50 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



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 fail 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 north- 

 ern 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. 



Between the hills above the building sites there are 

 many intervales which are impassable 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 plowing and scrap- 

 ing will easily fashion a small reservoir at the lowest 

 point 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 be below a better site for a reservoir, 

 underdrainage of the swamp will turn it to the growth 

 of good grasses while the outflow from the drains can 

 be concerted into garden crops below. 



Again even when the surface after the rainy season 

 shows no sign of moisture, it is often possible to keep a 

 good supply in sight by closing some small vale and dry 



