. Vegetable gardening. A manual on the growing of vegetables for home use and marketing . .—Water should not beapplied unless the crop is suffering for it, but the soil should becultivated thoroughly and frequently, and thus waste by evapo-ration may be saved. Cultivate at once after irrigating, if the land will permitof it, so that the soil will not bake; evaporation will thus beprevented, and water will be saved in the soil. Do not apply more than enough water to nicely moistenthe land and avoid getting it water-soaked. Do not think that irrigation will take the place of cultiva-tion, for it
. Vegetable gardening. A manual on the growing of vegetables for home use and marketing . .—Water should not beapplied unless the crop is suffering for it, but the soil should becultivated thoroughly and frequently, and thus waste by evapo-ration may be saved. Cultivate at once after irrigating, if the land will permitof it, so that the soil will not bake; evaporation will thus beprevented, and water will be saved in the soil. Do not apply more than enough water to nicely moistenthe land and avoid getting it water-soaked. Do not think that irrigation will take the place of cultiva-tion, for it will not, since without cultivation irrigation is sel-dom successful. Water for irrigating purposes should be somewhat warmwhen applied. Cold springs do not afford a satisfactory supply 12 vegetajdLe gardening. for some crops unless pumped into a reservoir. A ternperature of 60 degrees is desirable, though not always necessaryfor the best results. Aim to wet the roots of the plants and avoid getting wateron the leaves. Wooden troughs afford the cheapest conduits for water anc. Figure 1.—One method of irrigating crop planted in rows. should be used whenever practicable. Iron pipe is expensiveand much more difficult to manage than wooden troughs. Sub-irrigation is a new term that refers to the applicationof water to the roots of plants by means of underground chan-nels, such as tile or other drains. It works best in sandy clayey soil the water runs too slowly through the sides ofthe tiles. Land tiles make as good channels as any for thispurpose. They should be buried a few inches below or by theside of the plants to be watered, being laid level with openjoints. Some experiments seem to show that it is a very waste-ful way of using water, while others have shown this^ systemto be economical. As practiced for v/atering plants in green-house benches, especially for lettuce, it has given excellentresults. IRRIGATION AND ROTATION OF CROPS. 13 ROTATION OF CROPS. By
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