May, 
1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
203 
Cutting and bunching watercress 
ously, allowed to dry, and sown, the seed being lightly cov- 
ered with leaf mold applied with a sieve. The bed must be 
kept moist and a little leaf mold should be applied after 
each cutting. In this, as in all methods of culture, all weeds 
should be removed with the rake or by hand, and the plants 
should occasionally be entirely submerged for a few days, or 
sprinkled very copiously, in order to destroy insect enemies. 
Watercress culture, in fact, save on a large scale, offers 
little dithculty and affords a crop readily grown and always 
available for table use. Its extensive cultivation calls for a 
somewhat considerable outlay, and some care must be taken 
to obtain the best results; but even in its most developed 
form it has few complications, and the crop yields are always 
ample. 
In the towns mentioned it forms, as I have stated, a dis- 
tinctive industry, a circumstance often observable in France, 
where the localization of industries, especially of farm or 
outdoor industries, are often highly developed and special- 
ized in certain localities. he average visitor to Provins may 
well have an enjoyable time at this ancient town without so 
much as gaining any notion of the existence of the watercress 
industry or even so much as seeing it. Provins is, in truth, a 
place of the deepest interest. It is but ninety-five kilometers 
from Paris, and hence is within easy reach of the French 
capital. It consists of an old and new town, the former of 
which still retains the physiognomy of the Middle Ages, 
with most of its ancient walls and many old buildings of 
great historic importance. 
Pressing down the roots which have been loosened in harvesting 
