THE ART OF MAKING THINGS GROW 



103 



Understanding the science of watering, and applying it 

 in action, does not necessarily mean that our old friends the 

 watering pot and the hose must be laid on the shelf. Indeed 

 they still retain their places. But a beginner sets far too high 

 a value upon them. What is more, he does not use them 

 properly. A "greenhorn" betrays himself at the first garden 

 lesson by the way he 

 handles these articles. 

 We have all seen him 

 as he stands at noon- 

 day in July compla- 

 cently sprinkling his 

 poor little half-burnt 

 greens, sublimely un- 

 conscious of the fact 

 that the rivulets are 

 trickling off into the 

 paths instead of sink- 

 ing down into the 

 earth. 



One of the best 

 children's gardens I 

 know owes its suc- 

 cess, after an excep- 

 tionally dry season, 

 to the constant and thorough cultivating which it received, 

 and to the exclusion of surface watering. " No water was 

 available," says the director, "but the gardens, although on 

 a sunny slope, withstood the droughts well, save in a few 

 neglected plots. These furnish a forcible illustration of the 

 value of cultivation for the conservation of the moisture in 

 the soil." 1 



1 Miss Grace L. Sturtevant, Wellesley Townsman, October, 1908. 



A GOOD LONG DRAUGHT 



