THE GARDEN BOOK OF CALIFORNIA 



irrigation, and it is really remarkable how little water, rightly 

 applied, will do. The gardener who would always secure 

 employment with me is the one who could reduce his em- 

 ployer's water bill for irrigation to $6 a month where it had 

 been $20 before. Every householder for his own guidance 

 and protection, as well as for the good of the community, 

 should insist that the water company of his city, or town, 

 place a meter on his premises. I have thoroughly tested this 

 matter, and know not only that it pays the individual but it 

 will eventually, if practiced, put the ever-recurring "water- 

 famine" of the summer months so far in the background, that 

 we shall never hear of it again. Have a meter, and use 

 common sense in irrigation, and your garden will out-blossom 

 your neighbor's water-logged premises, and your bank ac- 

 count will be larger at the end of the year. 



Then, weeds. Don't let the weeds get a foothold. One 

 good-sized pigweed will eat up more nourishment and water 

 than a rose bush, and not bring half the joy to the owner. 

 Keep the top soil stirred and open. It makes the premises 

 more wholesome to live in for you and for the plants. I 

 know a man who has a dozen splendid rose bushes in his 

 back yard. They bear misshapen, half-rotted or mildewed 

 buds two-thirds of the year. I have never seen a spade or 

 hoe taken to the soil about those great rose trees. He turns 

 the hose on in the morning, and it runs all day, and he even 

 had to build a wall to keep the water from running into his 

 cellar, but he hasn't yet waked up to the fact that roses 

 breathe through their roots as well as their leaves, and that 



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