302 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
that may be successfully irrigated. The soil should be well culti- 
vated at the beginning in order that the water may be readily ab- 
sorbed by it,and the cultivator should be fitted with teeth that 
make a light furrow on each side of each row of plants. 
This half-tone illustration will help the reader to understand many 
details of the work, as we performed it. The water falling from the 
distributing troughs in small streams flows slowly along the shal- 
low furrows on either side of the strawberry rows, permeating the 
mellow soil as it proceeds and soaking in among the roots of the 
plants without puddling the surface, but leaving it more porous and 
permeable to air than after a rain. The attendant with his hoe 
directs the course of the streams as they need it, walking the while 
on dry. ground. There is no undue packing of the soil and no 
puddling of any part of it. 
The distributing troughs are an important part of the outfit, 
hence these are described in detail. They are made of inch boards 
of common quality, which need not be dressed. As the bulk of water 
decreases in its forward movement through the troughs, those 
farthest from the supply may be made of narrower boards than the 
others. Our troughs are of two sizes, the larger being made of one 
twelve inch and one ten inch board, and the smaller of one ten inch 
and one eight inch board. The boards should be nailed together 
strictly at right angles, and cleats should be nailed across the top, 
one at the center and one near the ends of each trough, to keep the 
boards from spreading. 
As will appear from the illustration, the end of one trough sets 
inside that of the next. Some trouble was experienced in prevent- 
ing leakage at these unions, but generally a little dirt or a strip of 
building paper placed between the overlapping boards stopped the 
escape of water sufficiently at these points. Theends ofthe troughs 
are supported at the proper height by stakes driven in slanting 
and crosswise of each other; each of these stakes has a row of small 
auger holes through its center about three inches apart, so that by 
slipping an iron spike through the pair of stakes at the proper 
point they are readily joined together at the desired height. The 
stakes are driven into the ground sufficiently to prevent them from 
falling over sideways, and a tie strip, not shown in the illustration, 
should be pinned across from one stake to the other just at the sur- 
face of the ground to prevent the bottoms from spreading or from 
settling too far into the ground, as they are sometimes inclined to 
do after the soil becomes wet. This tie strip should have a row of 
small holes along the center like the stakes, to which it is attached 
with spikes, 
The water flows from the troughs through three-quarter inch 
augur holes or one side, near the bottom and spaced three and a 
half feet apart. It is important that these outlets be under ready 
control, in order that the water may be evenly distributed to the 
different rows. This is accomplished by a little device made of two 
small pieces of thin galvanized iron. One has a three-quarter inch 
hole through it, half an inch from its lower edge, and the side edges 
are bent over so that the other, which has its upper edge bent for- 
