92 THE COMPLETE GARDEN 



Watering of Perennials. Watering must be attended to, es- 

 pecially during dry spells. One good soaking a week is much more 

 valuable to plants than many light sprinklings which do not wet the 

 soil to any appreciable depth. On sandy and very light soils it will be 

 necessary to water thoroughly every day or every second day during the 

 dryest part of the season. Where it is not possible to water all the 

 plants thoroughly at one time, divide the beds into sections and water 

 the various sections in rotation. Watering in the later afternoon or 

 evening hours has a more lasting effect than during the hotter portion 

 of the day. Watering can be overdone as it can be carried to the 

 point where the soil becomes water-logged and will consequently 

 sour. Too much superficial watering of open-ground plants induces 

 surface rooting which is not satisfactory, as such plants do not 

 have access to large stores of food, and consequently cannot with- 

 stand drought successfully. Transplanted perennials should be wat- 

 ered thoroughly and left alone a few days till they become somewhat 

 established. 



The statement is sometimes made that water from wells is too cold 

 to be suited for watering plants, and also that such water often lacks 

 chemicals which serve as plant food. On the contrary, successful 

 gardeners often water plants at midday on hot summer days in order 

 to gain the cooling effect of the water when it is most needed. It is 

 also believed by some experienced observers that water falling on the 

 soil reaches the soil temperature very quickly after being absorbed and 

 in all but a negligible number of instances, before it reaches the roots 

 of plants. With regard to the question of the amount of plant food 

 contained in water from a deep-driven well as compared to the 

 amount found in surface water such as that flowing in a creek or river 

 there seems to be little reason to think that water from wells is lack- 

 ing in plant food to such an extent as to make it less valuable than 

 surface water. It is now agreed that surface water contains more solid 

 matter in suspension while subterranean water has its load of solid mat- 

 ter in solution. Therefore the plant food which occurs in water from a 

 driven well differs from the plant food found in river water merely in 

 being more likely to occur in solution rather than in suspension. The 

 water which is taken from artesian wells is not always sterile and 

 often contains nitrates in large quantities due to the reduction of the 

 nitrates which occur in deep layers in the soil. When this water is 

 used for irrigating the surface layer of the soil, the nitrifying bacteria 



