MODES OF WATERING PLANTS. / 139 



\. CONVERSATION XI. 



ON THE ARTIFICIAL MODES OF WATERING PLANTS. 



Mrs. B. We shall now proceed to examine the artifi- 

 cial modes of watering, which may be divided into three 

 classes. 



1st. By watering-pots or engines. 



2nd. By filtration. 



3d. By irrigation. 



The first mode applies merely to horticulture, for the 

 use of watering-pots can scarcely be extended beyond the 

 garden and greenhouse ; the plain spout is calculated for 

 watering the roots, that pierced with holes for washing 

 the leaves, and for watering seeds, young sprouts, or del- 

 icate plants which require to be watered sparingly. 



If the soil be light, or the plants situated near the high 

 road, or exposed to the smoke of a town, they require 

 more water to refresh the leaves ; for if the stomas are 

 choked, evaporation is checked, and vegetation injured : 

 in order to render your plants healthy, they must not only 

 be well fed, but kept clean. 



Emily. Green-house and hot-house plants being shel- 

 tered from the dust, will, I suppose, not require so much 

 precaution ? 



Mrs. B. On the contrary, they are exposed to the 

 dust which arises from their cultivation within doors, and 

 deprived of the natural means of getting rid of it, the 

 wind, which in the open air prevents the dust from accu- 

 mulating on plants : this artificial mode of raising plants, 

 therefore, requires more attention to cleanliness than 

 when grown in the open air ; and gardeners frequently 

 use a bellows as a substitute for the wind. 



Caroline. Is it not a good way of keeping greenhouse 

 plants moist in the summer to bury them in their pots in 

 the earth ? 



Mrs. B. Yes, provided they are taken up occasion- 

 ally, in order to cut off the roots, which shoot through the 

 aperture at the bottom of the pot ; for if this operation be 



772. What are the artificial modes of watering! 773. To what 

 does the first mode apply! 774. When do plants require an addition- 

 al quantity of water, and why! 775. What is said of the dust which 

 collects on greenhouse plants! 776. And of burying the pots of green- 

 house plants in the summer 1 



