Irrigation. — loi 



did so, and I learned two things by it. One was that a thorough 

 watering would make the plants grow; the other was that it 

 took a great deal of water to make it thorough. 



" Hence if you water at all, do it well. No system of arti- 

 ficial watering that I have ever tried is equal to rain from the 

 clouds. I do not state these things to discourage any one, but 

 because I believe them to be facts that should be known to those 

 who contemplate some improvements of this kind. My water- 

 works cost me nearly ;^i,ooo, and I have no doubt but that they 

 have more than once paid for themselves in a single season." 



Surface Irrigation. — Where a pond or other body of water 

 is available, so that a stream can be run directly to the highest line 

 of the field, irrigation is a very simple matter. Make light fur- 

 rows down the slope, 8 or lo feet apart, between the rows of 

 plants, and let the water run down in one after another, long 

 enough in each, to soak up the ground pretty thoroughly to the 

 lower end, before turning off the flow into the next furrow. The 

 application should not (or need not) be repeated until the ground 

 becomes quite dry again, but it is absolutely necessary for best 

 results, and lasting effects of the operation, to cultivate the 

 ground thoroughly just as soon as the surface is again dry 

 enough for such work. Always make the water channels in the 

 higher places, as the lower ones are apt to take care of them- 

 selves. In irrigating a ^ acre lot of celery one season, between 

 6,000 and 8,000 gallons of water were needed to give the ground 

 one thorough soaking, but this had a most excellent effect on the 

 plants. 



Very much, of course, depends on the nature of the soil. A 

 loose, porous loam, resting on porous subsoil, will drink in 

 rapidly almost unlimited quantities of water, and allow it to per- 

 colate, from any point of discharge, over a wide area. Conse- 

 quently the channels into which the water is turned and made to 

 flow down the slope, gradually soaking in and away, maybe ten, 

 twelve feet or a rod and more apart, even on considerable of a 

 slope. On soils which do not allow the percolation of water 

 quite so freely, the channels must be nearer together, and their 

 course more nearly, or almost quite, on a level. 



In some cases water from a near supply (pond, stream, etc.) 

 may be conducted to the highest part of the field in a box ditch, 

 and from there distributed through holes bored into the side 

 boards, opening and stopping them up as the case may require. 



A natural water supply, above the field, however, is not 

 always at command. In that case, it may be advisable to secure 

 it by letting a windmill or steam pump raise it from a pond, 

 stream or well into large tanks, from which it is to be distributed 

 over the field by means of hose, or by a combination of iron 



