LAWN AND DOCKYARD 



of pipes, the heavy adobe soil of Mr. Burbank's 

 Santa Eosa place was made arable. The soil was 

 then enriched by plowing in eighteen hundred 

 loads of manure. Localized beds were subse- 

 quently modified to meet the needs of bulbous 

 plants by mixing sand with the soil. 



The net result of this treatment was to trans- 

 form a tract that would scarcely support vegeta- 

 tion of any kind into the most productive four 

 acres perhaps to be found anywhere in the tem- 

 perate zone. Doubtless there is no other tract of 

 similar size anywhere in the world that has pro- 

 duced so varied a crop of vegetation and such pro- 

 fusion of new and interesting and beautiful forms 

 of plant life year after year as these transformed 

 acres at Santa Rosa. 



Mr. Burbank's experience affords a lesson by 

 which everyone who has a small tract of land that 

 he wishes to put in condition for lawn or garden 

 may profit. Even if your land lies in a region 

 where there is drought in summer, there are 

 periods of the year when the ground is unduly 

 saturated with water, and when it must be drained 

 to permit the proper aeration of the roots of the 

 plants. The drainage pipes will not take water 

 from the soil except when there is an excess of it. 

 For dry soil absorbs water sponge-like through 

 capillarity. 



So, unless your land is located on a hillside 

 where there is the best possible opportunity for 

 natural drainage, you will do well to install a 

 system of drainage tiles like that described, and 



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