WATEEINGf. 175 



slow. Under the most favouratle circumstances, as only a very 

 limited quantity of water per unit of area can be given, its effects 

 are only superficial and therefore not lasting ; and hence, when it 

 has once been begun, it must be continued nearly every day tmtil 

 the first faU of rain thoroughly soaks and softens the soil. When 

 it is effected with watering-pots or ordinary garden pumps, a hard 

 crust of line mud, impermeable to air and dew, forms on the 

 surface of the soil and has to be broken up by light hoeing as often 

 as the watering takes place. This very objectionable contingency 

 may, to a limited extent, be obviated by the use of the garden 

 syringe, which consists of a forcing pump whose spout is furnished 

 with a fine rose ; the water is ejected through the rose with great 

 force in a shower like rain, which, besides moistening the soil, 

 washes off the dust, &c. clogging the green parts of the yoimg 

 plants. Whether pots or pumps or syringes are used, the water 

 must penetrate as far as the roots to produce any useful effect. 



Hand-watering in permanent nurseries has its raison cCMre only 

 in the Himalayas where drought is neither prolonged nor severe, 

 and even then only in the absence (exceptional it must be said^ 

 of running streams or surface springs immediately above the 

 nursery site. It may also be employed immediately after seed has 

 been sown, as it enables the loose soil to settle round the seed better 

 than irrigation does. It is the only method practicable with plants 

 in baskets or garden pots. 



Irrigation. 



In all other cases irrigation should be resorted to : it is much 

 cheaper, much more effective and much more expeditious, and 

 requires very much less trouble and labour than hand-watering. 



The ordinary system followed by European nurserymen is to 

 lead the water, from whatever source obtained, into horizontal 

 channels running between the beds and lines parallel to their 

 longest dimension. The water is never allowed to flow over the 

 beds, and is retained in those channels until the soil of the beds 

 or lines, as the case may be, is thoroughly drenched. The pre- 

 caution of keeping the water off the beds and Hues is taken to 

 prevent the formation of a superficial crust of mud. For con- 

 venience' sake we will term this the latbkal percolation, or 

 simply the percolation, system. 



• A common method employed by native gardeners and agri- 

 culturists is to enclose the beds and hues with a continuous ridge 

 of earth 5 or 6 inches high, and then, by admitting water inside 



