1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



small pond, so it would not break down and 

 cave in, discouraged me again. 



Shall I tell you how he does it? He just 

 digs reservoirs across the side of the hill. 

 These reservoirs are, in fact, nothing more 

 than deep wide ditches. These deep wide 

 ditches are then filled with round cobble- 

 stones, just on the plan of the cucumber- 

 barrel. When he gets within 18 inches of 

 the surface of the ground, he covers the cob- 

 ble-stones with thin flat stones, then he puts 

 on brush, straw, etc., and then nicely pre- 

 pared soil. Of course, this is to be done only 

 where there is a clay subsoil that will hold 

 Avater ; but this condition can be found on 

 almost every farm or garden. The depth, 

 width, and distance apart of these reservoirs 

 must depend on circumstances. But this new 

 book recommends that they should be about 

 2 feet wide, Hi deep, and two rods apart, for 

 farm purposes. For market gardens and 

 small-fruit growers, they may be o feet wide 

 and .5 feet deep, and not more tlian a rod 

 apart. In that case the ground will all be 

 thoroughly underdrained ; and during the 

 severest droughts he claims the growing crop 

 will never suffer for water ; for a reservoir, 

 say 3i feet in depth, and three or four feet 

 wide, placed under IS inches of rich soil, if 

 tilled with water in the spring, would prob- 

 ably hold some part of it until along in the 

 fall ; that is, in retentive clay soil. 



Each reservoir is to have its bottom on a 

 level. For instance, you will commence on 

 the highest point of land, if it is a hill or 

 knoll, run your reservoir clear around, so it 

 will be in the shape of a letter () with a spot 

 of solid ground in the center, not to exceed 

 two rods across. If tlie hill is oblong, of 

 course your reservoir, instead of being in 

 the form of a circle, will be oblong ; that is, 

 it is to conform to the lay of the land and 

 the shape of the hillside. Now, one rod be- 

 low this another similar structure is to be 

 made. Now comes the question, IIow shall 

 the overllow from the first reservoir pass 

 into the next one below it? Friend Cole ac- 

 complishes this by means of some smaller 

 ditches made in the same way, tilled with 

 smaller stone. These smaller stones are 

 raked out of the soil when it is broken up 

 fine, as it has to be for gardening and fruit- 

 raising, and these smaller stones, or coarse 

 gravel, act as a filter. The cross-ditches are 

 a foot or two less in depth, and the surface of 

 the small stones is covered with flat stones 

 like the others, this flat-stone shingling be- 

 ing all of it at least 18 inches below the sur- 

 face, so that no ordinary plow or subsoil 



plow will tear it up. You will notice that 

 the surface water filters from the first reser- 

 voir into the second ; from the second into 

 the third, and so on, until you come to the 

 outlet. I hardly need tell an intelligent 

 man that, if he puts the filthiest kind of wa- 

 ter into the upper reservoir, by passing 

 through so many gravel filters filled with 

 roots of hungry plants, he would have noth- 

 ing but the purest kind of spring water 

 when it got to the outlet ; and such, in fact, 

 proves to be the case. The roots of plants 

 are superior to any filter of charcoal, or any 

 thing else, for removing all organic matter 

 from the water that passes over it. 



Those who visit friend Cole's garden on 

 the hillside, and find strawberries as big as 

 peaches, and plums as large as apples, a 

 good many of them claim that his wonder- 

 ful success is owing to the thorough way in 

 which he digs the ground up, and makes it 

 fine and mellow to the depth of 18 inches. 

 This is in friend Terry's special line, as you 

 may remember. Of course, while he is dig- 

 ging it up fine to get out the gravel, he also 

 digs in a plenty of good manure, forest- 

 leaves being one of his favorite products for 

 fertilizing the soil. I presume he manures 

 his fixe acres (for that is the extent of his 

 little farm) vei-y much as market gardeners 

 usually make their ground ; but he has ob- 

 tained results away ahead of what market 

 gardeners do. 



Of course, friend Cole is an enthusiast in 

 this new development, and very likely we 

 should make some allowance for his enthu- 

 siasm ; but for all that, I think he is destin- 

 ed to be called a public benefactor. As I 

 have no means of testing personally his 

 claims at the present writing, I can only 

 state to you what seems to be sufficiently at- 

 tested by many witnesses. Ground thus 

 prepared and worked up is much less liable 

 to the effects of frost than ordinary soil ; for 

 this large body of water so near the surface 

 gives off its heat, and warms up the mellow 

 soil above it. Secondly, his i)lants are rank 

 and green much later in the fall than those 

 on ordinary groinid, and they also start out 

 earlier in the spring. It seems to me likely 

 that, if a natural spring could be turned into 

 a reservoir, and allowed to pass down 

 through, it would still further aid in keeping 

 off frost. "While heavy snows cover the 

 ground, friend Cole says his strawberry- 

 plants grow all winter, having their roots 

 safely anchored among the wet stones in the 

 reservoir. I suppose you are aware that 

 steam has been used for years to furnish heat 



