Garden hose

“ And after that you fill the bath with the garden hose and turn the tap. As a rule nothing happens the first time, because there is air in the pipe; but you can put the garden syringe to the fine nozzle in which the compo pipe terminates, and draw out the air. My own fountain will play for six hours continuously; and then when no one is looking one must fill up the bath reservoir again.
It is really extraordinary how gardening turns decent, God-fearing men into braggarts. ”

“ Then with garden hose attached to the faucet at the base of the tank, drain out all the water that will come. For a thorough job unscrew this faucet and the piece of pipe connecting it to the tank. Then turn on the water supply quickly for two or three minutes at a time so that a sudden flow of clean water disturbs the sediment. At first it may be almost as thick as a heavy soup but gradually the water will become clearer. When it is normal you can replace pipe and faucet, relight the water heater, and forget your hot water supply for at least a year. ”

“ The drop missed the tongue and landed full in her eye, whence it joined the stream trickling over her nose into her lap. “I just stopped to investigate a garden hose on the way over,” she continued. “It was on a lawn close by the sidewalk and the thinnest little stream you ever saw was coming out. I was so thirsty I simply couldn’t go by without taking a drink, and I just turned the nozzle the least little 7 bit when it suddenly came out in a perfect deluge and sprinkled me all over. ”

“ It is not advisable to arrange for a garden of any size without considering the question of water. Within the limits of a town supply there is only the comparatively simple matter of laying the pipes. But when the place is dependent upon its own water system, the amount to be counted upon and the situation of the garden with reference to the source of supply must be seriously considered. If possible the garden hydrants should not be more than fifty feet apart. This greatly facilitates watering. When further apart, plants are in danger of being injured by the unwieldy hose. ”

“ While the manufacture of rubber goods is in no sense a secret industry, the majority of buyers and users of such goods have never stepped inside of a rubber mill, and many have very crude ideas as to how the goods are made up. In ordinary garden hose, for instance, the process is as follows: The inner tubing is made of a strip of rubber fifty feet in length, which is laid on a long zinc-covered table and its edges drawn together over a hose pole. ”

“ Then as soon as the soil has dried out somewhat, stir up the surface so that the moisture is not lost by evaporation. The best way to apply water is by means of a sprinkler, throwing a fine spray, which can be left operating for two or three hours. This insures a proper wetting of the soil without washing away any of the loose soil on the surface. The next best thing is to use a hose. The watering-pot is of little use except in a very small garden, because one gets tired of toting water before the plants have been given nearly enough. ”

“ To reach them one must don rubber boots and risk sudden seats in the slippery ooze; nevertheless, with spade in hand to give one support, it is well worth while to seek them out and dig up some roots to transplant to the garden. Here, strange to say, without salt soil or more water than the average garden receives from showers and hose, this handsomest of our wild flowers soon makes itself delightfully at home under cultivation. ”

“ Water is pumped from the Platte, by the Holly system, and forced over the city with such power that in case of fire no steam-engine is necessary to send a strong stream through the hose. The keeping of a turf and garden, after it is once begun, is merely a matter of watering. The garden is kept moist mainly by flooding from the irrigating ditch in the street or alley, but the turf of the lawn and the shrubbery owe their greenness to almost incessant sprinkling by the hand-hose. Fountains are placed in nearly every yard. ”

“ You never see a gardener using any spraying contrivance on the end of a hose. In his thumb and forefinger, which he skillfully moves over the flowing stream, he has a combination of sprayers that can produce the heaviest stream or the finest mist at will. ”

“ Running water is piped to the water basin in the horse room, and a hose cock on the other side of the partition receives the hose for washing carriages, or a revolving, overhead hose-fixture can be installed, just above the washing floor, if desired. ”

“ The great iron hose is turned on to a given point in the hill-side, the water rushes out with tremendous force, tearing away the grass, washing out the sand and gravel, stones and clay that form it, and it all runs away in a muddy stream down a self-made channel into one prepared with a floor of planks a foot deep. ”

“ Tiltman's hose because it was the best and longest in the neighborhood and was provided with a patent nozzle which was so versatile that there was actually no detail in its business which it did not perform in a most masterly way. I shall never forget the feeling of exultation with which I stood on that expansive lawn and sprayed the parched grass and drooping shrubbery. ”

“ If, however, from the nature of the ground, from the want of hose, or from other causes, it is found impracticable to convey the water by either of the above methods, the next best is, to conduct the water in hose as far as can be accomplished, and carry it the remainder of the distance in carts, buckets, or whatever else may be most convenient.
When carried in buckets it is of advantage to form a line of men from the water to the engine, each man covering five or six feet of ground. ”

“ In the same way the water stored in the soil after a rain begins at once to escape again into the atmosphere. That on the surface evaporates first, and that which has soaked in begins to soak in through the soil to the surface. It is leaving your garden, through the millions of soil tubes, just as surely as if you had a two-inch pipe and a gasoline engine, pumping it into the gutter night and day! Save your garden by stopping the waste. It is the easiest thing in the world to do--cut the pipe in two. ”

“ It has been proposed that water should be laid on, and kept at high pressure in the streets, so as to enable the courts and alleys, the foot and the carriage pavements, to be washed daily by means of a hose attached to the water-pipes. ”

