WAT 



[ 918 ] 



WAT 



That obtained from ponds or springs 

 invariably contains matters offensive or 

 deleterious to plants. That known as 

 hard water, containing an excess of 

 salts of lime or magnesia, is invariably 

 prejudicial, and pond water is scarcely 

 less so. If it be stagnant, and loaded 

 with vegetable extract, it is even worse 

 than hard spring water; for it then 

 contains carburetted hydrogen, and 

 other matters noxious to vegetables. 

 These last-named waters, if obliged to 

 be employed to tender plants, should 

 have a pint of the ammoniacal water of 

 the gas works, mixed thoroughly with 

 eveiy sixty gallons, an hour or two 

 before they are used. 



WATEE-CRESS. Nastu'rtium officina'le. 

 Varieties. Small broAvn-leaved, hardi- 

 est ; large brown-leaved, best for deep 

 water; green-leaved, easiest cultivated. 

 Planting in Water. The trenches in 

 which they are grown are so prepared, 

 that, as nearly as possible, a regular 

 depth of three or four inches can be 

 kept up. These trenches are three 

 yards broad, and eighty-seven yards 

 long, and whenever one is to be planted 

 the bottom is made quite firm, and 

 slightly sloping, so that the water 

 which flows in at one end may run out 

 at the other. If the bottom of the 

 trench is not sufficiently moist, a small 

 body of water is allowed to enter to 

 soften it. The cresses are then divided 

 into small sets or cuttings, with roots 

 attached to them ; and these are placed 

 at the distance of three or four inches 

 from each other. At the end of five or 

 six days a slight dressing of well de- 

 composed cow-dung is spread over all 

 the plants, and this is pressed down by 

 means of a heavy board, to which a 

 long handle is obliquely fixed. The 

 water is then raised to the depth of two 

 or three inches, and never higher. 

 Each trench is thus replanted annu- 

 ally, and furnishes twelve crops during 

 the season. In the summer, the cresses 

 are gathered every fifteen or twenty 

 days, but less frequently during winter : 

 care is taken that at each gathering at 

 least a third part of the bed is left un- 

 touched, so that neither the roots may 

 be exhausted, nor the succeeding ga- 

 thering delayed. After every cutting, a 



little decayed cow-dung, in the propor- 

 tion of two large barrowfuls to each 

 trench, is spread over the naked plants, 

 and this is beaten down by means of 

 | the rammer above mentioned. After 

 | the water-cresses have been thus treated 

 for a twelvemonth, the manure forms a 

 tolerably thick layer at the bottom of 

 the trench, and tends to raise its level. 

 To restore it to its original level, all 

 the refuse should be thrown out upon 

 the borders which separate the trenches 

 from each other. These borders may 

 be planted with artichokes, cabbages, 

 or cauliflowers. 



Planting in Borders. This must be 

 done in September and in a moist 

 shady border. Plant slips, and the 

 only cultivation necessary is to dig the 

 earth fine, to draw a slight trench with 

 a hoe, to fill this with water until it 

 becomes a mud, to cover it about an 

 inch deep with drift sand, and then to 

 stick in the slips about six inches 

 apart, watering them until established. 

 The sand keeps the plants clean. They 

 will be ready for gathering from in a 

 very few weeks, and the shoots should 

 be invariably cut and not picked. They 

 are not so mild flavoured as those 

 grown in water, but then they are free 

 from aquatic insects, &c. 

 WATERFALL. See Cascade. 

 WATERING ENGINE. See Engine. 

 WATERING POTS. These should have 

 roses pierced with very fine holes ; the 

 diameter of those usually used is too 

 large. Long-spouted watering pots are 

 required for watering plants in pots 

 upon shelves. French watering pots 

 have zigzag bends in the spout to break, 

 from the plant the force of the water. 

 Shelf watering pots are small and flat- 

 bodied for giving water to plants over- 

 head, and near the glass in greenhouses 

 or stoves. 



The accompanying engraving is of a 

 watering pot from Mr. G. Thompson, 

 390, Oxford-street, who states that its 

 superiority consists in the roses being 

 so formed as to give the water thrown 

 from them the nearest resemblance to 

 a gentle shower of rain, which renders 

 it peculiarly suitable for watering seed- 

 lings or other tender plants. As the 

 brass joints which connect the roses to 



