CHAPTER XIX. 

 SUBIRRIGATION AND SUBSOILING. 



SUBIRRIGATION is more of a theory than a con- 

 , dition, and until it is better comprehended and 

 ^^M more thoroughly tested, the writer does not 

 care to uphold it as a system worthy of general 

 adoption. There is no doubt that subirrigation has 

 many advantages, especially in the way of economizing 

 water, but the original cost of an underground pipe 

 system is so expensive that many men are deterred 

 from adopting it. A rough estimate would make a 

 gallon of water sufficient to irrigate a cubic foot of 

 ground, and this is a much higher duty of water than 

 can be obtained by the open trench system. 



This method is probably corredl in principle, and 

 there are authorities who claim that it is most economic, 

 efFecftive and wholesome. The prime aim, under any 

 system of cultivation, or irrigation, should be to stimu- 

 late and induce capillary a<5lion in every possible way. 

 It is a fa<5l, conceded by every observing cultivator of 

 the soil, that the finest and best crops and the most 

 satisfactory results in every way are obtained from 

 those lands where there is free, constant and uniform 

 moisture diffused from below. Soils differ with respecft 

 to the workings of capillary attradlion, but it is more 

 or less potent in all lands. The diffusion of moisture 

 in this way will depend mainly upon two conditions — 



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