Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations


 The tobacco was irrigated with a portable overhead sprinkler
system. A general view of the plots with the irrigation system
in place is shown in Figure 4. Three irrigation treatments were
used: (a) no irrigation, (b) one-half inch per application and
(c) three-fourths inch per application. The irrigation interval
was determined for the one-half inch application by observing
soil moisture and plant growth. The irrigation interval for the
three-fourths inch application was the same as for the one-half
inch application. Since the one-half inch application was used
in determining the interval between both irrigation treatments,
it was presumed that the three-fourths inch rate would be ex-
cessive. The one-half inch rate was selected because this amount
of water was required to bring the soil back to field capacity
after 70 percent of the available moisture had been depleted
from the top foot of soil. It was presumed that drought symp-
toms would become apparent at this soil moisture level. The

 3 APPLICATIONN ~g APPLICATION =] NO IRRIGATION TIME OF APPLICATION



 14








 I-



 4

 2


Fig. 5.-Cumulative chart showing distribution of rainfall and irrigation
 during 1949 growing season for tobacco.