WATER AND WATERING. 89 



couraged, and these grow, merely to perish again unless 

 the water is continued. Another injury may occur 

 through the decrease of temperature caused by rapid 

 evaporation and perspiration. 



In our hot climate, during drouths, vegetation is 

 greatly sustained by the moisture which is returned to 

 the earth in the form of dews; and in order that these 

 may be most beneficial, the soil should be deeply stirred 

 and continue in a mellow condition upon the surface. 

 When the soil is puddled and compacted around a plant 

 by local watering, the amount of dew will be less from 

 the decrease in the number of points of radiation pre- 

 sented by the compact ball; besides the diminished quan- 

 tity is evaporated from the impenetrable crust without 

 being able to reach the roots. If watered, the earth 

 should therefore be stirred subsequently, or the watered 

 surface be covered with fresh, loose soil. 



If practised at all, the watering should, in hot weather, 

 be applied to the roots and not to the foliage. Evening 

 is the proper time of day, unless in the exceptional case 

 of watering cold frames, when frost is apprehended. 

 It is then advisable to water in the morning. The 

 water should not be much colder than the surround- 

 ing atmosphere. Where there are facilities for moistening 

 the whole mass of soil by irrigation, that should not be 

 neglected; for its great benefits are undoubted. But even 

 then, unless the surface is so densely covered with the 

 growing crop, as to protect it from being baked by the 

 sun, it would be best to allow the moisture to reach the 

 roots through percolation from ditches or drain pipes 

 near enough to each other and kept full, than to cover 

 the soil with water. A crop supplied with a sufficiency 

 of soluble manure will suffer less during drouth than one 

 inadequately fertilized, and the latter will require an 

 abundance of water. 



The fertilizing effects of mulching the soil are men- 



