HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 1912 
fully and came down in a fine drenching spray. It seemed almost 
a miracle, and Mantell stood quite enchanted. 
“You see,” said the professor, “it is practically automatic. All 
the attention required is to turn these handles occasionally” — 
lie seized one and revolving the long line of pipe half over, threw 
the inverted waterfall out in the other direction — “Each line of 
pipe will throw its spray out to a maximum distance of over 
twenty-five feet on either side, so that the lines are put fifty feet 
apart. Our posts for holding up the nozzle lines are about six feet 
high, so that we can conveniently cultivate under them. There is 
no reason, however, why you could not just drive in a piece of 
narrow board, about two feet high, to support them on for the 
rest of this season if you want to put it in over your onion field. 
The only patented parts of the system are these unions with a 
handle to turn the lines of pipe, and at the same time prevent leak¬ 
age, and the nozzles which as you see are placed four feet 
apart. The whole 
thing is under per¬ 
fect control; all you 
have to do if you 
want to work in part 
of the field is to 
shut down one of 
these valves.” 
“It seems to be a 
wonderfully efficient 
thing,” said Mantell, 
“but how about the 
cost?” 
“That’s one of the 
best things about it,” 
answered his com¬ 
panion. “Come up to 
the office and we’ll 
figure it all out.” 
They drew out a 
rough sketch of Man- 
tell’s garden and the 
onion field, and fig¬ 
ured that for one 
acre it would take 
the following sup¬ 
plies : 
Main line to field, 400 ft. 2 in. black pipe (second hand) at 6c. .$24.00 
Risers. 10 “ i l / 2 in. black pipe (second hand) at 5c.. .50 
Nozzle lines .... 280 “ 1 in. galvanized pipe (new) at 4)4c.. 12.60 
520 “ in. galvanized pipe (new) at'3}4c.... 18.20 
Nozzles. 200 at Sc. 10.00 
Unions . 4 patent turning, non-leakable, at $1.85. 7.40 
One drilling machine. 10.00 
One pump, cap. 1200 gallons per hour, net. 50.00 
$132.70 
“The second acre, you see,” said the professor, “would cost 
you a great deal less. What you put in now would probably pay 
for itself this year in saving your onion crop.” 
Mantell considered the formidable total for several minutes in 
silence. 
“I do not doubt it,” he said, “but as you know we’re just start¬ 
ing in, and the treasury is pretty low just now. Why couldn’t I 
get enough for half an acre, and, after watering half the field, 
simply move the nozzle line over onto a new set of stakes?” 
They figured out that this would save $24.10. 
“Well, if you were going to do that, temporarily, a smaller 
pump would do for the present. We have one that we took out 
last spring, when we enlarged the irrigation system, that could, I 
think, be bought for $25 or $30. And I think I could arrange 
to have the drilling machine loaned to you, as we shall not want it 
again this season.” 
221 
Mantell thanked him warmly for his interest, and they had 
just time to take the team that was waiting for them and catch 
his train. 
Now that he saw a way out of his heaviest loss by the drought 
he came to a quick decision. On the ride home he figured out 
that getting the pump at $30 the outfit would cost $78.60 besides 
freight and a few inexpensive fittings. 
He got off at Priestly, instead of going on to his own station, 
and went at once to the bank, but found it closed. Going into the 
drug store next door, he called up the bank and as the president 
was there, was granted a few minutes’ interview. He also tele¬ 
phoned home for the team. 
In a few brief sentences he explained the situation to the banker 
and got his promise to drive out with him to the place that very 
afternoon. It was the first time he had approached the bank on 
the subject of a loan, but he felt that the present case justified it. 
The bank president 
w/as a man of pro¬ 
gressive ideas and 
was much interested 
in the various activi¬ 
ties at Pandora Cot¬ 
tage. He was pleased 
with Mantell’s busi¬ 
ness-like way of do¬ 
ing things, and very 
glad to arrange a loan 
of $100 for the pur¬ 
pose of putting in the 
irrigation system. 
That night Mantell 
mailed the orders for 
his pump and fittings 
after carefully meas¬ 
uring distances with 
Raffles, who was 
rather skeptical at 
first, but became en¬ 
thusiastic as they got 
actually to work at 
things. The patent 
nozzles and turning 
unions he telegraphed 
for to be shipped by express, as they had to come from a long 
distance. 
No time was lost in waiting for these things to arrive. Early 
next morning they were at work putting in the foundation for a 
dam across the little stream north of the barn. Fortunately, the 
banks were quite steep at this point, and two days’ work saw a 
substantial dam of stonework, sods and a puddled clay lining, 
with a wooden sluiceway in the middle, which enabled them to 
back the water out into quite an impressive looking pond. The 
next thing was a simple little house about 6x6 feet for the pump, 
and so arranged that the gasoline engine could be backed up to 
it on the outside. 
This sudden activity on Mantell's part aroused new curiosity on 
the part of his neighbors, whose wonder reached the limit when 
they put two lines of stout boards, standing two feet high, down 
through the onion field and over a quarter of an acre, mostly oc¬ 
cupied by celery and late cabbage, neither of which looked as 
though they would long survive. These things kept them busy 
until the arrival of the pump and pipe, which with the assistance 
of the man who had helped them put the pipe in the greenhouse, 
were at once installed. One long day was spent in awaiting the 
arrival of nozzles, for which the holes were already drilled, as 
Mantell had brought back the drilling machine from the Station. 
(Continued on page 243) 
The pump and gasoline engine for forcing water into the spraying pipes were installed on 
the sloping ground near the pond 
