68 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



they reach the bottom where the surplus may be caught 

 in a cross-furrow and carried to other uses. By this 

 method the water can be evenly distributed with hardly 

 a stroke of hand-work, and the soil, with surface always 

 open to access of air, and never allowed to compact itself 

 around the plants, affords conditions perfectly adapted 

 to thrifty, quick growth of the plants. This method con- 

 forms best with the most economical laying off of the 

 farm garden, viz. : the planting in long rows with uni- 

 form interspaces so that horse-power and the best imple- 

 ments can be employed to their fullest extent in every 

 operation from the seed planting to the gathering of the 

 crop. 



Furrow Irrigation on Hillsides. It is often desirable 

 to make the farm garden on a hillside, and this can be 

 managed by horse-work without terracing more easily 

 than one might think at first. The plan must be to work 

 nearly on contour lines in laying out the rows of vegeta- 

 bles and in the subsequent cultivation and irrigation. 

 The following will be found suggestive in regard to the 

 distribution of water: 



"The water is delivered from a flume laid down the 

 hillside, and fitted with cleats at each hole so as to throw 

 off enough water at the sides, or sometimes the flume is 

 laid in steps connected with a bit of covered flume from 

 step to step. The latter is best for very steep hills, 

 though, with care, the other may be used on a greater 

 slope than one would imagine. Another flume should be 

 laid at the end of the furrows to carry off the waste 

 water. 



"The contours may be laid out by anyone with a car- 

 penter's common level. Fifty-five feet to the mile is 

 nearly right for a very fine stream on most soils. And~ 

 this is about one foot in ninety-six, or two inches in six- 

 teen feet. Therefore, take a sixteen-foot plank and level 

 it to a slope of two inches in its whole length. Then 

 when the upper edge is level, the lower edge will repre- 



