SPRINKLER SYSTEMS - 1
Sprinkling Systems
In most regions which have dry summers, sprinkling systems for lawns are commonplace. They are standard equipment on landscaped home sites, and they are found also on many sites that cannot be called planned in any sense of the term, but which are the property of people who like to see green grass in the yard. In such localities there is usually an adequate number of contractors who install lawn irrigation systems, and there is a considerable amount of common knowledge about such systems. Due partly to the energy of the contractors and partly to special local conditions, there is often one preferred type or make of system and residents see little virtue in any other. This is all to the good, for such strongly intrenched prejudices indicate that a system has been found which has given satisfaction in numerous installations over a period of years. This chapter, however, is aimed chiefly at the much larger territory where there are a few lawn sprinkling systems on the best properties, but where nature has not made them an absolute necessity.
Advantages of built-in sprinkling systems
Any sprinkling system, built-in or portable, has just one purpose: to supply moisture to the grass in times of drought, or when the rainfall is inadequate to keep the grass growing. In the so-called humid regions where prolonged dry spells are infrequent, built-in sprinkling systems ap- pear to be a luxury. The economy-minded can always point out that they are used such a small fraction of the year that the capital investment in them is not justified. The fallacy of this argument can readily be shown up by dropping into any neighborhood hardware store during the summer and taking note of how well garden hose and portable sprinklers are selling. Garden hose and portable sprinklers are used for precisely the same purpose as built-in systems, but they are much less convenient and much less efficient. To the best of our knowledge, no one has totaled up all the costs and charges that would enter into determin- ing whether lawn hose and portable sprinklers are more expensive in the long run than built-in systems, but it is our guess that they are. Hose costs money, and, under the care that it receives from the average homeowner, it does not have a long life. Portable sprinklers are likely to be flashy affairs which either wear out early or are soon replaced with some other device that looks in the hardware store, at least as if it would do a better job. The greater initial investment which must be made in a built-in system pays off immediately in greatly increased convenience. Such a system makes it possible for anyone who is strong enough to turn a small valve to water the lawn and to do the job well. Watering does not have to wait for the member of the family strong enough to wrestle with hose and sprinklers. Because the valves in a properly designed system are always located outside the sprinkling area which they control, it is not necessary to dress in old clothes in order to water the lawn. When the grass needs water, the water can be turned on and left on long enough to give it an adequate soaking. Then it can be turned off as simply, and there is no hose or other equipment that must be gathered up and put away. The chief re- sult of all this convenience is that the grass almost always gets water at the right time and therefore remains green and alive. The cost of reseeding the lawn every two or three years to replace grass burned out during dry spells is therefore saved. Of all the devices which have been invented for supplying water to lawns and these range from the simple garden hose to elaborate machines which carry their hoses with them and walk almost hu- manly around shrubbery and other obstacles a built-in system is far and away the most efficient. It can accomplish the same amount of irrigation with less water, or accomplish more irrigation with the same amount of water, because it spreads the water more evenly.
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