38 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS. 



avoided in this connection because no one could exist in his garden 

 without having previously secured his domestic water supply in what- 

 ever way is best for his situation. Water for the garden should 

 always be included when one plans for water for the family and for 

 the domestic animals. Probably this item is often omitted because of 

 an exaggerated notion of the additional amount required. 



Relation of House and Garden Water Supplies. The writer's ex- 

 perience covering a good many years is that his total supply of water, 

 delivered through a. meter has averaged 276,000 gallons a year of 

 which (as ascertained by deduction for house use as determined by 

 the consumption during rainfall months) 76,000 gallons have been 

 used for garden irrigation. The family has averaged seven persons 

 and nearly all laundry work has been done in the house. This would 

 indicate that the domestic water supply of such a household must be 

 increased 38 per cent to maintain a garden consisting of: 



Lawns '3810 square feet 



Beds and borders 3451 



Vegetables 2000 



Total 9261 square feet 



This is the actually irrigated area all walks, etc., being excluded. 

 The place is of .average quality, from a gardening point of view not 

 so good as one will have if he follows fully the precepts of this book 

 and not so poor as he is apt to have if he neglects them. But this 

 conclusion from experience must not be taken as contradicting the 

 previous declaration that there can be no exact prescription of the 

 amount of water required for garden work. The garden in question 

 has a soil of historical adobe type although it has been mellowed into 

 a fine loam 'by twenty years of manuring and the use of all the ashes 

 resulting from the consumption of not less than four hundred tons of 

 coal during the same period. There is however a tight clay subsoil 

 at an average depth of 18 inches and all the water is kept within reach 

 even of shallow-rooting plants. Manifestly much more water would 

 be required to produce similar results over a coarse, leachy subsoil, 

 and the same would be true with a surface soil losing largely by 

 evaporation. The garden is also situated in a region of average rain- 

 fall of 28^2 inches, with summer air prevalently cool and moist. The 

 amount of water in this case must therefore be regarded as about the 

 minimum capable of producing the results indicated. Perhaps a fair 

 conclusion would be that on an average the house water supply must 

 be increased fifty per cent to carry a fairly good garden environment. 



HOUSE WASTES FOR GARDEN IRRIGATION. 



It is perfectly feasible to use waste w-ater from the house for 

 garden irrigation if one will give proper attention to it. A cesspool 



