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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ JnlT 4, 1867. 



bt doors was received from this tap or jet, that emptied itBefl 

 into a good-sized reservoir, and tlierefore a man could fill his 

 pails or his water-barrow at once. Here watering to keep up 

 a good succession was a serious matter, and must of it had to 

 be done by dragging a water-barrel a hundred yards — a severe 

 undertaking, and making a man glad of other work when he 

 had half a day of it. In this case the single pipe was supplied 

 from a cistern, the water being raised by pump from a pond 

 that seldom failed. If the pond could have been thoroughly 

 depended on it would have been true economy to have raised 

 the cistern, furnished the garden with pipes and small reser- 

 voirs, and even with hose to screw on the tape, all of which 

 would soon have been paid out of the labour necessary in 

 dragging the heavy water-barrels. 



In the third garden the water is supplied by ram from a 

 stream, which throws it into a cistern at a great height above 

 the level of the garden, and a good supply of pipes, with taps, 

 and a hose to screw on, enable a man to sprinkle water or 

 deluge the ground without any more labour than holding and 

 clenching the hose-distributor. Need there be any surprise 

 that, merely from there being Uttlo or no labour with the water- 

 barrel, this third place is well cultivated, and with less expense 

 for labour than the second ? Where water can be made to run 

 in pipes, a pipe and a reservoir, even without the screwed hose, 

 which is useless without a fall, would save a gi tat deal of water 

 earrying or wheeling. That this is not more done is entirely 

 owing to the first expense that would have to be incurred. 

 The old proverb is rung in one's ears, '• A penny saved is a 

 penny got," independently of facts that prove iiicontestably 

 that the saving of the penny is often followed by the losing the 

 worth of a shilling. 



TanAs.— One little matter here is worth ventilating, and we 

 should be glad to have the opinion and asi-istance of those who 

 have had more experience than ourselves. Whatever commoner 

 and rougher reservoirs or ponds may be used for general pur- 

 poses, no plan is so effectual for storing rain or drain water as a 

 tank formed of brick, and the inner laj er at least laid in cement, 

 and a casing of cement placed all over it. If the reservoir is 

 large, the walls, instead of being perpendicular, should slope 

 outwards, iiaiu water is best for all garden purposes. It is 

 best, too, for this purpose when saved in tanks, if the tank is 

 open to the atmosphere ; it then always keeps its delightful 

 softness— if possible, becomes softer than when it came distilled 

 from the clouds. There are, however, some objections to these 

 open tanks. For instance, foreign matters will find their way 

 into the water, and despite a green carpeting of the putifving 

 Duckweed, the water will become stale and unpleasant to" the 

 sense of smell. Then, again, the cemented walls, at least until 

 thoroughly weatherproof, will be apt to be affected by severe 

 frosts m winter, and it is difiicult so to protect the walls as to 

 avoid doing anything to pollute the water afterwards; and, 

 lastly, the room thus wanted for a tank in and about a garden 

 would often be valuable for other purposes, and in some cases 

 if open it would be unpleasant, and might be dangerous if not 

 well secured from children. 

 _ Now, to obviate these objections, water as water, in moderate- 

 sized tanks maybe kept as well underground as exposed to 

 the air— in fact, in one sense better, because it would not be 

 lessened in quantity by evaporation ; but then the great draw- 

 back IS, that under all such circumstances it will become less 

 or more hard, whether the cement used be the darker Roman 

 or the hghter Portland, and that most likely from the chalk 

 or hme contained in both. Now, here is where the results 

 of practical experience would be most valuable. As far as our 

 limited observation and experience are concerned, we have 

 met with tanks so covered up, one at least so covered, and 

 never cleaned or opened for a quarter of a century, and the 

 water is always pure, clear, and delightfully soft, the clearness 

 being owing to the fact, that little soot or smoke from fires is 

 deposited upon the slates. In another tank underground when 

 Gie water remains in it for a few weeks it becomes so hard 

 that even laundresses cannot use it without an additional supply 

 ef ash ley, or the alkalies generally used to soften the water. 

 These may be judged as extreme cases. The causes of the 

 diflorence are almost as diverse as the persons from whom 

 they came. One lays stress on the water being conveyed in 

 zinc spouting and iron pipes, and not along lead-covered gutters. 

