THE IRRIGATION OF THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 



BY F. C. BARKER, OF NEW MEXICO. 



1SEE so many vegetable gardens irrigated in an 

 imperfect and slovenly manner, and have so 

 many inquiries as to how the irrigating ditches 

 should be run, that I think an exhaustive article on 

 the subject would be interesting to many of the 

 readers of THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



As nearly every garden will vary in extent, shape 

 and level, it is impracticable to give a plan to suit 

 all cases; but some general principles may be 

 laid down, which can be applied to the varying cir- 

 cumstances. It is, perhaps, needless to say that the 

 main irrigating ditch must run along the highest 

 side of the garden. The question is what to do with 

 the water when you have got it there. Let us pre- 

 sume that the main ditch runs along the northern 

 boundary; then lay out the entire garden in oblong 

 beds, about 16 feet long and 12 feet wide, with the 

 narrow sides east and west. This will be a handy 

 size for a garden devoted to family use; but they 

 may be a little shorter or considerably longer, if it 

 be necessary to curtail or enlarge them so as to fit 

 any fixed number into the space it is intended to 

 cultivate. For instance: If the garden is 72 feet 

 wide, there will be, after allowance is made for the 

 laterals, four rows of beds 16 feet long; or if it be 50 

 feet wide, then two rows of beds 23 feet long will 

 just fill up the width of the garden. Surround each 

 bed with a border about a foot high and two feet 

 broad, and these borders will serve both as paths 

 and to retain the water. See that each bed is per- 

 fectly level, although, of course, one may be higher 

 or lower than its neighbor. Now, down throughout 

 the garden, and running north and south, construct 

 your lateral ditches, which should be about two feet 

 wide, making the bottom of the laterals rather higher 

 than the beds. The laterals should be so arranged as 

 to have one row of beds on each side, as it is from 

 these laterals you will irrigate your beds. To make 

 the idea clear, we have spoken of the construction 

 of the beds before that of the laterals, but as a 

 matter of actual practice the laterals are more easily 

 made first, and after you have planned in your mind 

 how the beds are to run. 



Count your beds, and for each one make, with one- 

 inch lumber, a small box, four inches square inside 

 and four feet long, with sluice-gate at one end. By a 

 sluice-gate I mean a little trap door that slides up 

 to let the water pass, or is put down to shut it oft. 

 Place this box in the bank of the lateral, so that the 

 bottom of the gate end is on a level with the bottom 

 of the ditch. Cover the box with dirt, pounding it 

 around so that the water will not cut through along 

 the side or bottom of the box. The boxes should be 

 placed opposite one another and at a point to let the 

 water into the upper corner of each bed. In the 

 laterals make small checks or dams with a piece of 

 lumber, six inches high, so as to bank up the water 

 and throw it into the little boxes. 



When you want to irrigate the garden, or any por- 

 tion of it, let in the water slowly from the main ditch, 

 and allow it to flow down the laterals. As it comes to 

 the box of each bed, open the little gate and let the 

 water flow gently over the bed. Do not have such a 

 head of water as will wash the soil, and do not 

 drown the plants by letting it stand too high; but 



when you consider enough water has been applied, 

 shut off, and let the stream flow on to the next bed or 

 pair of beds. 



This method has many advantages over the slip- 

 shod custom of tearing away the banks of the later- 

 als and then building them up again as each bed is 

 irrigated. In the first place, you are able to better 

 regulate the flow of water and admit only as much as 

 will do your work slowly and surely, allowing it suffi- 

 cient time to soak well into the soil. You also avoid 

 scouring and washing away the earth, and small 

 plants being thereby smothered, as is frequently the 

 case with the old method. I have also found that in 

 many ways one has better control over the water, and 

 the work of irrigation can be done with the minimum 

 of exertion ; indeed, the two or three hours it takes to 

 irrigate my garden are the pleasantest and laziest of 

 any evening in the week. All I have to do is to open 

 the gates, light a pipe, and watch the water flow in. 



The borders dividing the beds make convenient 

 paths, and well-kept paths are a necessity in a vege- 

 table garden, and not a luxury as many suppose. Not 

 only are they needed for the purpose of getting about 

 the garden to gather the crops and attend to the plants, 

 but they enable the gardener to wheel in manure 

 with the barrow with the minimum of labor. Although 

 the plan sketched is especially applicable to a small 

 garden cultivated with the spade, it will be seen 

 that there is nothing to prevent the use of a horse 

 plow after the crops are gathered, as the entire length 

 of the garden may be plowed up, leaving only the lat- 

 erals intact. Any of the beds may be devoted to per- 

 manent crops, such as asparagus, rhubarb, straw- 

 berries, parsley, etc., and these should be located all 

 together and at one end of a row, so that the rest of 

 the garden may be plowed with horse-power if de- 

 sired. 



The size of gardens and beds as sketched above is, 

 it is understood, intended only for a garden to supply 

 the family. Where vegetables are grown for sale, 

 the beds may be very much larger, especially if the 

 ground is tolerably level. Forty beds, 16 feet by 12, 

 will, with the laterals, just about occupy one-fifth of 

 an acre. For a commercial garden the beds may be 

 40 feet by 20, of which forty-eight would fill one acre. 

 The same plan may be somewhat modified to suit Z.-Q. 

 orchard where vegetables are to be grown between 

 the fruit trees. The beds may then be made 24 feet 

 by 12, or even 48 by 24, and the trees planted on the 

 borders so that they stand 24 feet apart each way. 1 

 do not recommend planting trees in the vegetable 

 garden, which should get all the sun and air possible; 

 but for the first two or three years vegetables may be 

 very profitably grown between the rows of fruit trees, 

 which do admirably if planted on the narrow borders, 

 raised six inches, which separate the beds, for in this 

 position the trunk does not come in contact with the 

 water, which should always be applied to the roots 

 only. 



Always apply water to vegetables in the evening as 

 the sun is going down, or the hot sun on the water 

 will injure and perhaps kill them. After each irrigation 

 the soil should be stirred with a hoe, or, better still, 

 you may get a small hand cultivator running on a 

 wheel, and which can be bought for about $4. It is 



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