Summary:

The paper describes the first attempts at the sprinkler irrigation of plants in Poland which took place in the Kujawy and Wielkopolska Region more than a hundred years ago - at the early 20th century. The first original sprinkler irrigation machine was designed and the used by Mr Władysław Szczepkowski. The sprinkler irrigation machine he constructed in 1911, after earlier a few year trials (at Łęg, the Śrem county, the Poznań Province) was the first sprinkler irrigation machine built at such a large scale in Europe. The system developed by Szczepkowski found many followers in Germany, France, England and the USA. Szczepkowski's sprinkler irrigation machine became a prototype for many later designs, e.g. the irrigation machines applied today rolled sprinkling pipelines.