200 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Water—continued. 
of mineral substances in it; or it may even contain these 
substances in such amount that some of them, especially 
Carbonate of Lime, may be deposited in a crust on any 
bodies in the water, owing to evaporation of Carbonic Acid 
Gas from it, rendering it no longer able to keep them 
dissolved.  Petrifying springs are of this nature. Some 
springs give Water that is actually injurious, as it contains 
compounds of Iron, or other substances that are poisonous 
to plants if present in more than very small amount. 
The Water from ordinary springs is almost always a 
good deal colder than the air in sammer. If Water from 
streams, ponds, or springs is to be used in watering 
plants, it should be kept for some time previously in a 
tank small enough to allow of its being warmed to the 
ordinary temperature of the air in summer. 
The amount of Water usually present in any soil has a 
very important influence on its fertility. Light soils with 
open, sandy subsoil are apt to suffer from want of Water ; 
and a moderate drought may prove very prejudicial, or 
even fatal, to the plants cultivated in such. On the other 
hand, clays (and, in a less degree, other soils), over a close, 
impervious subsoil, retain Water too strongly, so that it 
stagnates; or they may allow the rain to run off the 
surface, and, if shallow, may actually suffer from want 
of Water during continued droughts, after the supply in the 
surface soil has evaporated. Light soils are much bene- 
fited by careful irrigation. Stiff soils, on the contrary, 
are usually in need of well-considered drainage. The 
latter operation is of wider utility than is recognised 
by many agriculturists, That it removes superfluous 
Water is obvious, and it is admitted by all that stag- 
nant Water in the soil is hurtful to most plants, and in 
more ways than one. It promotes the formation, from 
decaying organic remains in the soil, of substances pre- 
judicial to many plants; and where such substances are 
abundant, only certain weeds will grow. Waterlogged 
soils are deficient in the Oxygen that is required by roots 
to permit of the healthy discharge of their functions; the 
roots are unable to exist under the conditions present a 
few inches below the surface, or to penetrate deeply ; 
the plants therefore are ill- nourished, as the roots 
spread less than in more open soils, and they derive 
their mineral food only from a limited area below the 
surface. In case of severe drought, the Water may all 
evaporate down to the depth reached by the roots, while 
the stiff subsoil prevents the passage of Water from 
below to take its place; and the plants cultivated on 
waterlogged land may thus die for lack of Water. More- 
over, waterlogged soil is always considerably colder than 
‘the average temperature of the air, owing to the heat 
lost by the constant evaporation of Water from its sur- 
face. The crops cultivated on it are thus rendered 
backward in their growth, and may not reach maturity 
till a week, or even a fortnight, after those on well- 
drained soils. All this is changed when drains are well 
placed and well made, and the impervious subsoil is 
broken up. The rain no longer runs off the surface, nor 
does Water stagnate in the soil: it sinks into the sub- 
soil, and there forms a reserve from which the surface 
soil can obtain supplies as required by the plants in 
it. The rain, while falling, becomes heated to the tem- 
perature of the air, or nearly so, and is thus able 
to warm the soil in sinking through it, and to supply 
the roots with Water at nearly the same temperature 
as the air — a condition most favourable to the due 
performance of the vital functions, and rapid and healthy 
growth in plants. Free evaporation from the soil is 
checked; and, this cause of coldness being removed 
the crops are found to ripen earlier. As the rain sinks 
into the soil, the air follows into the interspaces vacated 
by the Water: thus the roots are supplied with the 
gases they require, and, as a result of this, and of the 
absence of the injurious organie substances formed in 
Water—continued. 
stagnant Water, they penetrate deep into the subsoils, 
beyond the reach of ordinary droughts. In this way they, 
at the same time, obtain a more reliable source of Water, 
and draw their food from a wider area. 
The means by which Water enters plants, to form the 
crude sap, the changes that this undergoes, and the 
channels by which it is conveyed through the tissues, are 
treated of elsewhere in this work. See Sap, Vascular 
System, and Vessels. 
WATER ALOE. A common name for Stratiotes 
aloides (which see). 
WATER ANEMONE. A common name for Ra- 
nunculus aquatilis (which see). 
WATER ARCHER. A common name for Sagit- 
taria sagittifolia (which see). 
WATER ASH, CAROLINA. 
platycarpa. 
WATER AVENS. See Geum rivale. 
WATER BALSAM. See Tytonia natans. 
WATER BEAN. Se Nelumbium. 
WATER BETONY. Se Scrophularia aquatica. 
WATER CALTROPS. See Trapa natans. 
WATER CRESS. See Cress, Water. 
WATER ELDER. See Viburnum Opulus. 
WATERFALL. See Cascade. 
WATER FLAG. Sv Iris Pseudo-acorus. 
WATER GLADIOLE. A common name for Bu- 
tomus umbellatus (which see). i 
WATERING. One of the most important operations in 
connection with the cultivation of plants, particularly those 
which are grown in pots and planted out in glass struc- 
tures. It is an operation in daily practice at all seasons, 
and one which often requires the exercise of much judg- 
ment and care on the part of the operator. There are 
numerous subjects that may easily be injured, or even 
killed, by receiving either too much water, or an insuffi- 
cient supply, and there are very few plants which do not 
suffer more or less by being watered indiscriminately at 
fixed periods, as their condition must vary according to the 
amount of evaporation which is taking place, and the 
quantity of roots that are absorbing the moisture supplied. 
It is not possible to do more than refer to Watering in- 
somewhat general terms, as individual plants have often 
to receive special attention in regard to it, and different. 
species in a genus also sometimes require totally different ` 
treatment in the matter of watering. As a rule, soft- 
wooded plants, and all those of quick growth, require more 
water than others of a slow-growing or hard- wooded 
nature; but exceptions may not unfrequently be found. 
Seasons of growth and of rest have also to be dealt with, 
and the supply of water given accordingly. Soft rain- 
water is always the best for plants of every description ; 
provision should, therefore, be made for collecting an 
preserving as much as possible for future use from the 
roofs of glass and other structures. Water should not be 
applied to plants at a lower temperature than that to 
which they are at the time subjected; particularly does 
this remark apply to such as are grown in heat, or are 
being subjected to forcing under glass. Even upon pla 
established in the open ground, cold water has an injurious 
effect during summer time if applied direct from springs or 
wells; it becomes efficiently warmed in large, open 
streams, &c., exposed to the sun and air, hence one of 
ue Der d desirable. per 
in pots, when they require Watering, 
well soaked, not slightly damped; it may mot, in every 
See Fraxinus 
