Irrigation. — 103 



from the bottom — then no sediment or dirt will wash into your 

 hose. Push the plug into the hole ; with a mallet give it a few 

 gentle taps, and the work is done. We now have our water run- 

 ning, and it can be carried to any part of the field for any crop 

 that needs it." 



The crops most markedly benefited by irrigation, be this 

 from the surface or from undergrouno, are cabbage, cauli- 

 flower, celery, lettuce, radish, and perhaps strawberries and 

 onions. There are many instances where the increase of a single 

 crop, due to artificial watering, has more than paid the original 

 cost of the whole irrigation plant. 



Sub-earth Flooding. — One of the simplest, cheapest, and 

 most effective methods of subirrigation has been in use for 

 years in some celery, cauliflower, and onion fields near Mount 

 Morris, New York. This is a tract of deep, rich, sandy muck, 30 

 or 40 acres in extent, situated at the foot of a hill, and slightly 





Plan of Irrigated Field. 



sloping away from it. A little brook flowing down the hillside 

 and passing by at one corner of the tract' furnishes a moderate 

 and never-failing water supply, A deep ditch is dug all along 

 the foot of the hill on a dead level, forming the head of the low- 

 lands. Another ditch, parallel with the other, forms the bound- 

 ary on the lower side, and the two ditches are connected by a 

 number of parallel cross-ditches, as shown in illustration. All 

 these ditches are provided with flood-gates to dam up the water 

 when required. Ordinarily all the flood-gates, except the one at 

 the head of the upper main, are kept closed, and the water flows 

 along in its natural course unobstructed. When the soil begins 

 to get dry, however, and shows the need of water, the mountain 

 brook is turned into the head ditch, and the latter is allowed to 

 fill up almost to overflowing. This alone will give the whole 

 strip next to the head ditch, several rods in width, a pretty good 

 soaking in a comparatively short time. Then by opening the 



