52 IEEIGATION. 



tors of private vegetable gardens, whether or not they 

 could profitably adopt some of these methods which have 

 actually been put in operation upon grass farms in Eng- 

 land with very satisfactory results as to profit. From a 

 careful consideration of this question, there will doubtless 

 result a very decided opinion as to its feasibility and its 

 profitableness. The simple fact that in many cases the 

 crops which, under favorable circumstances, should have 

 realized $600 to $1,200 per acre, have been so injured by 

 drouth as to fail to pay the cost of production is sufficient 

 to prove the propriety of this opinion, and to induce 

 gardeners and fruit growers to adopt methods of securing 

 a full crop in spite of the adversity of the season. 



There are many cases in which the methods of surface 

 irrigation previously described are unsuitable. Where 

 the surfaces are irregular, where the crops are changed 

 several times in a season, where the ground is under bien- 

 nial or perennial crops and furrows cannot be maintained, 

 or where the ground is too valuable to be occupied by 

 furrows or water channels, these and other conditions 

 will be favorable to the use of one or another of the fol- 

 lowing plans. The first to be treated of is that of under- 

 ground pipes and stationary hydrants, from which water 

 may be distributed under pressure through india-rubber 

 hose and sprinklers. An elevated reservoir is provided, 

 from which an iron pipe having a capacity equal to an 

 inch and a half in area for each acre to be irrigated is 

 carried along the center of the garden. A two-inch pipe 

 will be required for two acres, a three-inch one for four 

 acres, and a four-inch one for eight acres. From this 

 other pipes are carried at right angles 200 feet apart to 

 within 100 feet of the boundary upon each side. The 

 pipes are laid a foot beneath the surface, or so far that 

 they can never be disturbed by the plow, (see fig. 21.) 

 Upon the lateral pipes, which should be at least an inch 

 and a half in diameter, so that the flow shall not be un- 



