14 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



IRRIGATION. 



HE past dry season certainly leads us to the conclusion that 

 Canadian fruit growers sadly need irrigation of some kind 

 to guard against such failures as have resulted this season 

 in many localities from drouth. Prof. Taft writes a rather 

 interesting article in American Gardening upon the subject, 

 throwing out possible ways of accomplishing the work. 

 The difficulty, however, is that most of them would be too great expense for an 

 ordinary fruit grower, who has already sufficient cost in labor and in baskets to 

 cut down his profits to a very small amount. For instance, he recommends 

 draining water in tanks, where no better means are at hand. We have tried 

 this enough to feel discouraged with the results, unless for a small garden. His 

 plan of distribution with hydrants might work, if water supply is convenient, 

 This would consist in running the water in pipes that will stand a slight pressure, 

 such as iron or cement, to hydrants located at intervals of perhaps two hundred 

 feet, and then with one hundred feet of fire-engine hose, which can often be 

 purchased cheaply at second hand, direct the water into the furrows or basins 

 that have been made to receive it around each tree. For vegetables and fruits 

 where furrows are used the same means of conveying the water from the pipes 

 may be employed, and thus one hydrant will answer instead of a dozen or more 

 small ones. 



In another part of his article he condemns the practice of simply welting 

 the surface about trees with water, thus : — The mistake is often made of apply- 

 ing the water upon the surface, and it is made worse by the practice of giving 

 each tree a pailful or so at a time and repeating it daily. One or even two pails 

 of water thrown on the ground under a tree will at best only wet the soil to the 

 depth of an inch or so, and as this does not carry it down to the roots little or 

 no good will result ; in fact it may lead to harm, as a crust will form, particu- 

 larly upon a heavy soil, and not only will the water that has been applied 

 quickly evaporate, but the loss of the water already in the soil will be hastened. 

 If the application is frequently repeated it will result in making bad matters 

 worse. Instead of applying five gallons every night for a week, had the same 

 amount of water been applied at one time and the arrangements been such that 

 it would soak in to the roots, the tree would have been amply supplied in all 

 probability, and no further application would have been necessary for ten days 

 or more. 



Whenever possible we would recommend that pipes be laid in which the 

 water can be conducted from the reservoir or tank to a convenient distributing 

 point in the field. If only a small area is to be watered, say five acres, an iron 

 two-inch pipe would answer, if a pressure of ten or fifteen pounds could be 

 secured. With a larger area, or a light pressure, the supply pipe should be 



