60 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
water nor the body of water that we de¬ 
sired, but we ran water in furrows 600 
feet in length, getting a fairly good distri¬ 
bution where the furrows were laid out 
on a proper grade. I think, however, it is 
not advisable to run more than 400 feet 
unless ideal lay of the land would en¬ 
courage longer distances. 
Mr. Member—How much water 
were you running into the furrows? 
Mr. Williams—We were running 
about 15,000 gallons per hour and apply¬ 
ing it in three furrows. 
Mr. Gillett—-What is the nature of 
that soil, and is the ground fairly level or 
quite hilly ? 
Mr. Williams—The soil is representa¬ 
tive of that large area around Orlando. 
Just how would you classifv it. Prof. 
Rolfs? 
Prof. Rolfs—First-class pine land. 
Rather close. 
Mr. Gillett—It seems to me that in 
view of the three years drought which we 
have just passed through, this matter of 
irrigation is one of the most important 
matters which will be brought before this 
Association, and one which should be dis¬ 
cussed very thoroughly. It is of interest 
to every man who is growing citrus fruits 
as there is no doubt that every grower in 
the State has suffered more or less every 
year, but especially in the past two or 
three years because of lack of moisture. 
I have had considerable experience 
with irrigation and have tried to do what 
Prof. Williams says he is doing. I, how¬ 
ever, failed when I tried to run water in 
ditches on high pine land, and I do not 
agree with him that this method will be 
eventually adopted, as I am strongly in 
favor of a sprinkling system. When we 
tried to run water in ditches before the 
stream got far enough away from its 
source to> do any good it disappeared en¬ 
tirely, and where we put water enough in 
the ditch to carry it any great distance 
the force of the stream tore the ground 
all to pieces and it was simply impossible 
to maintain a ditch in our loose sand. 
I have seen a good deal of irrigation in 
California but it is impossible to compare 
their conditions with ours. As Dr. Rich¬ 
ardson has said, their rainy season comes 
in the winter while ours comes in the 
summer. Their soil is heavy and the 
water will percolate through it so that 
with two or three ditches between the 
rows they can thoroughly soak their land, 
which in our loose sand is an utter im¬ 
possibility. 
I have a brother in California who had 
charge for many years of a large grove, 
and I have visited him on several occa¬ 
sions and watched their irrigation meth¬ 
ods. During the growing season they 
water frequently, but along in October 
and November they take off the water 
and do not apply any more as they wish 
to keep their trees dormant, and the win¬ 
ter rains furnish all the moisture neces¬ 
sary. Their climate being much colder 
than ours the rain fall does not seem to 
affect the trees during the winter, and 
no matter how much it rains they con¬ 
tinue dormant. Just the reverse of this 
obtains in Florida, as if we have plenty 
of rain and a week or ten days of hot 
weather, the conditions for growth—heat 
and moisture, will start our trees into a 
growth which is easily caught by the 
cold. 
Judging from the methods I have seen 
employed in California and Arizona, and 
