O HORTICULTURE BY IRRIGATION. 



our climate, subject to torrid drouths in the midst of the growing 

 season, is the obstacle to success which meets the farmer, rather than the 

 impoverished soil a condition indeed mainly due to the poverty of 

 water." 



Mr. Hinton, in his recent compilation of "Irrigation in the United 

 States," declares it the opinion of those qualified to form a judgment that 

 irrigation is yet in its infancy, and has given no more than a promise of 

 what it is destined to achieve. " Our own country," says he, "possessing 

 vaster domains than any nation in the world, and of incomparable value, 

 has only to enter upon her own possessions, and by trenching her moun- 

 tain sides, beget reservoirs as enduring as the foundations of the earth." 



Mr. Johnson, of Illinois, who is eminent as a writer on farm topics, 

 asserts it something more than reasonably certain that irrigation on a 

 scale not now dreamed of as possible, will be adopted within a century 

 for the prairies of Illinois. 



Orange Judd, and a score of other writers of equal note, are likewise 

 enthusiastic converts to the benefits resulting from the artificial applica- 

 tion of water to land. In fact the drift of public sentiment has become 

 so marked in this direction within the past few years as to justify the 

 prediction of a revolution in the present methods of crop culture. 



Whatever forecast may be warranted with reference to results on 

 general agriculture, will apply particularly to fruit and garden culture. 

 While it would be an exaggeraiion to assert that there are no limits to 

 the possibilities of horticulture under an ample system of irrigation, it is 

 certainly safe to say that these limits have not yet been reached. 



" Intense culture" will be synonymous, in the future, with a certain 

 and uniform supply of moisture. 



Mr. Cole, in the " New Agriculture," reports approximate yields to 

 the acre under his system, of 1,200 bushels of Early Rose potatoes; grapes 

 in proportion of five to one as against the old method ; 300 to 400 bushels 

 of strawberries of extraordinary size and flavor, and so on. California 

 vineyardists give returns of yields, often as four or five to one, and enor- 

 mous production of strawberries. Colorado has produced upwards of 

 1,100 bushels of onions to the acre (field culture). Colorado also claims 

 the prize beet, a fifteen-pound head of celery, and a yield of grapes from 

 small plots at the rate of fifteen tons to the acre. 



Similar instances could be cited almost indefinitely, and while these 

 place judicious irrigation at great advantage, it should be understood that 



