18 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
January 1, 1910 
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required, but cases are very rare where 
it is sufficiently reasonable to give maxi- 
mum results at all times; so that it 
behoves us to make provision for saving 
some of the water from a time of plenty 
for a dry season, or to make use of water 
that is being collected naturally at a 
distance, or over a large area, and brought 
within our reach by rivers, creeks or 
springs, or artificially by irrigation 
channels, bores, or city water pipes. 
— The Water Can. — 
The majority of small gardeners have 
to rely on the watering can for the 
application of any water they have to 
spare for the garden, and I can safely say 
that there is no greater enemy to a good 
garden. How frequently we ‘hear 
gardeners remark that although they 
have watered every night their garden 
looks worse than a neighbor’s who has no 
water to use. This can be very easily 
remedied, and as easily explained. Most 
of you have seen a pump that has been 
allowed to run.dry ; the handle may be 
worked up and down until doomsday 
without lowering the water in the wellan 
inch. But pour a drop of water in the 
top to wet the valve and assist it to act 
and the water can be pumped up until 
the well is dry. The soil of the garden 
when loose on the surface will not allow 
the sun, which acts as a pump, to get a 
start on the water in the soil, but the fine 
streams from the rose of the watering- 
can settle the soil down and leave the 
surface compact, so that when the sun 
gels to work next morning it not only 
evaporates the water that was placed 
there the previous night, but any more 
that was within reach, and by 4 o’clock 
the soil will be found to be bone-dry to a 
depth of several inches. 
— How to Apply the Water. — 
First, do not water every night. If 
you have sufficient water at your disposal 
to do so, divide the garden into six 
portions and give six times as much to 
each once a week. 
Second, do not water on the surface ;- 
make holes in the ground with hoe or 
spade near the plants to be watered and 
fill them with water from the spout of 
-the-can without the rose; keep pouring 
it in as it soaks away, until your water 
supply or patience is exhausted. When 
it has soaked away, and not till then, 
fill the hole up again with the soil. 
With this plan you can use any waste 
water, such as soap suds on washing 
day, etc., that would not go through the 
rose of the watering can without causing 
a stoppage. Liquid manure can be used 
in this way also, But let your chief care 
be to hide all traces of the water when 
finished. I have used this method for 
putting out tomato plants and keeping 
them growing during a drought, when 
neighbors who had plenty of water could 
not get their plants along. Sometimes it 
is necessary to use the rose on the 
watering-can to water a bed of seedlings, 
but if so the surface should be mulched 
with manure, straw or leaves to prevent 
evaporation. 
— Local Irrigation. — 
The following method is sometimes 
adopted here A flowerpot or jam tin 
with holes in the bottom is buried to the 
rim next to the plant to be watered, and 
filled with pebbles or other rubbish. 
Water or weak liquid manure may be 
poured in these at any time, but if soap- 
suds or water with soli@ matter in it is 
used the pots should be removed as often 
as it is found that the water does not 
soak away quickly. 
— The Sprinkler. — 
Where there is a good supply of water 
laid on, the revolving sprinkler is often 
used, but, like the watercan, it frequently 
does more harm than good, and never 
(except, perhaps, on grass lawns or where 
there are beds of vegetables with 
sufficiently dense foliage to shelter the 
ground) with results commensurate with 
the water used. 
Ifthe sprinkler is used at night, get 
out after it in the early morning and 
chip the surface with the hoe to loosen it 
and prevent more than surface evapora- 
tion. But let your motto be ‘Get the 
water out of sight,’ If you have got 
a well-drained, open sand so loose that to 
jump across a ditch on to the garden 
would let you down over your boot tops, 
such as I have seen at Botany and other 
market gardens, you can turn the hose 
on and as soon as the water stops. 
running it is out of sight; it can do no. 
harm there, but there are not many 
gardens in such soil as that. 
— Sub-soil Irrigation. — 
Wonderful results can be obtained by 
laying rows of 13 inch drain tiles about 
9 inches to a foot deep under the beds in 
such a way that a supply of water can be- 
turned into them at frequent intervals. 
. 
— Surface Irrigation. — 
The first essential for an irrigated farm. 
or garden is good drainage. Frequently 
the land, especially in districts with a 
poor rainfall, is heavily charged with 
various salts which, unless they can go 
downwards with the water, will gradually 
accumulate near the surface until -strong 
enough to destroy vegetation. Drain 
thoroughly and even if the water itself 
contains a small amount of salts in solu- 
tion iv is not likely to do much damage.. 
especially where there is an occasional 
fall of rain to help wash the salts down- 
wards. 
The water should be brought to the- 
highest corner of the garden if possible, 
or a windmill or other pump should be- 
fixed to raise it to that point, with tanks 
as large as possible to keep the supply 
going when the pump is not at work. 
If the tank is erected pipes should be- 
fixed at convenient plaees with a short 
length of detachable hose so that every 
part of the garden can be reached. 
In whatever way the water reaches the 
garden care must be taken that it is. 
properly applied. As I have said: above 
regarding hand watering, care should be: 
taken to thoroughly soak the soil around 
the roots of the plants, and when this 
is completed you should cultivate the 
surface or apply a mulch to prevent 
evaporation, If the garden has been 
well graded before the ground is culti- 
vated, it is an easy matter to run tho 
water anywhere in furrows between the 
rows of’ plants. 
It is only by -practice and careful 
observation that the amount of ‘water 
different plants will take can be ascer- 
tained, but a thorough soaking at inter- 
vals of about a week will generally 
suffice in land that is at all retentive of 
moisture, 
