PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 117 



kept mellow with a rake oonstructed for the purpose. The 

 ground should be raked over after every rain, before the surface 

 has had time to become hardened in drying. 



Mr. Gore said that in 1848, in a drought in Maryland, he had 

 cultivated his corn constantly, and was considered a crazy man 

 in consequence 5 but he had corn, while his neighbors had none. 



The Chairman, in visiting a garden a few daj^s ago, had 

 observed that the cucumbers alone seemed to be suffering from 

 the drought; their vines so covering the ground that it could not 

 be stirred beneath them. 



Mr. Pardee said that irregular and partial watering is worse 

 than none. A garden should be watered as regularly as a horse, 

 or not at all. It is a trade to learn how to water, as much as 

 anything else, with regard to horticulture. In city gardens, an 

 excellent implement for keeping the ground mellow, where the 

 plants are too near together to use an ordinary hoe, is the bayonet 

 hoe. 



Mr. Carpenter had found the bayonet hoe very useful in the 

 cultivation of beets, carrots and parsnips. In watering, he 

 would first dig the ground deeply, and would afterwards cover 

 the ground upon which the water is poured with fresh earth. In 

 the Central Park, the trees are dying, because the water is poured 

 upon the surface, and a basin is formed around each tree, forming 

 a perfect hard-pan. 



Mr. Robinson. — The proper plan is to water the top of the tree 

 or plant. Washing the dust from the leaves will do more good 

 than wetting the roots. 



Mr. Pardee stated that Col. Stoddard, who was very successful 

 in raising strawberries, put on a pailful to every four or five hills. 

 The leaves of a plant need to be clean, in order to have good 

 respiration. 



Dr. Trimble considered the irrigating process the best. If we 

 are to water at all we should water effectually. 



Mr. Robinson. — Do we sufficiently consider the proper time to 

 stir the earth? On some days the moisture will be immediately 

 dried out of the earth, and on others the earth will condense the 

 moisture. Ought we not to measure the hygrometric condition 

 of the atmosphere, and know whether stirring the earth will add 

 to its moisture or evaporate its moisture ? 



Dr. Underbill. — I never thought I received much advantage 

 from moving the soil, during a drought, in the early part of a hot 



