86 IRRIGATION. 



water flows or trickles from a furrow at the ridge. The 

 quality of all these small vegetables is improved by copi 

 ous \\aterings, and a very profitable succession may be 

 procured by continuous sowings, the growth of which for 

 market or domestic use may be hastened and matured at 

 pleasure. 



GARDEN FRUITS. The various small fruits usually 

 grown in gardens may be greatly increased in luxuriance 

 of growth, and by cautious treatment, much improved in 

 quality, by irrigation. Over- watering, however, will in 

 fallibly tend to deteriorate the quality, if it does not even 

 weaken the growth. As soon as the blossom appears 

 water should be withheld, unless under extraordinary cir 

 cumstances, and under the supervision of an experienced 

 gardener. For strawberries the bedding system is pre 

 ferable, and for other fruits the water may be led by tem 

 porary furrows made with the hoe around the roots of 

 the bushes or the vines. 



In concluding these remarks which are not intended 

 as a guide to an already practiced and competent gardener, 

 but as suggestions to those who desire to secure in a mod 

 erate way by the use of some plan of irrigation, that is 

 feasible for them, the full advantages which they can de 

 rive from a family or market garden, and which they so 

 often fail to gain, by reason of the frequently recurring 

 drouths ; it may be said as a matter of caution, that with 

 a supply of water constantly at hand, the danger of using 

 too much is greater than that of using too little ; that 

 moderately copious waterings at extended intervals is 

 far preferable to light but frequent irrigation, which 

 scarcely reaches the roots and packs the surface. To 

 saturate the soil once a week, or every ten days, will have 

 the effect of forcing out of it much of the air that is con 

 tained in it, which will be replaced by a fresh supply as 

 the moisture evaporates or sinks in the subsoil. Thus 

 the soil is kept loose and mellow, and the necessary cul- 



