LAWN AND DOCKYARD 



of artificial irrigation is therefore no less impor- 

 tant than that of artificial drainage. 



Here again the needs of the lawn call for special 

 consideration, both because the soil cannot be kept 

 porous by cultivation and because the roots of 

 the grass permeate the entire surface and exhaust 

 the water supply very rapidly. The fault with 

 most of the common sprinklers used to irrigate 

 lawns and small gardens, says Mr. Burbank, is 

 that they do not distribute the water evenly. Most 

 of them cover a circular space, and there is always 

 some part of the soil which has too much water 

 while other parts have too little. One of the most 

 important points in irrigation is to have the water 

 distributed evenly. 



Some of the flat or fishtail sprinklers distribute 

 the water better than the older forms, but Mr. 

 Burbank especially commends the newer system 

 of overhead irrigation as far superior to the old 

 forms of sprinkling. He recommends the use of 

 a number of one-inch galvanized pipes with noz- 

 zles placed along the sides from twelve to twenty 

 inches apart. The pipes, mounted on stakes at 

 a convenient height, are connected with the water 

 supply by ordinary rubber hose. A single system 

 of pipes will water a space evenly to a distance of 

 from twenty-five to fifty feet on either side. Thus 

 an ordinary lawn may be supplied from a line of 

 pipes at either side, and these pipes may be con- 

 cealed by a trellis of ornamental vines. 



The system may be so modified that the pipes 

 instead of being held on permanent stakes are car- 



[181] 



