ESSENTIALS TO SUCCESS. 21 



sponsive growth of the plant when his culture suits its 

 nature, and unless he finds pride and satisfaction in the 

 armful of delicious vegetables which he brings each day 

 to his helpmeet, with the dewdrops of the early morning 

 still sparkling upon their foliage, his gardening will never 

 be an easy task though it may be conscientiously and suc- 

 cessfully discharged. 



But although it is possible to make a good and profitable 

 garden from a sense of duty and though work will reach 

 its due reward even though one can never bring himself to 

 see that the ''primal curse" of the race is really its op- 

 portunity, it is a fact that without work there can be no 

 successful gardening in California. Perhaps work is the 

 price of success everywhere ; perhaps the aggregate of 

 muscular effort proportional to the result is less in Cali- 

 fornia than elsewhere but let no one deceive himself that 

 the California garden will make itself. The item of work 

 may be reduced to a minimum by intelligent direction. In- 

 sight and observation will teach just when each act should 

 be performed to secure the richest co-operative response 

 from nature's forces, and to miss this advantage will en- 

 tail a vast amount of unnecessary effort, but the modicum 

 of incisive action must be bestowed. It will appear later, 

 in connection with the discussion of the planting season, 

 that timely work is a prime factor in fact the pivot upon 

 which the effort may turn from delight to disappointment. 

 California conditions, though exceedingly generous are 

 equally exacting probably more exacting than those of 

 humid climates. It is clear then that not only is work an 

 essential, but it must be work well directed and main- 

 tained. The third essential is water. By due understand- 

 ing and employment of the characters of the natural grow- 

 ing season and of the soil in each locality, it is possible to 

 produce a great wealth and variety of vegetables in most 

 parts of the State without irrigation. In some parts suc- 

 cession or rotation can be carried through the year by the 

 most intelligent cultivation to prevent evaporation or by 



