48 
be brought between them with a long sweeping motion, 
rather than the short chopping motion so commonly 
used, and then with a backward motion over the sur¬ 
face, the soil will be leveled and any crust broken. 
The paths around these beds should be kept well 
cultivated. The Barker weeder, 10-inch size, is ideal for 
this purpose. This weeder is manufactured by the Bar¬ 
ker Mfg. Co., David City, Nebr. 
For the beds with rows 25 feet long, described under 
Beds, the 10-inch Barker weeder is the most valuable 
hand cultivator we have yet found. It is easy to op¬ 
erate, takes out all the weeds, and leaves a fine, level 
dust mulch. No gardening equipment is complete with¬ 
out it. 
WATER 
If you do not have an irrigation system, get one, and 
get it quick! You can’t get out on a dry knob and com¬ 
pete with the fellow who irrigates. We have seen it 
tried. It can’t be done. We can get several times as 
many bulblets under irrigation as can be gotten with¬ 
out. And then those big first and extra size bulbs we 
get the first season from the bulblets under irrigation! 
Absolutely got to have water and plenty of it. 
There are many methods of irrigating; several are 
excellent and some are not so good. We once tried the 
ditch method. It is much better than none, but we soon 
got tired of plodding about in the mud and the soil was 
hard to work and had a tendency to pack and bake. 
We are now using the Skinner Irrigation System, 
which is an overhead sprinkling system, and can have 
a fine rain storm whenever we want it, with warm 
water pumped into it from a creek. Our beds are cov¬ 
ered with about half an inch of sand which is easily 
