100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



put in at a depth of eighteen inches or two feet. When drains 

 are put in so near the surface as this, it is necessary to put 

 them quite near together, or you do not drain tiie kind thor- 

 oughly. If you put them two rods apart, which is customary 

 where they are deep, the space between would be imperfectly 

 irrigated : therefore the farmers there found it necessary to put 

 their drains a less distance apart, and they drained their land 

 in this way and planted with onions, celery' and other crops 

 that need considerable moisture. They found that in very 

 dry seasons, when we had protracted droughts, and hot, 

 dry wind for week after week, the surface of the soil became 

 too dry. They wanted to water the celery, and they found 

 that the most convenient way to water it was to obstruct the 

 brook, the main ditch, and let the water back into the tiles. 

 This year, I am told there was not water enough in the 

 brook to do that, and they turned on the water from the 

 public hydrants and tilled the brook up in order to set the 

 water back. This method might perhaps be applied in some 

 other places. I am not aware that it has been anywhere 

 else but in Arlington. 



One other point about the hours of labor. I think Ameri- 

 can gardeners, as a rule, work harder and a greater number 

 of hours than any other class of the community. They are 

 obliged to do this to get their products in suitable condition 

 for market and to market them properly. Most all market- 

 men who drive to Boston diive in the night. Thev leave 

 home about six o'clock in the evening, arriving in Boston 

 from nine to ten or eleven o'clock ; put up their horses, and 

 are on hand in the morning as soon as it is light enough to 

 see the difference between a poor article and a good one, and 

 oftentimes the buyers are about even before that, for the 

 street is now lighted by the electric light, and they have to 

 be on hand nearly all night to sell their load. That is in 

 summer. In the winter time, we get a little more respite. 

 We do not generally drive to market in the night ; it is so 

 cold things are apt to freeze. We therefore drive in the 

 daytime ; but still, we have got to be on the watch at night 

 at home. Those of us who run greenhouses are likely to 

 be caught with a northwest squall in the middle of the night 

 and have our houses freeze, if we are not up and attending 



