782 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE 



Overcoming drouth by the Skinner system of sprinklers 



impossible to break up the clods (that we 

 have on our Medina clay soil), and get the 

 gTound into reasonable tilth; and since then, 

 if we do not cultivate or hoe the garden at 

 the right time after every shower, it is still 

 a mere pile of clods. Along in July we got 

 most of the lumps flattened and crushed so 

 things began to grow once more on the 

 "high-pressure" principle. Mrs. Root stands 

 for Ohio ; but when I commenced on the soil 

 up here after working the friable Florida 

 gi'ound I became disgusted and almost felt 

 as if I wanted to stay in Florida all the 

 year round, even if it is true that here, with 

 many thing's, we get fair crops at much less 

 expense for fertilizer than we do in Florida. 

 Those who have worked a clay soil like our 

 own are well aware that, if they can get on 

 to the ground with hoe and cultivator at 

 just the right time after a shower, the soil 

 stirs very easily. A great many times, how- 

 ever, it is difficult to do this work at rbe 

 opportune moment. If you get to work too 

 soon after a shower you are in the mud, and 

 this will not do at all. If you wait too long, 

 the clay soil bakes almost as hard as a brick. 

 By the way, we do all our sprinkling just 

 about sundown to avoid loss of water oy 

 excessive evaporation. I noticed the manu- 

 facturers of the sprinkler said that, if used 

 properly, it entirely prevents clay soil from 

 baking — that is, you can keep the gi'ound 

 loose and friable with very little work. This 

 I find to be true. I can take my hoe befoie 



breakfast during this month of August and 

 stir the soil around my pet plants just as 

 easily and as nicely as I can down in the 

 Florida sand; and it is just wonderful how 

 the corn, beans, peas, potatoes, cauliflowers, 

 dasheens, sesame, helianthus, and all these 

 new things, respond to the water applied 

 just right, and to the stirring of the soil 

 around them to let in the air. Just an hour 

 ago (it is now Aug. 20) I took a look at rry 

 row of Hubbard squashes. At the north end 

 of the garden under the sprinklers they are 

 bright and thrifty — no withered leaves. At 

 the lower end of the row, where there are 

 no sprinklers, the leaves hung down droop- 

 ing, and the vines seem ready to die; and it 

 was so with every thing else. 



I am going to write to the manufacturers, 

 telling them there is just one trouble with 

 their invention — it makes the weeds grow 

 just fearfully ;* but with such nice friable 



* I suppose I should mention one real drawback 

 to this sprinkling' system or any other form of irriga- 

 tion in regions where heavy rains are frequent, 

 sometimes at a season when we do not expect them. 

 It is this: When you have your ground irrigated 

 just right, and a heavy rain should follow imme- 

 diately after, if the wet weather continues, yotir 

 irrigated ground will be too wet, and your irriga- 

 tion at such a time may do harm instead of good. 

 A relative of mine had several acres of celery. At 

 much expense he arranged for sub-irrigation. His 

 new apparatus worked so well that he rather over- 

 did the application of water; and, even though it 

 was in the latter part of the summer, some heavy 

 rains came on that lasted several days, and his arti- 

 iicial watering ruined a large part of his celery. It 

 behooves us, therefore, to be a little careful, and 

 apply just enovffh water and not be tempted to put 

 on too much. 



