222 
The Garden Magazine, May, 1924 
Ourworks produced a large quantity of waste material amount¬ 
ing to more than a thousand tons each day. This consisted 
of crushed ore, from which the copper minerals had been 
washed, or leached, grading in size from that of coarse gravel 
to tine sand; also of melted slag, which solidifies on cooling into 
a very heavy black stone, brittle and glassy. My plan was to 
use all of this material for filling in the bay across the river until 
it should be raised to a sufficient height to render it secure 
against floods, using the loose material for back fill, and protect¬ 
ing it along the river front with a wall cast of molten slag which, 
when cooled, would form a solid homogeneous mass, well fitted 
to resist the eroding action of the river in Hood. 
Copper salts have the reputation of being injurious to plant 
life, and predictions of failure in any attempt at making a gar¬ 
den with these tailings from the copper works were the order of 
the day, for all of it contained a certain amount of copper 
residue. Nor was 1 any too sanguine myself. 
After the work of filling was completed, and the tailings thor¬ 
oughly settled with water, and the surface levelled off, the ques¬ 
tion of a top dressing of soil was taken up. Finally, some river 
silt left in a depression along the base of the cliffs was found, 
enough to cover an acre nearly two feet deep; and with this 
and some manure from the town dairy a start was made. 
Unfortunately, the silt contained a large percentage of alkali, 
and little humus; the subsoil of tailings contained copper and 
was as barren as road metal; the slag foundation below was as 
the porcelain bottom of a pot, except for the favorable occur¬ 
rence of shrinkage cracks which provided drainage. 
Water for irrigation was another difficulty, that furnished the 
town for domestic purposes being too expensive for use in the 
quantities needed, while the river, except when in flood, carried 
an objectionable quantity of common salt, and when in flood 
was extremely dirty. This, however, had to suffice, while a 
climate with ninety per cent, sunshine, an exceedingly low 
humidity, practically no dew fall, a winter without snow but 
with occasional frosts of twenty degrees or more, and in summer 
peak temperatures of i io° F. in the shade, combined to offer a 
set of conditions calculated to favor the prophecies of the pes¬ 
simists—at least the experiment promised to prove interesting! 
A Triumph in Lawn Making 
M Y F 1 RST consideration was to have a neat lawn, if nothing 
else, so all the available space around the house was sown 
to grass. Various “dry climate’' mixtures of “fine lawn” 
grasses and White Clover were tried, but while a beautiful lawn 
was had during the following spring and early summer, the first 
real heat withered it and, in spite of copious irrigation, it could 
not be kept alive beyond the middle of June. We were then 
driven back on the common coarse Bermuda Grass which, 
while not highly thought of, has many advantages, for, where 
properly cut, it forms a beautiful green spongy turf, needs little 
water, and revels in the fiercest heat of summer, shunning only 
the shade, its chief disadvantage being that it dies with the 
first frost of winter and turns a pale, unsightly straw color. 
Our later practice was to cut close in the fall and rake in Aus¬ 
tralian Rye. A new green lawn was thus secured in the course 
of a few weeks which flourished through the winter and into the 
following spring. When it dies out, its place is taken by the 
Bermuda, which (being perennial) again springs up, and soon 
the lawn is green again. But the Rye must be re-sown each fall. 
It has taken much time to determine whether trees and shrubs 
could be grown successfully under the conditions described, 
and by the process of elimination to discover what kinds are 
best adapted to cope with them. 
Admiration of the Pepper-tree, with its graceful evergreen 
foliage, led me first to surround the place with them. Four- 
year-old saplings planted twenty feet apart in 1913 have done 
fairly well, and many of them now rub shoulders at a height of 
twenty-five feet or more. A few languished, while some died 
unexpectedly after flourishing for several years, as if their 
roots had suddenly absorbed some deadly poison. Winter 
frosts, however, frequently kill the foliage and, if very severe, 
even the tree itself, so I later planted Black Walnuts alternately 
with the Peppers which, while slow in becoming established, 
have proved amenable, and should calamity some day overtake 
the Peppers, as is likely, the Walnuts will be found well able to 
make good the deficiency. 
Other trees, among them the Olive, Ash, Locust, and several 
varieties of fruit trees, have done well so far; while two groups 
of Washington Fan Palms on either side of the driveway, less 
than three feet high when planted, now have their lower fronds 
trimmed off six feet above the ground. The Pomegranate 
seems to fairly revel in alkali and copper tailings, for a hedge 
of these raised from seed in 1914 soon attained the desired 
height, while specimens allowed to go untrimmed are flourish¬ 
ing trees twelve feet or more high. 
Two shrubberies on the front lawn, not set out until 1915, 
and changed about a good deal since as failures were replaced, 
are now thoroughly established and, with the blending of the 
foliage of Pittosporum, Crataegus, and Euonymus, Phoenix 
Palm, the Arizona and Italian Cypress, and the graceful, feath¬ 
ery plumes of the Pampas-grass, and lighted up in season with 
the pink and white blossoms of the Oleanders and yellow of the 
Spanish Broom, form an effective and truly beautiful decoration. 
To find suitable creepers to cover the house and protect the 
walls from the heat of the sun proved quite troublesome, and 
three years were lost in an endeavor to make the Ficus ripens 
a success. English Ivy, planted on the north side, got away 
well, and now completely covers that wall; while other vines 
which have proven satisfactory are the Trumpet-vine, several 
varieties of Passion-flower, Clematis, and a lovely evergreen 
clinging Bignonia, whose dark, glossy leaves and pretty yellow 
flowers made a truly beautiful wall covering. 
Wars for the Roses Now 
M ANY of the common garden flowers have done well, al¬ 
though they take particular care; Roses gave, perhaps, 
more trouble than all others combined, and for years our efforts 
were frustrated by the unfavorable conditions, till in despair we 
were ready to try out almost any suggestion given us. Finally 
it was realized that an entire change of soil would have to be 
made in the Rose bed. We had none but that which had re¬ 
sulted from the decomposition of alkaline sedimentary forma¬ 
tions, so I decided to try out fresh soil from the granite moun¬ 
tains lying some miles to the north, several wagonloads of which 
were procured, and a new start made. This mixed with leaf 
mould gathered in basket loads by Mexican children from 
under the Mesquite bushes growing on the hillsides near by, 
solved our difficulties, and since then we have been able to 
bring to successful bloom many of the choicest varieties of 
Rose. 
Climbing Roses adapted themselves more readily to the ex¬ 
isting conditions, for in a comparatively short time a pergola 
one hundred and twenty feet long was completely covered 
with many different kinds whose successive bloom throughout 
the spring and fall months attracted the greatest admiration. 
This pergola also serves to support a high wire fence used to 
screen off the tennis court, the unsightly nakedness of which 
fence is completely hidden by a covering of Moon-vine, whose 
bloom of softest blue in late summer is a sight the beauty of 
which well earns the admiration of all. 
Gradually, and by dint of copious irrigation, careful fertiliza¬ 
tion, and thorough cultivation, the soil has become much im¬ 
proved, and results secured with a tithe of the effort needed 
formerly. There is more time for other things—a slag rock 
garden here, a Lily pool there, with a fountain and goldfish, a 
rustic shady-house covered with Honeysuckle, inside of which 
are hanging baskets of Asparagus Sprengeri and Ferns; these, 
and a little greenhouse for propagating seeds, are some of the 
later additions. 
