OTHER WATER BORDERS 



ciated. The irrigating ditch is an impartial 

 distributer. It gathers all the alien weeds 

 that come west in garden and grass seeds 

 and affords them harbor in its banks. 

 There one finds the European mallow 

 (Malva rotundifolid) spreading out to the 

 streets with the summer overflow, and every 

 spring a dandelion or two, brought in with 

 the blue grass seed, uncurls in the swardy 

 soil. Farther than either of these have 

 come the lilies that the Chinese coolies 

 cultivate in adjacent mud holes for their 

 foodful bulbs. The seegoo establishes it- 

 self very readily in swampy borders, and 

 the white blossom spikes among the arrow- 

 pointed leaves are quite as acceptable to 

 the eye as any native species. 



In the neighborhood of towns founded 

 by the Spanish Calif ornians, whether this 

 plant is native to the locality or not, one can 

 231 



