garden — the shov^y, feathery tails of the seeds protruding some- 
times more than two inches from the dry calyx tubes, after the 
manner of the Mountain Llahogany, and the lovely blossoms, 
which resemble miniature white single Roses. They are among 
the most endearing of flow^ers, borne in lavish abundance and 
lending themselves with complaisance to cutting for indoor 
decoration. A touch of human interest is given by the fact that 
the shreds of bark have been gathered from time immemorial by 
Navajo mothers and used to line their babies' cradles. I do not 
know if the plant is procurable from nurserymen or not. The 
only specimens that I have seen in cultivation were raised from 
roots brought by friends from the Grand Canyon, Arizona, 
where the shrub is a familiar sight. 
Charles Francis Saunders. 
In the semi-tropical, arid southwest, water is life in a sense ^ 
utterly unknown to one who has never been west of the Rockies. California 
Without it, only the hardiest desert plants survive ; with it, "Water 
this wonderfully fertile soil and equable climate make possible Supply 
a garden of the Lord. Dwellers in the east who frequently 
suffer from too much water rather than too little, may not be 
interested in this question, but perhaps some have longed 
during a dry and hot summer for rivers to flow through their 
parched and thirsty gardens, and would welcome wdth joyful 
hearts the music of fountains and water-falls, were it not for 
the expense and waste of water. 
The treatment of a modest garden of one acre on La Loma 
Road, Pasadena, may give help to others in solving this problem. 
The grounds are on the upper edge of the Arroyo Seco and 
slope rather sharply to the south-west. They are divided 
in three principal terraces, one with the house and main lawn, 
the second with a formal garden of square beds bordered with 
shrubs and trees, and the third with oval and curved beds, 
having shrubs only in the corners. Water comes first from 
the city main out through a fountain on the dining-porch, 
where all meals are had six months in the year, and some 
meals every month. The silvery soprano of the water falling 
down the different basins of the fountain, is followed by the 
deep bass of the overflow as it reaches a momentary resting 
place seven feet lower, then the theme is taken up by the light 
tenor of a three-feet drop to the level of the patio on the first 
terrace, where the water joins another fountain with a larger 
pool. The patio, from the Latin patere, "to lie open," is a 
lovely feature of many California homes, and is the center of 
much of the family life. This one is 35 by 65 feet, and was 
planned to avoid the barren look of many large Spanish and 
Italian patios, and the, perhaps, rather inhospitable air of 
some smaller ones of stone and marble enclosed by the house. 
75 
