16 



pass away, just as soon as all the earth in the pot has been 

 moistened by it. 



We have oftentimes been asked by amateur culturists 

 " How often should plants be watered." Our repl3' has invaria- 

 bly been " just as often as they become dry." We will define 

 as best we can what is meant hy the word dry. Sometimes 

 we speak of a thing as being " as dry as dust." To allow the 

 soil in which plants are growing to get to that degree of dry- 

 ness is almost sure death ; it certainly is to most hard-wooded 

 plants, while its effect on soft- wooded plants would be to stag- 

 nate their growth. Perhaps we can better define the word by 

 comparison . The word dri/ (the appropriate time for watering j 

 bears the same relation to dried or parched (as moist does to 

 saturate.) A little experience will greatly assist in determin- 

 ing if water is required, but until the reader has had this ex- 

 perience, we must give a little more information. Take two 

 pots of the same size and fill both with dry soil ; saturate the 

 soil in one of them with water, then with the knuckles strike 

 c^he sides of the pets alternately, and observe the difference in 

 the sounds produced; this tapping may be repeated a number 

 of times, until yon become pretty familiar \vith the sound, 

 then by testing the pots in which your plants are growing you 

 can readily decide which to water; these should receive a 

 sufficient amount of water to moisten all the soil, and should 

 not be watered again until the soil is in the same condition it 

 was prior to having been watered. 



Rain water is considered the best for watering plants, be- 

 cause oftentimes spring or well water contains too much 

 foreign substances, such as minerals, alkalies, etc., which 

 might prove injurious to the tender roots of many plants. 

 While it is better that water for plants should be about the 

 same temperature as the atmosphere in which the plants are 

 growing, it does not matter to ten or fifteen degrees, in ismuch 

 as that even though the water be ten degrees cooler than the 

 air in the room, when it is applied to the plants, in fifteen 

 minutes the earth in the pot will be of the same temperature 

 by the absorption of heat from the atmosphere, as it was before 

 the water was applied. If the watering by cooler water kept 

 the earth for hours cooler than the temperature in the house, 

 then such a plan would prove injurious to some extent, but 

 for only a few minutes no serious results can follow. 



