42 



CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



Subterreanean Water Sources. There are few places where 

 water for a home garden cannot be had by well-digging and there 

 are many large districts where flowing wells are secured by shallow 

 boring. At the bases of hills horizontal wells or tunnels are fre- 

 quently satisfactory. The capacity of these wells and tunnels is 

 sometimes very great. They often warrant long-ditch lines or figure 

 in the supply of towns and cities. Unquestionably the present de- 

 velopment of water by these means is only a fraction of what is 

 possible and the owner of untried land should undertake a reason- 

 able amount of prospecting. It is, of course, easy to waste money 

 in this way, but if one proceeds after as full study as he can make 

 of the surface, the outcroppings of rock, the experience of others in 

 the same region, he is pretty sure to realize upon reasonable antici- 

 pations. 



Excavations in dry creek beds of gravel and boulders have 

 often brought to light considerable underflow which has been ar- 

 rested and the water stored by cement dams resting on the bed rock. 



Reclaimed by Reservoir Building. 



Flowing wells and wells which bring the water near to the sur- 

 face constitute the main source of subterranean water employed in 

 California. They have reclaimed large districts which were form- 

 erly arid wastes and they are largely used also for summer crops 

 in regions of ample winter rains. Well borers equipped with good 

 appliances are to be found in all parts of the state. 



WATER-LIFTING DEVICE. 



At this point it will be well to remark that any gardener is 

 fortunate who has water brought to the highest point of his planta- 

 tion by its own weight without a struggle on his part against the 

 force of gravity, and yet there are thousands of instances of satis- 

 factory home gardening by simple water-lifting devices. 



