SUCCESS IN MARKET GARDENING 



unitedly to pursue, such measures as promise sub- 

 stantial relief. For instance, take the case of the 

 pea weevil. If all the farmers of the country should 

 unitedly forbear to raise peas for a single year it 

 would die off completely. Perhaps a means of relief 

 less radical and more practicable of execution may 

 yet be discovered ; but none is now known to exist. 



STERILIZATION OF THE SOIL. This is done by 

 heating the soil to a temperature of 200 degrees 

 or more, and the effect is very pronounced, 

 especially in the working of the soil and the 

 growing of the crop. 



It has been found necessary to resort to steriliza- 

 tion to prevent what is known as the "drop" or 

 "wilt "in lettuce. 



The best method I have found is to lay pipes on 

 the ground and cover them over with soil to the 

 depth of at least one foot. These pipes are two 

 inches in size, and perforated every few inches to 

 about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. 

 They should be ten feet long, and are placed on the 

 ground about one foot apart. The header or cross 

 pipe at the end through which the steam enters 

 is a three-inch pipe and has five or six arms, one 

 foot apart, extending out a few inches to alloys 



[254] 



