106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing the chances of the city." He knew that I was making a 

 little something farming. I told him I would give him one- 

 third of the income to come in with me, and he accepted my 

 offer. In two years I gave him half of the profits. I finally 

 sold him the farm, and he does not owe me a dollar for it 

 to-day. If parents will take such means to keep their boys 

 at home, I believe they can do it ; but if they say, " I will 

 give you ten dollars a month," when they can get twenty- 

 five dollars in the city, they will go to the city ; and I don't 

 blame them . Parents crowd their boys ; they do not give 

 them a chance. Aid j^our boys all you can; if you can 

 help them, do so. If you get your living out of it that is 

 all you want. 



Much has been said here about irrigation. The true way 

 to irrigate, in my judgment, is by ditching, and letting the 

 water soak through the ground. Top irrigation will not in- 

 sure a crop ; it will bring up the seeds, and keep them along a 

 little while, but that is all. This year has been a verj^ excep- 

 tional year. If farmers could have seen as far ahead as they 

 can behind, they could have made money ; but they cannot 

 always do that, and we cannot make money every year. 

 The great trouble with our methods of irrig^ation is that 

 enough water is not put on to go down deep enough so but 

 that the roots will come to the surface, and when they do, 

 the scorching heat dries them up. Your plants will look 

 vigorous in the morning, but before night they are drooping. 

 Your roots are near the surface of the ground. In Cali- 

 fornia they make their ditches six or eight feet wide ; they 

 fill them twice a week with water, and by that means raise a 

 crop. It is not surface irrigation ; they soak the land 

 through. That is the proper way to irrigate. But the 

 great question is, will it pay to irrigate and raise vegetables 

 in that way for the Boston market ? This year, which has 

 been an exceptionally dry year, if you should go down to 

 Boston market and go through it, you would not suspect 

 that there was any such thing as a drought ; you would think 

 that there was an abundance of everything growing some- 

 where. Now, the question comes in, did the farmer and 

 market gardener make money by the drought? I contend 

 that the market gardener got more money out of the city of 



