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IRRIGATION IN CONNECTICUT. 217 
These products have proven especially profitable where mar- 
kets are near athand. The high value per acre and the active 
and increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables, have 
induced many of our farmers to enter upon the production of 
these crops, and it is in such lines of farming as fruit growing 
and market gardening that irrigation has its highest value. 
In regions where the value of farm lands is high the farmer 
must obtain large crops, and those of the best quality, in order 
to pay taxes and obtain a fair profit on his investment, and to 
do this he must not only cultivate highly, but adopt every 
means within his power to prevent losses. Where the cost of 
cultivation is large the losses from drouth are felt all the more 
severely, as the expenses are essentially the same whether a 
half crop or a full crop is harvested. In the Eastern part of 
this country drouths are not usually of long duration, but 
short severe drouths are common, and they cause heavy losses 
to market gardeners and fruit growers. Losses of from one to 
two hundred dollars per acre asa result of a few weeks’ drouth 
are not uncommon. ‘The area devoted to strawberry culture 
the past season in Connecticut is estimated at not less than 500 
acres. With this total acreage a loss of $100 per acre means 
$50,000 on a single crop, for one small State. 
The experience of practical men and the experiments cited 
beyond indicate that an investment in an irrigation plant where 
market garden crops and small fruits are grown will pay 
exceptionally good interest. This is because of the high value 
per acre of such crops and the fact that in many instances the 
cost of getting and applying the water is small. The cost of 
applying water for strawberries, when an irrigation plant is 
once established, need not exceed. $10 per acre, while the 
increased yields resulting from its use may often amount to 
¢100 to $200 per acre. 
IMPORTANCE OF WATER IN PLANT GROWTH. 
The most important factors influencing the growth of plants 
are water, food, heat and light. The influence of the last 
three of these has been quite extensively studied, but with 
regard to the relation of water, one of the most important of 
all of these factors, but little is known. ‘The importance of 
an adequate supply of water in the growth of plants is well 
