50 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



water by the simple process of allowing it to run down hill your 

 way instead of that way which is natural to it. Water which 

 would be of great value in the house and barn and farm-garden 

 is allowed to flow by in its own deep channel when a very little 

 use of the level would show that a part of it could be taken out) 

 into a ditch or pipe, higher up its course through the farm, and 

 brought along with less fall than it naturally takes, until it reaches 

 the buildings high up the slope above the bank instead of in the 

 deep bed it has cut in the soil below. This is very simple and 

 inexpensive, and yet we have many hillside places in the central 

 and northern parts of the state where the water is carried up by 

 hand to the house, and the animals are driven down to the water, 

 and the garden is neglected because it is too hard work to haul 

 water up to it. Of course there are many cases where such an 

 obvious resource of the farm has been utilized, but there are 

 many where it is neglected. 



Many springs on the hillsides are allowed to be trampled 

 into mudholes by the stock, which need but cleaning out and 

 opening up to yield a water-flow beyond any amount which the 

 old outcropping would indicate. A short pipe line would deliver 

 water in the tops of the buildings if desired and would generously 

 irrigate all the land needed for the family garden. And yet the 

 hillsides are full of unused springs. One has, however, to be very 

 careful about handling a spring. Good springs have been lost by ex- 

 cavating or blasting for the purpose of increasing the flow. Some- 

 times it has caused the spring to disappear entirely. At the same 

 time the flow has been increased on some springs by careful 

 opening, cleaning out interfering dirt and rubbish so as to open 

 the exit of the water without opening other exits for its 'escape. 

 When this is done, cementing around to prevent loss of water by 

 seepage is often effective in increasing the flow or at least conserv- 

 ing it so that a better run of water is obtained. 



Between the hills above the building sites there are many 

 intervales which are impassible in the rainy season and covered 

 with a growth of sedges and swamp grass all summer. They are 

 natural reservoirs of greater or less capacity, holding the surface 

 water and underflow from the hillsides. In the dry season plow- 

 ing and scraping will easily fashion a small reservoir at the lowest 

 pqint of the intervale and a pipe line will bring down water at 

 least for irrigation, if it is not suited for other uses. Or if there 



