CHAPTER XI 



GARDEN IRRIGATION 



Water was applied artificially to a very Large num- 

 ber of the competing gardens, some using it only at 

 time of transplanting, or to hasten seed germination. 

 But at least one in ten of the prize winners made 

 irrigation an important feature. 



In the older irrigated sections like California and 

 Colorado, an artificial supply of moisture for fruit and 

 vegetables appears almost a matter of course ; so much 

 so that in some instances the narrators failed to explain 

 the method intelligibly, leaving the process to be 

 inferred from the brief allusions made in the daily 

 notes. In all such cases it is probable that the water 

 was turned into the furrows from the irrigating ditch 

 by the simple methods hereafter described. Given an 

 abundance of water, irrigation is by no means a diffi- 

 cult and complicated operation. As the accounts show, 

 the time required for the work is brief as compared 

 with other garden operations, and anyone with a fair 

 am.ount of general information on the subject should 

 have no trouble even at the start. 



Often a good chance for irrigation has been neg- 

 lected because of failure to realize the immense advan- 

 tage which a good water supply gives the grower of 

 fruit and vegetables. Even in sections where the rain- 

 fall is large enough for the common farm crops, many 

 prominent gardeners declare irrigation a positive neces- 

 sity for intensive gardening on a large scale. In the 

 semi-arid parts of the west and northwest, irrigation 



