108 THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 



under our system of subsurface, subterranean or underground 

 irrigation. All of these have not enough of foundation to be dig- 

 nified by contradiction. There is not one man in America of ordin- 

 ary intelligence who is not capable of understanding, after reading 

 the preceding pages of this volume, that a system which gathers in 

 all of the waters coming of rains, dews and melting snows, beget- 

 ting perpetual irrigation during every month in the year, needs no 

 artificial sources of supply, and we will not insult our readers by 

 entering upon a discussion of so absurd a supposition that after 

 saving all waters falling from the clouds upon a given watershed, 

 more is needed for the growth of plants. Under old methods and 

 conditions fully nine-tenths of the water of rains, and nearly all 

 waters of melting snows, have been wasted in floods, hurried off by 

 the insensate use of tile, or absurd systems of drainage; and when 

 it comes to snow waters, these nearly all reach the streams along 

 frozen grounds and are lost. Under our system all are saved, such 

 portions used as needed, and the remainder passes off in purity to 

 streams in the valleys. 



Up to this point, discussion has been confined to the uses and 

 influences of the waters as they fall from the clouds, and find their 

 way into trenches at spring water temperature. 



Now, however, we will treat of that feature of our system where- 

 in a steady stream of cold water, drawn from a trench or reservoir 

 above, is passed through a coiled pipe or boiler, and then emerg- 

 ing, is dropped into the trench, the stones heated and by surface 

 protection, the winter months are, to a great extent, made those of 

 production. Let the following serve as an illustration. 



" A curious experiment has lately been made at Acqui, Italy, by 

 the proprietor of some baths there. The gentleman has at his dis- 

 posal an inexhaustible supply of hot water from a natural spring, 

 the temperature being 167 degrees Fahrenheit. The surplus not 



