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IRRIGATION IN CONNECTICUT. 245 
water should be applied freely just before the picking season 
begins and then the mulch applied. Prof. E. S. Goff, of the 
Wisconsin Experiment Station, has successfully used wooden 
troughs for distributing the water. ‘These are made of rough 
boards ten and twelve inches wide, nailed together V-shaped, 
and are supported on stakes across the upper ends of the rows 
in such a way as to give a slight fall across the field. By 
means of small auger holes the water can be made to flow out be- 
tween the rows. With small strips of tin, gates are made over 
these holes so that the amount of flow can be regulated. 
If the water supply is limited iron pipes may advantageously 
be used in distributing the water to the points where needed. 
The water may either be allowed to flow from these over the 
surface or be applied by sprinkling. Unless the fall is very 
great (100 feet or more) these pipes should be at least two 
inches in diameter. If the distance is great and the fall does 
not exceed too feet there will be a serious loss of power by 
friction in case small pipes are used. Condemned fire hose two 
to three inches in diameter can be bought in most of our large 
cities, and if the fall from the reservoir or tank is fifty feet 
or more a heavy spray can be obtained by their use. A flow 
of twenty-five to forty gallons per minute seems to be neces- 
sary in using iron pipes and hose, in order to apply the water 
as rapidly as is desirable for strawberries. 
In case a fall of 200 to 300 feet can be obtained, and the 
water can be conducted in pipes, it may be applied by means of 
lines of perforated pipes laid on wires over the fields. By this 
method very little labor is necessary as the water can be turned 
from one line of pipe into the next at pleasure. This method 
of irrigating strawberries was successfully carried on for a 
number of years by Dr. J. B. Learned, of Florence, Mass. 
The source of the water was the aqueduct supply af the town. 
Later the project had to be given up because the town needed 
all of the water for household and manufacturing purposes. 
