394 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



One must know their plants and watch them if she would know 

 how to water them. There can be no set rule for doing it. When a 

 plant is growing vigorously or blooming, it is safe to give it plenty 

 of water, providing drainage is good, with some fertilizer, perhaps, 

 although in my own practice I use very little fertilizer. 



With a rich, good soil, I prefer to renew the soil if it is 

 exhausted. Get in the habit of examining the roots of your 

 plants. Take them when they are rather dry or else quite 

 wet, invert the pot, when the ball of earth will easily 

 slip out, and you can see the condition of the roots. 

 If the ball of earth is full of healthy roots, which you can 

 easily tell by their appearance, then repot in larger pot, first taking 

 off some of the old dirt from the ball— so much as you can with- 

 out breaking roots too much. Never repot unless the pot is full of 

 roots, and not always then if you want blossoms ; that depends on 

 the character of the plant. If you find the roots diseased, full of 

 knots or decaying, the chances are that you had insufficient drain- 

 age and have watered too much. In such a case the only thing to 

 do is to shake oflf all the soil from the diseased roots, trim them 

 oflf, trim back the top, wash the roots and repot in light, sandy soil 

 in a small pot, and the plant may make new roots and come out 

 all right and may not, but it would soon have died anyway. 



In watering the best way is to wait until a plant is quite diy 

 and then water thoroughly, so the ball of earth is saturated, whether 

 the time be twice a day, once a day or once a week. I aim to go 

 over my plants nearly every day; those that need water get it; 

 some plants growing in small pots get it twice a day in sunny 

 weather. I usually know what ones need it. A plant that is not 

 growing needs but little water and should not have it if you would 

 have it remain healthy. Most plants have resting periods, and dming 

 that time it is better to leave them severely alone, only giving water 

 enough to keep them from drying out and the foliage from wilting. 

 When they show signs of growth, soak them thoroughly and watch 

 results. 



Some plants require a complete rest, the foliage even dying; 

 these should be watered only at long intervals and then only enough 

 to prevent the soil going dust dry. To this class belong the amarylis 

 and crinums. If you get blossoms from them you must let them 

 have their own sweet will. They enjoy a drouth and then a deluge, 

 and if you can manage that at the right time you will be rewarded. 

 With some varieties it is a little difficult to tell when to precipitate 

 the deluge and just when to let up, but if you will watch them 

 closely and experiment a little (they are not easily killed) you will 



