363 



GLEANINGS IN REE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



a paint-keg or bucket— any thing that will hold 

 water; drill or punch ,'a-inch holes 8 inches apart 

 on the upper side; plug- up hole in lower end of 

 pipe; place the pipe in the trencli; cover o^^er with 

 moss or woods soil to the depth of 2 inches. This 

 will hold moisture; put on 'i inches of very rich soil; 

 set your plants (5 inches apart over the pipe; pour 

 water into the tank when you wish to water plants. 

 Newton Falls, O. E. W. Turner. 



This arrangement make.s the whole matter 

 exceedingly plain. On a larger scale we use 

 the cheaper sniall-sized tiles instead of the Iron 

 pipe; and the joints between the tiles (closed 

 with cement except on lop) take the place of 

 the holes. By the way, the idea of covering 

 the openings for water with moss is a very 

 important matter. With clay soils the open- 

 ings are liable to be stopped, and thus give 

 unequal watering. The question keeps coming 

 up, If this matter is such a wonderful success 

 under glass, why not apply it to open-air work ? 

 I have before explained the difficulties in so 

 doing; but just now I hear of one case where 

 the thing has been made a success. A man in 

 our own county has a swamp which he re- 

 claimed by tile-draining. The entire outlet to 

 the swamp is through one large main tile. 

 Well, during a dry time he shuts up this one 

 opening, and lets the water back up in the 

 swamp as it did before there was any outlet. 

 This accomplishes the whole thing to perfec- 

 tion. You see, the swamp was originally a 

 depression with an impervious soil under and 

 around it, so that it holds water. Thus, you 

 see, nature has obviated the necessity of a 

 water-tight bed of cement, boards, etc. When 

 heavy rains come suddenly, the outlet is opened 

 wide; and this permits the water to get away 

 before it can do any damage to the crop. Of 

 course, somebody must be on hand to manipu- 

 late the gate that holds the water in or lets it 

 out, or trouble would result. There are many 

 such swamps as this, and it seems to me it is 

 high time they should be utilized for sub-irri- 

 gation. Mr. W. S. Turner, now in my employ, 

 and who formerly assisted in developing sub- 

 irrigation in greenhouses at the Ohio Exoeri- 

 ment Station, at Columbus, has told me in 

 regard to this reclaimed swamp, and I propose 

 visiting it soon. The owner arranged the plan t 

 under Mr. Turner's instructions. It was a 

 complete success last season in producing enor- 

 mous crops during our severe drouth. A spring 

 near by furnishes the water to fill it up during 

 dry seasons. During hot sultry weather, ac- 

 companied by hot drying winds, such as we 

 have had for nearly two weeks, sub -irrigation 

 seems to be almost the only kind of irrigation 

 that succeeds perfectly. Surface watering is 

 just a vexation. In fact, some of our lettuce- 

 beds vpould sufTer for water, even if we left the 

 hose running almost constantly; that is, the 

 water would get away through the cracks in 

 the dry soil, scarcely wetting up the bed at all. 

 What we need is some sort of tight box or res- 

 ervoir that will hold the water so that not a 

 drop be wasted. This being secured, even a 

 small stream will in time fill up the bed and 

 raise the water level, just as near the surface 

 as we want it; and it does not take very many 

 inches of soil, if well enriched, to produce a 

 crop. Those enormous strawberries, with 

 leaves as big as your hand, and berries almost 

 like hens' eggs, have not more than inches of 

 soil to grow in; and there is a plant on every 

 square foot of surface, right over the bed. 

 They are now not only producing lots of large 

 perfect berries, but are sending out thrifty 

 runners at the same time. At this season of 

 the year we get forty cents a quart for the 

 fruit, which I think will pay well for the glass, 

 sub-irrigation, and steam" heat, where exhaust 

 steam may be "utilized. 



ILLUSTRATING SEED CATALOGS WITH PHOTO- 

 GRAPHS FROM REAL LIFE; DWARF ESSEX 

 RAPE; A PICTURE OF IT; SOME 

 FURTHER PARTICULARS. 



I have before made mention of the beautiful 

 photographs from real life, to be found in John- 

 son & Stokes' (Philadelphia) seed catalog. 

 They have kindly loaned me one of the plates 

 illustrating a flock of sheep in a field of Dwarf 

 Essex rape. 



The above picture took my eye at once; in 

 fact, I would give something lo see some sheep 

 turned into a patch of this new lorage-plaut, 

 just as it is in the picture. Then I would give 

 something, too, to see them after, ihey had 

 learned to eat it. We extract the following 

 from the catalog of Johnson it Stokes: 



Dwarf Essex rape is considered indispensable by 

 the sheep and cattle farmers of Great Britain, and 

 is fast coming into use in this country on account 

 of its rapid growth, being ready to feed in ten 

 weeks from sowing, and producing 35 to 30 tons of 



