AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 53 



of soil water called ^' capillarity." If there 

 is a good definite movement of sufl&cient 

 water from the subsoil to the topsoil, irri- 

 gation is not necessary. 



5. The amount of loss by evaporation of 

 the water from the soil and the rate of loss 

 by transpiration from the crop. The greater 

 the loss in both cases the greater the need for 

 irrigation and vice versa. 



In terms of water : if one quarter of a cubic 

 foot of water per second be applied to an acre 

 of ground for about eight hours, it will have 

 covered the surface of this acre to the depth 

 of about two inches. If this application is re- 

 peated once in ten days for five irrigations it 

 will be equal to about ten inches of rain in 

 fifty days. This will be quite above the nor- 

 mal rainfall, and from results obtained will 

 fulfil the objects of irrigation. 



SYSTEMS OF IRRIGATION 



Flooding. — ^This particular system is very 

 little practised in strawberry culture, but 

 might be advantageously used in extreme 

 cases where a large amount of water was 

 needed at once. It consists of building a 

 bank or furrow around the bed of straw- 



