THE PARLOR GARDENER. 15 



less. Its sap, that was in full activity, slackens 

 stops ; and, that it may begin to flow again, all 

 the buds drop, one after another not a single 

 one can bloom. You are astonished at this, and 

 say, "It is not my fault." In Sir Walter Scott's 

 "Pirate," the gardener of the Shetland Isles is 

 surprised that his apple trees have frozen. He 

 says, as you would say, "It is not my fault; I 

 watered them all the winter with warm water." 

 It is the same error reversed. Remember, then, 

 that in watering any plant whatever, cultivated 

 in a pot in a room, the first requisite is, that the 

 water you use be of the same temperature with 

 the earth in which the plant grows. 



If you have occasion to visit a greenhouse, and 

 it should happen that you pay a little attention to 

 the manner in which it is managed, you will re- 

 mark that it always contains a reservoir of water 

 intended to water the plants with. This water, 

 from the circumstance alone of its remaining in 

 the greenhouse, takes the same temperature with 

 it before it is used. This is an example that must 

 be followed. In the evening, place in the chamber 

 a vessel containing the quantity of water neces- 



