CHAPTER VIII. 
ON WATERING PLANTS, ETC. 
THE importance to be attached to the watering of crops 
and plants in pots is greater than may be imagined. 
If any part of gardening operations requires a practical 
knowledge it is watering. When to water, what to 
water, and how much water to give, are very important 
things to be considered; plants often suffer by having 
too much water given them as well as by not having 
enough. Watering the plants should be the study of 
those in charge of them, as doing it indiscriminately 
often proves fatal. Amateurs frequently come with com- 
plaints to the person from whom they purchased the 
plant, now presenting a sickly appearance, which perhaps 
has been supersaturated with water, or perhaps merely 
wetted on the top while the roots are thoroughly dry. 
Some plants must be supersaturated with water to 
succeed well with them, while this treatment would 
destroy others ; and then again the physiological condi- 
tion of the plant is another thing to be duly considered. 
Take, for instance, a plant of a gross-feeding constitu- 
tion: when the roots fill the pot and there is no soil for it 
to feed upon, sufficient water must be given to enable 
it to live and perhaps to flower. I know from long expe- 
rience that many plants will not only live, but even do 
