WAT 



kinds of potted plants and trees under any fort of covering 

 * orproteftion of the houfe or other kind. 

 I There are many forts of plants which cannot exift wilh- 

 ; out watering in either a fmall or plentiful manner. Some 

 ftand in need of it only in a flight degree, and at par- 

 ticular feafons of the year, while others demand it in very 

 full proportions at all times. Some are very nice in the 

 •quantities which are required at any one time ; but others 

 arc lefs particular in this refpeft. Some too are under the 

 neceflity of having it thrown over their leaves as well as to 

 jtheir roots ; others only have occafion for it to the root part. 

 lAnd there are fome other methods of adminiftering and ap- 

 plying it, which are peculiar to certain kinds of plants, trees, 

 and other vegetable produfts, as (hewn under their particu- 

 lar individual modes of culture. 



In .ill caf'js, the mod proper water for this ufe is that which 

 is contained in any fort of pond, refervoir, or other fimilar 

 ikind of excavation, for the purpofe of containing it in a ftate 

 of conilant expofure to the atmofphere, in gardens or other 

 places, as it is not only more convenient and ready for 

 being employed, but, at the fame time, a great deal more 

 falutai-y, and better adapted to promote the growth and 

 'increafe of the different forts of plants and vegetables, than 

 [that of the raw, fliarp, cold, hard kind, which is drawn 

 ifrom wells or raifed by pumps for immediate ufe, as being 

 'more foft in its nature, and more fuitable in its tem- 

 .perature. 



The mod fuitable time of applying it is in the evening, 

 aft'-'r the dlfappearance of the fun, and when the exceffive 

 heat of the day is gone off, and in a great meafure abated, as 

 its effefts are then more benciicial and lading ; and belides the 

 work can be performed with more eafe and convenience, as 

 v^ell as in a more agreeable manner. 



When once the buluiefs of watering has been commenced, 

 it fliould always be regularly proceeded with, or the plants 

 or vegetables may fuffer much, and be greatly injured by 

 the omiffion or neglett. It is condantly better never to 

 attempt it, than to juil begin and then leave it off again, as 

 lis much too frequently the cafe, in the praftice of horticul- 

 ture, witli fome gardeners, who have not fully confidered the 

 matter. 



The wQj-k of watering feeds, plants, flirubs, and trees, is 

 ulually perlormed, either by means of common watering 

 pots and cans, large fyringes contrived for the purpofe, 

 forcing engnies for throwing it up over the plants, or by 

 ifonie other contrivance of a fimilar nature. The water 

 being moilly brought to the places where it is wanted, either 

 in tubs hung in a fort of barrow-frame, or by their being 

 placed on the barrows themfelves. 



; The water is commonly applied in a fine divided date, 

 over the plants, where it is not required in any large quan- 

 tities, and for clearing away and dellroying fmuts : but 

 , where it is demanded m large proportions, it is often poured 

 in full dreams to their roots or other parts. 



But in ufuig it upon a large fcale for garden-grounds, 



; Mr. London has fuggeded tiiat it may be accompliflied by a 



"iMctice fomewhat fimilar to that of overfio>ving tillage- 



i.r.id, or by means of iubflooding ; this lad m>iy, he thinks, 



\ be elfetled by having a dratuni or layer of gravel under- 



■leath the whole garden, winch by having a trench furround- 



i; , or, if upon a dope, at the upper fide of it only, may 



, l:::'.'e the ground wholly faturated with the water let into it, 



. which will loon be ablorbed and taken up by the incumbent 



\ lurfacc containing the vegetables that are under cultivation. 



And, in the former of thefe methods, by having pipes, 



I Mpcn-cuts, or rather fmall wooden troughs, which may ferve 



I to convey and condudt the water upon the furface of every 



W A T 



quarter of the ground ; it maj there diftribute itfelf in the 

 intervals between the beds or drills, as well as over the gene- 

 ral furface of the broad-cad crops. It is further fuggeded 

 that the former method could be put in praftice at any pe- 

 riod of the fpring or fummer ; the latter, for the mod part, 

 in moid weather, or in the night feafon. See Watering 

 of Land. 



In the watering of both feeds, plants, and garden 

 grounds, much care diould, however, be taken, in every in- 

 dance, that injury indcad of good be not done, by employ. 

 ing too large quantities, or continuing them for too great a 

 length of time. 



On the whole, it will be evident, from what has been faid 

 above, that the praftice of watering in garden culture may 

 be beneficial in different ways, as in exciting and promoting 

 a better and more fpeedy vegetation in newly-fown feeds 

 and tranfplanted vegetables ; in forwarding the growth 

 and increafe in a proper manner of different crops, 

 plants, and trees ; and in the dedruAion or removal of 

 infefts, fucli as the aphis, red fpiJer, and fome of the coccus 

 tribe. 



WATERiNG-5t7/vo7y, in Gardening, fuch as is employed 

 in conveying water to gardens or other places. They have 

 ufually a tub fixed upright in the frame by means of pivots, 

 hooks, and gudgeons, or fome other way, one-half of which 

 is below and the other above it, the water being, in a great 

 meafure, prevented from fpilliug while it is carrying. See 

 OuEXDON Jl^ater-Barroiu. 



Watering Forcing-Engine, an engine contrived for 

 the purpofe of forcing water in a fort of fhower over 

 fome kinds of fruit-trees, garden vegetables, and plants, 

 and which commonly effefts the bufincfs in an eafy, conve- 

 nient, and effetlual even manner, being well adapted to par- 

 ticular modes and purpofes of watering. 



W AVERmu of Land, in Agriculture, the praftice of over- 

 fiowingit artificially in the grafs date, with the water which 

 is diverted from an adjoining or neighbouring river or dream, 

 which has a higher level than the ground to be covered, or 

 where there is a proper fall. In this way, by the new- 

 foimed water-courles being kept nearly on the level, the 

 fpaces of land between the new and the old channels may be 

 watered, the water being brought upon the ground by the 

 former, and difcharged or taken away by the latter ; and 

 thus a condant fuccelfion of the water be retained and re- 

 moved without fuch an accumulation of it as would be inju- 

 rious, or fuch a deficiency as would leave any part imper- 

 feftly fupplied. In different didriils different names are 

 applied to this praftice, fuch as thofe of floating, flooding, 

 drowning, foaking, and fome others. 



It is, without doubt, a praftice of great antiquity, which 

 it is probable the extraordinary fertility afforded by the 

 annual overflowings of the river Nile, in Egypt, may have 

 fird fuggeded as the means of improving the lands of other 

 countries. In this country, indeed, it would feem to have 

 been had recourfe to, for the purpofe, at a very early pe- 

 riod, as in the county of Hereford, it appears to have been 

 praftiied more than two hundred years ago, as is evident 

 from a work on the fubjeft written by Rowland Vaughan, 

 and publifhed in the year 1610, entitled "Mod improved 

 and long-experienced Water- Works ; containing the man- 

 ner of iummer and winter drowning of meadow and padure, 

 by the advantage of the lead river, brook, fount, or water- 

 mill adjacent ; thereby to make thofe grounds, efpecially if 

 they be dry, more fertile ten for one." And the praftice 

 is probably dill more ancient in the county of Wilts than in 

 the above or any other didrift, in confequence of its pof- 

 feding naturally watered grafs lands, which perhaps fird led 



to 



