizing more 
and more the value of being able to under¬ 
stand and control the factors entering into 
plant growth. 
Among the most important factors en¬ 
tering into plant growth is that of mois¬ 
ture, and therefore throughout the agri¬ 
cultural districts of the world a study is 
being made of moisture, its supply, and 
the demands of vegetation for moisture. 
Nature transports moisture from place 
to place on the earth’s surface, but her 
transportation service and supply is more 
or less imperfect to meet the demands of 
the up-to-date farmer. These imperfec¬ 
tions of nature can be perfected to a great 
extent by the application of one of the 
engineering sciences, drainage or irriga¬ 
tion, drainage where there is an excess 
of moisture for agricultural purposes and 
irrigation where there is a deficiency of 
moisture for agricultural purposes. 
During the past six months I have had 
an opportunity of studying the conditions 
in the state of Florida with regard to ir¬ 
rigation and I have prepared in this study 
a few charts in an attempt to picture the 
rain fall representative to Florida, so that 
I may see with you the imperfections of 
your moisture supply as given to you by 
nature. 
REFERENCE TO CHARTS. 
In referring to the charts the follow¬ 
ing points were brought out. 
Chart No. i : Showing the average 
rainfall per month froffi 1900 to 1908 
inclusive at Orlando, Florida. That the 
average rainfall for the mpnths of Novem¬ 
ber, December, January, February and 
April fell below three inches; that the av¬ 
erage rainfall for the months of March 
and October was less than four inches, 
making a period of seven months that the 
average of precipitation is light. That 
the extremes of the average monthly 
rainfall are from 1.14 inches in Novem¬ 
ber to 8.77 inches in June, bringing out 
the unevenness in distribution of the rain¬ 
fall throughout the years, as an average. 
Chart No. 2: Comparing the average 
monthly rainfall at Milan, Italy. The ob¬ 
ject in preparing this chart was to place 
before the people a picture of the precipi¬ 
tation in the district that has irrigated for 
a century so that the eye can draw a com¬ 
parison of conditions existing where ir¬ 
rigation has proven to be of value and the 
conditions existing in Florida. The most 
prominent difference in the comparison of 
Florida conditions with those of Milan, 
Italy is the unevenness of the distribution 
throughout the year in Florida, Milan 
showing a minimum of 2 1-2 inches of 
