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 haying 

 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 



