AFTER CARE — FERTILIZERS 53 
of soil water called ‘“‘capillarity.” If there 
is a good definite movement of sufficient 
water from the subsoil to the topsoil, irri- 
gation is not necessary. 
5. The amount of loss by evaporation of 
the water from the soil and the rate of loss 
by transpiration from the crop. The greater 
the loss in both cases the greater the need for 
irrigation and vice versa. 
In terms of water: if one quarter of a cubic 
foot of water per second be applied to an acre 
of ground for about eight hours, it will have 
covered the surface of this acre to the depth 
of about two inches. If this application is re- 
peated once in ten days for five irrigations it 
will be equal to about ten inches of rain in 
fifty days. This will be quite above the nor- 
mal rainfall, and from results obtained will 
fulfil the objects of irrigation. 
. SYSTEMS OF IRRIGATION 
Flooding.—This particular system is very 
little practised in strawberry culture, but 
might be advantageously used in extreme 
cases where a large amount of water was 
needed at once. It consists of building a 
bank or furrow around the bed of straw- 