 A second lays the blame on the cement, says it is poor stuff 

 when compared with what it used to be, and now requires 

 scarcely any sand to be mixed with it. A third insists on 

 using none but the finest rough-washed sand with the cement, 

 from which every earthy particle is excluded— a matter of im- 



portance certainly so far as the standing of the cement is con- 

 cerned ; and a fourth says, that in his experience Portland 

 cement is less likely to produce a hardness in the water than 

 Roman cement is. If we have an opinion ourselves, it would 

 have some reference to doing the work well, leaving the walls 

 quite smooth, and patiently waiting until successive supplies of 

 water had absorbed the properties on the outside that give 

 hardness to the water; but then, as if in contradiction of this, 

 we have heard of some cases in which in old-covered tanks sup- 

 phed with rain water, the water pumped from them is always 

 nearly as hard as if obtained from chalk or a limestone rock. 

 Would practical readers give us the benefit of their experience, 

 so that soft water may be obtained from underground tanks 

 either for household or garden use ? 



Watering. — 'J his has been confined chiefly to some Cauli- 

 flowers and Peas that we wished to continue productive as long 

 as possible, and to crops which we were obliged to plant out, 

 as our crop of Beet, having found in many years that no com- 

 mon netting would save it from the birds when just above the 

 ground. This we have been obliged to shade slightly with 

 evergreen branches, itc, and after watering when planting, as 

 it plants quite as well as Turnips, it had a slight surface sprink- 

 ling every day just to check evaporation and jirevent the leaves 

 drooping. There is plenty of moistuie in the ground for all 

 established plants as yet, and, therefore, for Peas and other 

 crops established the chief work has been to surface-stir the 

 ground nilh the hoe and light fork to prevent cracks and keep 

 the moistuie in ; and to promote the latter object we have 

 placed a layer of short grass from the lawn along each side of 

 the rows of Peas, and will do the same with other crops, as 

 Cauliflowers, if the present parching weather should last. This 

 will do little to arrest moist vapour rising from beneath to 

 supply the roots with moisture, and is in every respect better 

 than giving dribblets at the surtace, which only encourage 

 surface roots to be dried up by the fierce sun. 



Celenj planted out had to be watered, and has had several 

 slight bpriuklings overhead just to refresh and prevent ex- 

 cessive evaporation until the roots were in good working order. 

 As our water has to he carried chiefly in water-barrels, anything 

 that will dispense with watering is an advantage to us, and 

 much expeiieuce leads us to the conclusion, that surface-Stir- 

 ling, mulching, and in fresh-planted subjects a mere spiinkling 

 over the foliuge ale often better than a deluging ftith water. 



In the pleasure grounds and flower gaidens the same prin- 

 ciple is more rigidly applied as respects watering, as up to this 

 time it is important that the soil should become warm as well 

 as be moist enough. Watering has, therefore, chiefly been 

 confined to plants that were evidently beginning to suffer, 

 chiefly those of small size and freshly planted ; and to these 

 only as much was given as would moisten the soil around the 

 routs. Piovided there was plenty of moisture and yet there 

 was a tendency to droop from the want of reciprocal action 

 between routs and perspiring foliage, a little shade, or, what is 

 given more quickly, a slight dash over the foliage from the 

 syringe would be more useful than watering at the roots, and 

 it the surface of the ground is warm from the action of the 

 sun's rays, what water fulls on the ground is speedily raised in 

 agreeable vapour about the foliage of the plant so operated 

 upon. 



The great rule in watering plants out of doors or in-doors is 

 to water so liberally as to reach all the fibres of the plants, and 

 then to wait until the plant needs a repetition of the supply. 

 There need be no difficulty with established plants. They 

 geneially indicate to those who tend them what they want, if 

 the cultivator will observe and seek for the information, in- 

 stead of treating them to the water-pail as a work of rueis 

 routine. 



Fresh-turned-out plants, if they are moist enough at the 

 roots, and yet the foliage droops in a bright sun, will be more 

 benefited by arresting evaporation at the surface than by fresh 

 watering at the roots. Most people dread moistening a leaf in 

 sunshine, but out of doors especially. We have seldom, we 

 might say never, saw any bad effects from the practice. At any 

 rate, scarcity of water has taught us this — that the very free 

 use of water in general is not an unmixed advantage. Water- 

 ing may easily be overdone. We have several times been dis- 

 appointed at finding no such extraordinary results either in 

 kiichen or flower gardens where a frequent copious watering 

 from the hose was resorted to. It is a great advantage, how- 

 ever, to be able thus to water with little trouble when neces- 

 sary. In the flower garden as yet, with the exception referred 

 to, we have depended chiefly on surface-moving to secure the 