“ I believe that the spring we will discover there is not only the cause of that bog and the rank growth of weeds and briars, but it also furnishes the tiny stream of water that trickles past the barn. If this is so, Norma, then our hardest problem is already solved. In building a water garden the question of water supply is the greatest thing.
“One can run a pipe line from the house to any locality, and one can divert a nearby stream into a pool, and then lead its overflow away again, but that means a lot of work and expense. ”

“ The hose are made up in flat coils, with the male coupling-screw in the centre, and the female on the outside. When a length is to be laid out in any direction, it is set on its edge, and then run out in the required direction,—in this way no turns or twists can ever occur. When the hose is to be taken up, it is uncoupled, and then wound up, beginning at the end farthest from the engine or from the fire-cock (as the case may be) : by this method all the water is pressed out. ”

“ Everything movable is taken out of it, and water is played from a hose on the inside and outside, while four men with scrubbing brushes and stiff brooms remove whatever dirt has accumulated during the day. ”

“ Cleaning is facilitated by the location of a central gutter in the bottom of the basin with the slope of the bottom of the basin towards the gutter from 1:25 to 1:80 or steeper. A pipe, 2 inches or larger in diameter, containing water under pressure with connections for hose placed at frequent intervals is a useful adjunct in flushing the sludge from the sedimentation basins. For equal capacity, deep vertical flow tanks are more expensive and difficult to construct than the shallower rectangular type. ”

“ The only method of distributing water much used in gardens where pumping is practiced is the system of iron pipes laid underground, with hydrants distant 200 feet asunder, from which the water is distributed by 100 feet of India rubber hose. ”

“ A little experience will soon teach the careful gardener what course to adopt, and as a golden rule we would observe that it is better to err on the side of restraint than of excess, whether the question involved is that of using the hose-pipe or of withholding it. ”

“ One man can safely direct a stream that ordinarily would require two or three to hold it.
Breaks in hose are mended by strapping a prepared sleeve to the injured part, or inserting a convex brass plate under the break and clamping to it a corresponding concave plate from the outside. To facilitate pulling hose up a ladder, through a window, or over the edge of a roof, a simple hook-shaped frame, provided with rollers, called the Bresnan hose hoist, is used. ”

“ Under conditions of water scarcity it is often found profitable to carry water to the garden in cement or iron pipes so that no water may be lost by seepage or evaporation during the conveyance of the water from the reservoir to the garden. It is also often desirable to convey water to plants through pipes laid under the ground, perforated at various intervals to allow the water to escape and soak into the soil in the neighborhood of the plant roots. All such refined methods of irrigation should be carefully investigated by the who wants the largest results from his limited water supply. ”

“ In order to get as near to the work as possible get a long hose—from twenty to thirty feet according to circumstances. The best quality, three to five ply, is none too good. Hose should be three-eighths to one-half inch in diameter, one inch being too heavy. ”

“ The stationary plants are usually installed in the basements of large office buildings, theatres, hotels, clubs, etc., and the whole building is piped suitably, wall plugs or connectors being fitted to which the staff make connection by flexible hose as and when required. The free end of the flexible hose is fitted with one or other of a series of special nozzles, the latter being adapted to the varying requirements of everything in the room from floor to ceiling. ”

“ In this establishment there are several very good hothouses for plants. In one of the ranges is placed a circular shaped conservatory, heated by hot water, on rather a novel construction; these hot water pipes being formed into perpendicular columns, rising from the floor to the height of from ten to twelve feet. These pipes, thus constructed, gave out a great command of heat, and answered the original intention very satisfactorily. The plants in this nursery garden were very well grown, and all in a healthy state. ”

“ The timber is pinned to the running blocks. Carpenters remove their hose. Cold water is turned on to the timber from the hose. If the temperature is too high, it is almost impossible to make the timbers shiver. ”

“ In potting bulbs or any other plant two things are to be kept in mind—first, the soil, and second, the drainage. The soil may be any good garden soil. To a given quantity one may add one-fourth rotted manure and one-fourth sand. This last helps lighten the material, allowing more air to get at the entire mass and making good drainage easier. Mix all this together. If one lacks the well-rotted manure and sand, any good garden soil may be used. Sift the soil until it is perfectly fine.
A simple sieve, which works well, may be made from a small soap or starch box. ”

“ If an individual, however, has on his farm, or within reach, a spring furnishing a continuous supply of water, it would seem quite absurd not to make use of such a Heaven-sent blessing. Care must be taken always that a spring is not contaminated by surface drainage, and for this reason, as with shallow wells, the wall surrounding the inclosed spring should be extended above the ground and made impervious to water for at least six feet below the surface. In some cases it may be wise to convert an open spring into an underground one, putting a roof over all and then covering with earth and sod. ”

“ Good natural drainage of the garden area is of prime importance. The land should have sufficient fall to drain off surplus water during heavy rains, but the fall should not be so great that the soil will be washed. The surface of the garden should not contain depressions in which water will accumulate or stand. Waste water from surrounding land should not flow toward the garden, and the fall below should be such that there will be no danger of flood water backing up. The garden should not be located along the banks of a creek or stream that will be liable to overflow during the growing season. ”

“ One of the most instructive things a water-wise gardener can do is to rent or borrow a hand-operated fence post auger and bore a 3-foot-deep hole. It can be even more educational to buy a short section of ordinary water pipe to extend the auger's reach another 2 or 3 feet down. In soil free of stones, using an auger is more instructive than using a conventional posthole digger or shoveling out a small pit, because where soil is loose, the hole deepens rapidly. Where any layer is even slightly compacted, one turns and turns the bit without much effect. ”