No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 781 



have carried water from a little brook, a pailful in eacli hand, fifty 

 feel from the nearest point to the entrance to the first of four green- 

 houses one hundred feet long. This process of watering appears 

 tedious and very hard work now in the light of our present up-to-date 

 hose in hand operations. At another place I have dipped water out 

 of a cistern until same was empty, when we had to carry it from a 

 pond two hundred feet away, and in hot, dry weather as soon as we 

 had finished watering the plants at one end of the greenhouses we 

 had to begin and go all over them again, so much water did the large 

 plants need. It is frequently necessary in hot,dry summer weather 

 to water plants twice a day. 



In some large establishments arrangements are made whereby the 

 water is heated in the winter-time, to a temperature of 65 to 70 de- 

 grees, but when pumped direct from a well where the water is 56 de- 

 grees there is no necessity for the water to be heated. And the ad- 

 visability of heating water before using on the plants has frequently 

 been questioned, because the atmosphere in the greenhouse should 

 be at least 70 degrees before watering over the leaves of the plants 

 is undertaken, and under those conditions the water would be in a 

 very few minutes the same temperature as the atmosphere. 



DRAINAGE. 



After the water question has been disposed of, drainage next sug- 

 gests Itself, and it is equally as important in greenhouse opera- 

 tions as it is upon the farm. 



When solid beds are used in which to plant, or on a table or in a 

 flower pot, it matters not which, we must feel reasonably certain 

 that the drainage is ample. There is more necessity to look into 

 this matter with some soils than there is in others; for instance, a 

 clay soil will require more care in that respect than will that hav- 

 ing a more porous character. 



Some florists think they are gaining an advantage by using drain- 

 tiles so close together beneath the beds as to touch each other. The 

 manner in which this particular plan is carried out is as follows: 

 First, the inside of the greenhouse in which this style of a drained 

 bed is to be built must be carefully graded, not necessarily perfectly 

 level, but on a uniform grade. The walks or alley-ways should be 

 laid out at convenient intervals, and after the bed has been thor- 

 oughly firmed to avoid as far as possible the liability to settling, the 

 drain-tiles are arranged across the bed, the open ends of the tiles 

 to present a straight line and to remain open at the outer edge of 

 what will be the bed proper and define the line of the walk. 



