46 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



depends upon the coarseness of the sand and the subsoil 

 upon which it rests. If soil and subsoil are coarse sand 

 or gravel to a considerable depth, shallow rooting plants 

 will fail unless they can finish their growth during the 

 rainy season. Summer growth is impossible because water 

 will flow through their sieve-like structure and carry 

 away plant food with it. With moisture leaching away 

 below and flying away above, and with intense sun heat 

 burning the foliage by direct contact and reflection, such 

 wash soils are indescribably worse than adobe. 



But sandy soils which are imposed upon clay or hard- 

 pan, providing the underlying stratum is not alkaline, 

 furnish very promising garden materials, even though 

 the layer be too shallow for the growth of trees. Many 

 fruit growers are struggling to maintain trees on such 

 spots in their orchards when they should forsake the ef- 

 wort and by adequate use of water and manure turn such 

 spots into family gardens. The holding of water near 

 the surface, which is fatal to tree roots, is the opportunity 

 for the growth of most vegetables. Depth of soil which 

 is so strongly insisted upon in treatises on gardening, con- 

 stitutes a storehouse of moisture and plant food, but it 

 has been abundantly demonstrated the world over that 

 depth is not essential provided the plant is otherwise fed 

 and watered. California gardens proceeding upon rain- 

 fall alone, need a deep, retentive soil; the irrigated gar- 

 den may thrive upon a soil too coarse to be retentive pro- 

 viding it has a tight bottom to hold moisture within reach 

 of shallow rooting plants. Therefore reclaim such sand 

 by providing a home water supply, if not in an irrigated 

 region, and use plenty of well-composted and decayed ma- 

 nure, which will not only feed the plants but will also 

 reform its texture and transform the coarse sand into 

 a rich garden soil, kind in cultivation and prodigious in its 

 yield of succulent vegetables, for sand is best of all ma- 

 terial for free and rapid root development. 



