WATERING, 43 
venting it from taking any particular bent, and in promoting the 
equal distribution of sap through all the branches. 
Watering is a most essential branch of culture. It has been al- 
ready fully explained that the seed cannot vegetate, and the plant 
cannot grow without water. Carbon, and all the other substances 
that form the food of plants, must be dissolved in water to enable the 
spongioles to take them up; and the spongioles themselves, unless 
they are kept moist, will soon lose their power of absorption. No- 
thing indeed can be more evident, even to a common observer, than 
the necessity that plants feel for water; if a mimulus or a pelargo- 
nium in a pot, for example, hang its head and droop its leaves, what 
an extraordinary and rapid effect is produced by giving it water! In 
an almost incredibly short time its leaves become firm, and its stem 
erect: and the plant is not only preserved from death, but restored 
to full health and beauty. 
Watering appears an extremely simple operation, yet nevertheless 
there are several points relating to it that it is necessary to attend to. 
One of these is, never to saturate the soil. “Water, to be in the best 
state for being taken up by the plants, should be kept in detached 
globules by the admixture of air; and it should be only slightly im- 
pregnated with nourishing matter from decaying animal or vegetable 
substances: for, as already observed, when fully saturated with 
nourishment, it becomes unfit for the food of plants. Nothing can 
be more admirably and wonderfully adapted for supplying plants 
properly with water than rain. In falling through the atmosphere, 
it is thoroughly mixed with the air; and in sinking into the soil it 
becomes slightly impregnated with nutritious qualities, which it is 
thus enabled to convey, in the most beneficial manner, to the plants. 
It is a very common mistake, in watering, to pour the water down 
close to the stem of the plant. This is Reeds in every respect. 
Water, when poured profusely on the collar of the plant, which is 
the point of junction between the root and the stem, is likely to rot, 
or otherwise seriously injure that vital part; while the spongioles, 
which alone can absorb the water, so as to benefit the plant, being 
at the extremity of the roots, are always as far removed from the 
stem as the nature of the plant will allow. Thus, the distance from 
the stem at which water should be given varies in different plants. 
In those that have tap-roots, such as the carrot, and many other culi- 
nary vegetables, the lateral fibrous roots are short, and the spongioles 
