4i8 



Junior Naturalist Monthly. 



room at some place that is farthest from the windows, covered with a 

 newspaper for a bedquih. It must be very cold weather that will kill them 

 under such conditions. 



Much of your comfort depends on your food and drink. The same 

 is true of plants. Another "garden commandment" is: More plants 

 suffer from thirst than from hunger. 



The reason that plants so often suffer for want of water is because 

 they use so much of it. For example, one pound of sun-dried buckwheat 

 — straw and grain — during its growth has sweat out through its leaves 

 three hundred and sixty-five pounds of water, — as many pounds of water 

 as there are days in the year. 



Let us suppose that a pound of sun-dried buckwheat may be raised 

 on a square yard of good soil. Then imagine the labor that would be 

 necessary to carry the three hundred and sixty-five pounds of water to 

 give all that would be needed to make the buckwheat comfortable. 



We will drop all fractions and say that a gallon of water weighs 

 about eight pounds. Tell me, please, how many gallons there are in three 

 hundred sixty-five pounds of water. Compare the res_ult secured with 

 the capacity of an oil barrel which holds about fifty gallons. 



When I water pot plants, I first make the soil wet, even to putting the 

 pot into a pail of water. Then I let the pot stand where all the extra 

 water may drain away. Then I have a moist soil. 



It is all right to liave the pots 

 stand in saucers to catch the water, 

 but when there is no drainage from 

 the soil the saucer should be emp- 

 tied. To leave the plant standing 

 in the saucer gives the plant wet 

 feet ; and most of our garden i)lants 

 are not comfortable with wet feet. 

 It is tlifferent with plants growing 

 in swamps. 



I am sometimes asked how often 

 plants should be watered. My an- 

 swer is : " Often enough to keep 

 the soil moist but not wet." Who 

 of you can tell me the difference between a moist soil and a wet soil? 



A wet soil is one in which there is more water than can stick to the 

 grains of earth, having a surplus that settles down and drains away. 



A moist soil. 



