188 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



[June. 



crops on the generality of soils, and when circumstances will 

 admit of partial irrigation, the crops may be expected to derive 

 considerable benefit from it. The gardeners in the vicinity of 

 London, who are without doubt the best managers of their 

 gi'ound, annually incur great expense in this process, and long 

 experience proves to them the important advantages resulting 

 from it. Irrigation has, from the earliest ages, been considered 

 an important part of field and garden culture, and it may not 

 be going too far to suppose that the idea originated fi'om the 

 annual overflowings of the Nile. Some crops withstand long 

 droughts without sustaining much injury, when once they are 

 properly established in the ground, but by far the greater part 

 in ordinary cultivation suffer materially from a dry season. 

 Mulching, shading, and stirring the soil, are remedies to a 

 certain extent, and are performed with much less labor and 

 expense than irrigation. The crops of most vegetables, where 

 the drill system is practised, can be readily mulched, that is, 

 the gi'ound round their roots is covered with substances, which 

 prevent too powerful an evaporation, and at the same time 

 have a tendency to enrich the soil, consequently to afford a 

 considerable degi'ce of nourishment to the crop. Of all sub- 

 stances for this purpose, d\\n£r is the best, which if spread in 

 the spaces between the drills, will have the most beneficial 

 effect. The sweepings of lawns, waste straw, rotten tan, saw- 

 dust, &c. will atlbrd shade to the roots, and prevent too great 

 evaporation in the soil. Slates, tiles, and boards have been 

 recommended, and found to be attended with good effect. 

 Smaller crops, such as salads and young seedlings, may be 

 readily shaded with mats, supported on hoops, for a few hours 

 daily, and the beneficial results will, in most cases, justify the 

 plan. Hoeing or stirring the surface frequently, during pro- 

 tracted drought, has been proved to have the effect of render- 

 ing the soil less impervious to the heat of the sun, thereby 

 keeping the soil beneath both cooler and moister, and the 

 deeper that this operation is performed, the better will the crops 

 be found to stand. This latter mode is also applicable to crops 

 sown broad-cast, but in a less degree, as, from the position of 

 the plants, the hoe cannot be applied so as to loosen the soil 

 to such an extent as in the drill system. 



