PLENTY OF WATER DESIRABLE 59 



Adequate Use of Water Essential. Beyond any theoretical 

 computation of the amount of water needed it is one of the plainest 

 teachings of California experience that good, thorough soaking of 

 the ground is the secret of satisfactory results. Surface sprinkling 

 without penetration is a delusion even in lawn growing. It gives 

 the impression of moisture when the roots of the plant may be fam- 

 ishing in dry ground. Pouring on water from a watering pot, 

 though it be once every day, will make a brick to enclose the plant 

 stem and roots if the soil be prone to bake. On larger scale work 

 it has been fully demonstrated that for productiveness a small piece 

 of ground thoroughly soaked with water and then as thoroughly 

 cultivated on the surface to kill weeds and prevent the waste of 

 moisture into the air by evaporation, is preferable to twice the sur- 

 face only half watered. One very thorough wetting, with good 

 cultivation, will produce better results than several superficial water- 

 ings. And in this way the water can be used the most econom- 

 ically by accomplishing the most good with the least labor. 



Another very important point is to keep the moisture supply 

 always adequate. One who waits till the plants show distress has 

 lost his chance. One of our experienced growers very pertinently 

 says: "If we allow our ground to get the least bit dry the vege- 

 tables are stunted in growth, and then it takes several days to catch 

 up again if it ever does. I hold that a stunted vegetable is as bad 

 as a stunted calf or pig. It is never as good as if it was pushed 

 right along from the beginning." 



Besides, it should always be remembered that the edible plants 

 we call "vegetables" must generally be crisp, or tender in tissue, 

 and juicy. Both qualities are promoted by quick growth and quick 

 growth depends upon ample soil moisture. And yet excessive use 

 of water must be guarded against. Professor S. S. Rogers truly 

 says: 



Where water is easy to obtain the tendency of many growers is to over- 

 irrigate, not relying upon good thorough cultivation for retaining the moist- 

 ure. Overirrigation tends to produce vegetables of more or less inferior 

 quality, and one of the greatest dangers lies in the packing of the soil 

 immediately about the plants, especially where the soil is of a heavy nature. 

 It is better to irrigate seldom and cultivate often and thoroughly than to 

 irrigate frequently and cultivate seldom. 



RELATION OF IRRIGATION TO SOIL FERTILITY. 



And it must also be borne in mind that adequate moisture 

 must always be accompanied by adequate supplies of plant food in 

 the soil. The gardener who keeps his soil rich gets the greatest 

 return from the water he uses, and attention must be paid to the 

 suggestions in the chapter on Fertilization. This has always been 

 demonstrated by experience, and an interesting measure of the fact 

 has been deduced from experimentation by Dr. J. A. Widtsoe of the 

 Utah Agricultural College. He shows that a given amount of moist- 



