I05 



piotracted drought stops the growth and stunts the plant, 

 and materially injures it in value and appearance. 



We believe that if the farmers of New England would 

 put all their labor and fertilizer on to one half or one third of 

 the present area cultivated, they would receive infinitely 

 more satisfactory results. 



The subject of irrigation is receiving more and more at- 

 tention among our market gardeners and fruit growers near 

 the large cities each year. 



At the outing of the Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Asso- 

 ciation held at Fitchburg, in June of the present year, we 

 were shown seven acres of strawberries being irrigated by 

 the city water. 



They were just getting ready to harvest. Something 

 like sixteen tons of iron pipe were used to conduct the 

 water to where it was most needed. On this field we 

 measured berries over two inches in diameter. 



The land appeared to be thin of soil and very full of 

 small stones. 



On the same farm ten acres had been set for the crop of 

 1.S97. 



At our September outing in Concord, one of the speak- 

 ers was a fruit grower in Arizona, and said that one Mexi- 

 can man could irrigate thirty acres in a day and do it bet- 

 ter than Dame Nature. The question was asked how much 

 a day he paid the man who could beat the Almighti/. He 

 declined to answer, but one of his friends said he believed 

 it was about il.50 (^prohahly in Mexican silver). 



This is a factor which even the fruit growers of New 

 England have got to take into consideration when esti- 

 mating the cost of raising fruits and vegetables for the 

 markets. 



In closing we would like to call attention to the unsci- 

 entific, wasteful and destructive methods used in watering 

 our city lawns. 



