62 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
tells me that I can easily distribute one to 
one and a half inches on five acres of land 
in twelve hours, and I will expect to do 
this at night when there will be practical¬ 
ly no evaporation, and when the water on 
the leaves of the trees will not be liable 
to scald them from the heat of the sun. 
While the first cost of this plant will be 
considered exceedingly heavy it must be 
taken into consideration that it is all op¬ 
erated by one man—it is practically auto¬ 
matic. As long as the engine is kept sup¬ 
plied with gasoline and the valves on the 
laterals are kept open the water is bound 
to flow. 
I have seen groves irrigated with a hy¬ 
drant in the center of each square but this 
is objectionable because the pipes are al¬ 
ways in the way and are frequently run 
over or broken off in cultivation, and are 
badly in the way if you wish to mow the 
grove. 
There is still another advantage in this 
overhead system. As you all know, we 
are bothered more or less during dry 
spells with the red spider. Just as soon 
as the rains come, however, this pest dis¬ 
appears. Now, with the overhead sys¬ 
tem you wet the trees thoroughly and at 
the same time wet the entire ground and 
it has the same fatal effect on the spider 
as though you had the rain. 
My experience is that it is much bet¬ 
ter to wet the entire ground rather than a 
little space around the trees, because 
the roots which are outside of this little 
belt you cover must necessarily suffer. 
There was a grove at Lake Weir, 
where I formerly lived, irrigated with a 
hydrant in the center of each square. The 
trees were purchased from a relative and 
this small grove was the same age and 
size as another one when the irrigation 
plant was put in. Inside of three years 
the irrigated grove was 'bearing from 15 
to 18 boxes per tree while the other grove 
never bore over five, and the irrigated 
trees were three times as large as the oth¬ 
ers, and although standing in ordinary 
pine land the foliage was as dense and 
as daik green in color as I have ever seen 
ill the richest hammock. 
Now, it strikes me that this was a pre¬ 
fect system except, as I have before stat¬ 
ed, the hydrants are very much in the 
way, and it seems to me it is much bet¬ 
ter to have the pipe directly over the tree 
where it is entirely out of the way, and 
where the water while wetting the ground 
thoroughly at the same time washes the 
leaves, cleaning them from the dust 
which accumulates from cultivation, and 
also getting rid of the red spider. 
Mr. Henderson—I want to suggest 
another advantage of overhead spraying. 
Besides keeping out the red spider it will 
be of great benefit to our friendly fungi. 
We are beginning to depend a great deal 
in Florida on the fungi for San Jose 
Scale, whitefly, etc., and the overhead 
spraying is one of the best things to in¬ 
crease the fungi. Sometimes we have a 
long dry spell and the whitefly gets ahead 
of us. If we had the overhead system of 
spraying we could supply the moisture 
which is necessary for their best develop¬ 
ment. 
Mr. Temple—May I ask what this plan 
is going to cost per acre for pipes, power 
station, etc. ? 
Mr. Gillett—I have two or three firms 
figuring on it now and have made a few 
figures myself, but as in many other cases 
I find the “doctors disagree.” One man 
