48 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



the lay of the land all these are determining factors, 

 in addition to the dates of frost occurrence which fix the 

 opening and closing of the season for tender plants in 

 the open ground. Therefore let no man conclude that 

 he cannot grow vegetables until he completes his arrange- 

 ment for irrigation unless he is sure that his winter rain- 

 fall is too uncertain to grow even a crop of wheat, for 

 a rainfall that will carry the wheat plant to maturity 

 will also produce quite a variety of garden vegetables 

 with proper practice in early sowing and frequent cul- 

 tivation. 



And from this low-water mark the unirrigated garden 

 proceeds upward with richer endowment of favoring local 

 conditions, insuring length of growing season and variety 

 of vegetables until it really becomes a question whether 

 irrigation is needed at all. It certainly is not for ample 

 yield of many, possibly all, of the staples of the garden, 

 but to insure a succession of salads and relishes, pot- 

 herbs and legumes in short, to enjoy the fulness of the 

 California season, the irrigated garden is the thing to 

 be diligently striven for. 



SOURCES OF IRRIGATION WATER. 



Whence the garden shall receive its water supply is a 

 question for each to determine according to his environ- 

 ment. Water is now flowing over California gardens 

 from various sources as the result of all sorts of indi- 

 vidual, co-operative, and corporate efforts and invest- 

 ments. It would require volumes to describe them. Large 

 irrigation enterprises are the joint work of engineers and 

 capitalists. That gardener is fortunate who has only to 

 buy his water from a fair-dealing ditch company or draw 

 his share from a co-operative water company in which 

 he has an interest. Such a source is best of all because 

 causing least labor and expense in average cases. But 

 there will always remain opportunities, probably, where 

 farm gardens can command their own irrigation supplies 



