310 SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



greatly increases the size of the fruit, but retards the ripen- 

 ing. When the fruit has reached the proper stage for ma- 

 turity, the water is withheld, and then the berries ripen fast, 

 but in their perfect development are firm, and are shielded 

 from the sun by the luxuriant foliage. "We water," said 

 Mr. Dunkley, " only to supplement the rain. If the season 

 is wet, we employ our artificial system but little, or not at 

 ail, and in such seasons get no profit from our investments ; 

 but generally, sometime during a season there is a drought 

 that shortens some crop ; then we irrigate, and have the 

 advantage of neighboring gardeners." 



This statement suggests the practical question. Do droughts 

 or dry seasons occur with sufficient frequency to warrant the 

 outlay required for irrigation ? In a very interesting paper 

 read before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Mr. 

 W. D. Philbrick gives much information on the subject of 

 artificial watering, and its need in our latitude and section, 

 and I quote from him freely : — 



"The amount of water required will depend largely on the 

 rain-fall, velocity of the wind, atmospheric humidity, soil, etc. 

 A loose, sandy soil will require much more water than a reten- 

 tive clay. In general, however, it may be assumed that in the 

 warm, growing months of May, June, July, August and Septem- 

 ber, most vegetation requires an inch in depth over the entire 

 surface of the land every five days. This is, of course, only an 

 average. This quantity, estimated as needed by our gardens, 

 would be equivalent to six inches per month of rain-fall. If we 

 compare this amount with the actual rain-fall, we shall arrive at 

 an idea of what is to be supplied artificially. 



" The rain-fall at Boston for the past six years (to 1878), for 

 the five growing months named, varies from a maximum of 10^ 

 inches, in August, 1872, to a minimum of 0.65 inch, in June, 

 1873. During these six years there was not a single season 

 when we did not suffer more or less from drought during some 

 portion of the summer. Twenty-one of the thirty months in 



