CHAPTER IV 



Water and Its Control 



The better the drainage, the surer the water supply. 



— New England Homestead. 



The importance of having the garden well 

 drained is not half appreciated. Of course, if the 

 land is naturally well drained there would be no 

 necessity of doing the thing artificially. But if the 

 land is low or pockety, it is likely to need draining. 

 While water is necessary to crop growing, excess 

 of water is a detriment in several conspicuous ways. 



First, the soil is sure to be cold and wet in spring 

 and consequently late ; second, it is likely to be- 

 come dry and to bake during summer, because the 

 water has evaporated, and thus the crops suffer for 

 lack; third, it may become sour and filled with 

 weeds difficult to eradicate, and for both these rea- 

 sons it would be hard for cultivated plants to get 

 along. 



Drainage takes away excess water, makes the 

 soil warmer and earlier, removes the cause of sour- 

 ness, but, most important of all, it prevents the 

 baking of the soil during summer. In fact, in this 

 last direction it positively increases the amount of 

 water available to the plants during hot and rain- 

 less weather, for it insures a steady water flow 

 from below toward the surface beneath which it 

 may easily be held by good methods of tillage. 



Upon a somewhat larger scale than the ordinary 

 home garden is the following experience which 

 illustrates not only the importance of good drain- 



17 



