INFORMAL WATER GARDENS 



129 



hosepipes of every description, from " armoured " to 

 "flabby" ones, stand-pipes and revolving "sprinklers," 

 it should be possible for us to contrive water gardens which 

 not only are pretty like the ones described, but also will 

 enable the gardener to 

 use water freely for 

 practical purposes. 



How hard the poor 

 I talian market-gardener 

 has to work compared 

 to our men ! As we 

 look down from the hills 

 in Italy upon valleys 

 where the vegetable 

 market-gardens are, we 

 see him after sunset 

 wielding a long-handled 

 implement, attached to ' 

 which is what looks like 

 a child's toy bucket. As 

 the sun sinks after a 

 scorchingly hot day he 

 scoops water out of the 

 small dykes that divide 

 his garden plot and 

 throws it repeatedly over 

 spinach and cabbage 

 beds. He continues for a long time, because it is neces- 

 sary to give a thorough watering or none at all. Then 

 upon the hillside he lays a short length of iron gutter 

 in the stream that courses down the garden, and this 

 conducts the water into one of the large oil-jars which 

 are used there in place of tanks. This is indeed a 

 primitive means of irrigation, and yet we know even the 

 indolent Italian will spare no bodily fatigue when it is a 



9 



Fig. 86. 



A, Stepping-stones ; B, beds of Primula 

 japonica, or other choice flowers. 



