14 FRENCH MARKET-GARDENING 



tank erected at a height of about 20 feet. To get 

 the water into the tank from a stream or a well, various 

 kinds of pumps are used. Windmills, gas, oil, or 

 electric pumps, " rams," and pulsometers are in use, 

 and are all more or less useful for throwing large 

 quantities of water. Windmills are favoured by many 

 growers. They have, however, the drawback so far 

 as intensive cultivation is concerned of lying " be- 

 calmed " on a broiling hot summer's day when there 

 is not enough wind to stir a leaf, and perhaps just 

 when the crops are in the greatest need of water. 

 Assuming that water is available in sufficient abund- 

 ance, perhaps a pump driven by a gas, oil, or electric 

 engine is on the whole most reliable. I have seen 

 them all at work, and consider where electric current 

 can be obtained at a cheap rate from adjacent mains 

 that the electric pump requires the least outlay of 

 capital, and requires the minimum of attention. I 

 saw such an electric pump at work in the outskirts of 

 Paris, and the starting and stopping was simplicity 

 itself merely pushing a small lever over a distance 

 of an inch or two. 



Although windmills and gas, oil, or electric pumps 

 will throw large quantities of water, they all suffer 

 from one drawback in common namely, that the 

 water obtained is almost, if not quite, ice-cold in 

 winter. The application of ice-cold water to tender 

 crops growing in a temperature of from 65 to 75 Fahr. 

 would be probably fatal to the plants. If not, it would 

 at least cause stagnation of growth, and induce chills 

 and other troubles. For this reason one is almost 

 inclined to favour the " pulsometer " as a suitable 

 pumping-machine, simply because it takes the chill off 



