IRRIGATION OF CROPS 



tribution constitute what is intended by the 

 term "Irrigation." 



IRRIGATION OF CROPS 



Artificial watering, especially as now conducted, 

 forms perhaps one of the most important subjects 

 that we could write upon. All vegetables are com- 

 posed largely of water, some containing more 

 than 75 per cent. A single hill of cucumbers, 

 as has been said, will drink half a barrelful of 

 water in three days' time, and, having done so, 

 will begin languishing for lack of moisture, and 

 die in a week. According to Dr. J. H. Gilbert, 

 for every ton of dry substance grown, in an average 

 crop, an amount of water equivalent to three 

 inches of rain is exhaled in the process; which 

 amounts to about two hundred times the weight of 

 the vegetable product. And Sir J. B. Lawes 

 arrived at substantially the same result by his 

 own researches, separately prosecuted. Hence it 

 will be readily seen that, unless there is moisture 

 enough when the crop requires it, there will be a 

 shortage in the harvest. 



What is commonly called an "impoverished 



[19] 



