UNDERDRAINING AND IRRIGATION. 53 



Underdraining is conducive to health, growth, and moistens 

 heavy soil for various reasons. It removes stagnant or muddy 

 water and thus warms the soil, which is very important. All 

 rains which fall then pass through the soil. The stagnant 

 water having been drawn out, the land is capable of receiving 

 and retaining for the use of plants as much water as will fall in 

 ordinary showers. Irrigation is beneficial in many ways, but 

 J. W. ADAMS especially so when the fruit is swelling, for the 

 strawberry loves moisture, and cannot perfect its fruit without 

 it. How and where to apply it has caused many doubts. We 

 have usually let it run between rows on the surface, our land 

 being neither level nor steep. Water runs a long distance with- 

 out soaking away too soon and without washing. We have 

 never tried plowing a light furrow and laying small under- 

 ground tiles, but the plan seems feasible for steep side hills, and 

 not too expensive to be profitable. Mass. 



Strawberries want water ; more of it than they are likely to 

 get. Irrigation makes big berries out of what otherwise might 

 be little ones, or helps to make the last picking almost as 

 fine as the first. It makes big, showy berries, and also makes 

 J. H. HALE them with less color, soft in texture and not so 

 good in quality as without it ; and it is a sight more satisfactory 

 to sell water in the strawberry than in milk, especially after it has 

 been drained from the cow. Conn. 



REMARKS. 



I said in the beginning of this chapter that in stiff 

 clay soils underdraining will double the crop, and I wish 

 to emphasize the statement by repeating it here ; but 

 it is without the compass of this book to describe 

 methods of underdraining, and I refer the reader to a 

 capital little work on the subject, written by W. I. 

 Chamberlain, and published by A. I. Root, of Medina, 

 Ohio. 



I notice a very interesting chapter in J. H. Hale's 

 catalogue on irrigation for strawberries, telling how 



