104 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 



showerettes and the loose top soil not only absorbs moisture 

 from the air and the night dews, but it acts as a mulch to the 

 earth below. If you want to force any plant along, stir in a 

 little ashes, manure or fertilizer, and then water well. The 

 subject of water and watering is a serious problem with me. 

 When the heavens are brazen, and the well is almost dry, and 

 famine is sore in the land, my whole heart goes out to the suf- 

 ferers. I then follow the advice of wise gardeners, and after 

 stirring the soil well, I water as much area as I can thoroughly, 

 and let that portion go for days while I relieve others. Par- 

 ticularly do I water those in full bloom, or those about to 

 bloom. I also place a thick mulch of grass clippings about 

 the roots of those plants that suffer from drought: gladiolus, 

 tritoma, larkspur, hollyhock. I have found the earth moist 

 under this mulch a week after it has had a good drenching. 

 A valuable help is the waste water from the Monday wash 

 tubs, provided no washing powders, borax or turpentine has 

 been used in the laundry. Also the water from jars in the 

 bed chambers may be given as a fertilizer to roses, vines and 

 shrubbery. But the chief point is to keep the soil light and 

 porous and every drop given has full value. When I go about 

 the garden in a pitiful mood, singling out extreme cases as re- 

 cipients for my restricted bounty, my heart yearns for those 

 that lie just beyond the water limits. One year when the well 

 went almost dry, the suffering was so extreme that I could not 

 bear the sight of it, and I did not go near the garden for weeks. 

 All the more cruel is it when a shower will carry over the gar- 

 den for days, and a heavy rain suffices for two weeks. 



One evening when plying my ineffectual watering-pot, I 

 observed to Adam: "What generous agricultural methods 

 Nature has! When she waters her charges she descends upon 

 vast areas; she does not single out a township or even a State 

 for her bounty, but she can cover half a continent. In the 



