358 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



the Upper South, the crop should be a very profitable one, since the fruit can 

 be put into the market of better quality and in better condition than that from 

 the far South. In fact, there are times in winter when even the Florida 

 grower may wish that his plants were in frames. 



IMPORTANCE OF WATER IN INTENSIVE GARDENING. 



When we come to artificial culture with the aid of glass, water becomes a 

 matter of great importance, for we cannot at all times, even in winter in the 

 sunny South, depend on the rainfall ; and the rainfall, if plentiful, may come 

 in such cold weather that we cannot afford to use it in our frames. Hence 

 when we begin winter gardening under glass a full supply of water under 

 pressure is of the first importance. Perhaps the cheapest mode of supplying 

 this need is by the use of a windmill and elevated tank, connected with piping 

 through the framing ground, so that a hose can be attached at intervals and 

 the watering speedily and effectively done. The success of the crop may de- 

 pend on our ability to irrigate the frames thoroughly, and with an extensive 

 series of frames the loss by reason of lack of water might be enough to have 

 fully provided the needed supply. Windmills are more effective in the flat 

 country near the sea coast, among the hills they are at times unsatisfactory ; 

 in such case a hot air pumping engine is the best thing we have tried for 

 pumping purposes. In any large truck garden, whether there is much or 

 little glass, the ability to give a full irrigation in the open ground will often 

 make all the difference between great profit and a dead failure, so that the first 

 essential in a profitable market garden is a water supply under pressure. The 

 large amounts of commercial fertilizers used in market gardening require a 

 regular supply of moisture, in order that the plant food may be dissolved and 

 the crops get the benefit of it, and any long interval of drought will cause 

 damage through the caustic nature of some of the materials used. 



Having a water supply under pressure does not mean that the gardener 

 shall continually drag long hose around everywhere, for any man who is at all 

 handy with a pipe- wrench can arrange a pipe system for temporary use in 

 summer that will furnish points of attachment for short pieces of hose, which 

 can be taken up and stored in cold weather. One of the most successful 

 celery growers we ever knew, grew his crop on high land of a strong clayey 

 nature; but he had a water tank and laid temporary pipe lines all through 

 his celery plantation, so that a few feet of hose would enable him to soak every 

 part of it with the minimum amount of water. Every large frame-yard 

 should have a series of hydrants along between the frames, to which hose and 

 sprinkler can be attached and the watering rapidly and easily done. No one, 



