TOO LITTLE WATER IN THE SOIL 



deep as possible and still catch the heavy rains before they 

 cause surface washing. Whether they should be put between 

 every row of trees, between every two or three rows, or only 

 in the low places, depends upon how much water must be 

 carried away. 



Water wants to run downhill. If the land is nearly flat, use 

 a level to find an outlet. Usually you will be surprised about 

 the fall. Try to get an outlet which has plenty of drop-way, 

 but it is better to drain into an open ditch which requires care 

 two or three times a year than not to drain at all. No point 

 in the drain should be lower than the outlet, and the grade 

 should be perfect without ups and downs. A fall of from 

 three to six inches in one hundred feet will give good service, 

 but with so slight a drop you should use a surveyor's level 

 in getting the bottom of the ditch right. Drive stakes every 

 fifty or one hundred feet, having the tops flush with the ground, 

 and measure the depth of the drain from these. 



A six-inch main will carry off the water from a twelve-acre 

 field. No main drains should be smaller than five inches. 

 Laterals should be from two and one-half to three inches in 

 diameter. 



Examine the mouths of all drains a couple of times a year, 

 to keep them free from obstructions. Put wire screening over 

 the openings, to keep out animals, frogs and snakes. 



It is well to plow a furrow, every fall, midway between rows 

 of trees where there is no drain. This, with the tiles and ditches, 

 will keep the orchard during the winter and early spring in 

 better shape than an orchard where the snow and rain fall 

 on the even surface. 



TOO LITTLE WATER 



Lack of water during May, June and July starves more 

 trees, and is responsible for more poor fruit, than any other 

 cause. This is due to the fact that growers do not realize how 

 much water a tree requires, and do not know how to prevent 

 the waste of what they have. Even trees near a hydrant or 

 pump are allowed to suffer, while a few gallons of water 

 daily would enable them to produce a heavy crop. 



In the drier sections of the United States, trees often suffer 

 least, because growers there know how to keep the little rain 

 that they do get. In all the eastern and central states, the 

 rainfall is always sufficient to produce a heavy crop of leaves 

 and fruits. Most of this comes in the winter and early spring; 

 the problem is to keep it. In the West, irrigation is necessary, 

 but it will not pay in the East unless the water can be run on 

 the land easily. Bulletin No. 116 of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture discusses irrigation at length. If you 

 want to put water on your land, get that bulletin. 



A few growers of strawberries have used "artificial rain" 

 profitably. This is best supplied with three-quarter inch iron 

 pipes, pierced with needle holes every few inches, and laid 

 on the surface of the ground; or, better, elevated out of the 



