JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 22, 1882.] 
22nd 
Tn 
Chiswick and Bury St. Edmunds Shows. 
23rd 
F 
Scottish Pansy Society’s Show. 
24th 
S 
26th 
SUN 
3rd Sunday after Trinity. 
26th 
M 
[gonium Society’s Show. Thornton Heath & Maidstone Shows. 
27th 
TU 
Royal Hort. Soc., Fruit & Floral Committees at 11 A.M. Pelar- 
28th 
W 
National Rose Society’s Show at Bath. Lee, Fareham, Croydon, 
[and Hitchin Shows. 
ECONOMISING WATER. 
HE fact of plants obtaining the greater part of 
their food in a soluble condition from the soil, 
though well known, is not always sufficiently 
considered in practice. Gardeners know so 
well from experience the results which follow 
inattention in watering plants in pots, that 
only careless or greatly overworked men allow 
deficiency in this respect. Amateurs are often 
guilty of allowing their plants to become overdry, and 
any such who may read these notes will “ aiblins 
tak' a thought an' mend.” 
We will suppose a plant in perfect health, say a Pelargo¬ 
nium, a Fuchsia, a Coleus, or a Cineraria—all commonly grown 
plants, allowed to become overdry. The leaves droop and be¬ 
come flaccid ; the soil is after a time soaked with water, and to 
all appearance no harm has been done ; but such is not the fact. 
All the roots of the plant are capable of imbibing moisture, 
but the real purveyors of plant food are of a very delicate 
nature and easily destroyed ; consequently, although the plant 
may appear none the worse, yet on examination of the roots it 
will be found that great damage has resulted. Before the 
plant flagged, had the roots been examined, the latest-formed 
portions would be found completely covered with fine hair-like 
rootlets, their function being to supply food to the older roots, 
to be conveyed thence to the stem and leaves. The result of 
an insufficient supply of moisture causes the death of these 
rootlets, and the plant is therefore dependant on those portions 
of the roots matured enough to endure the treatment under 
which the others succumbed, being therefore partially deprived 
of food until new roots are formed. In bulbous plants, as, for 
example, Eucharis amazonica, the roots are thick—fleshy, in 
fact, and in their entire length are absorbent, but the results 
are the same to a plant in full growth when over-dryness occurs. 
The fact that bulbs, such as Hyacinths for instance, may be 
grown in quantities in boxes until the flower spikes are opened 
and then transferred singly into pots without any bad effects, 
has quite a different explanation. All that we want of the 
Hyacinth is its flower ; the growth had been made in Holland 
the previous year, and after the spike is developed only enough 
water to keep flowers and foliage fresh is needed. 
We come now to the question of how water may be saved in 
a time of scarcity without harm to plants. It has been shown 
how over-dryness is hurtful, and it may be here pointed out that 
it is also a wasteful system. The best way to do with overdry 
plants is to immerse the pots in a water tank until the soil is 
soaked, but if this is not convenient do not keep pouring water 
into the pot. Give a little at a time, and repeat it as many 
505 
times as it is necessary to give enough to moisten every par¬ 
ticle of soil, allowing time between each application for the 
water to soak in. Often far too much water is given at one 
time. “ Be sure to give enough to run through the pot” is 
an order very generally given, yet all that passes as drainage 
water is waste in two ways. First, it wastes the water itself ; 
and secondly, it does not pass the drainage as the same water 
that was applied to the surface of the soil. In its way from 
the surface to the drainage it has taken up material which 
would have been better left behind. 
There is also the question of potting and the size of pots. 
In everyday gardening it is much better to limit the size of the 
pot, and the size of the plant if necessary, than to grow them 
overlarge ; but in practice it does not follow that because a 
small amount of soil is used the plant will be thereby kept a 
pigmy. A plant in a 6-inch pot will require less water to 
moisten the soil in which it is growing than one in an 8 or 
9-inch pot, nor will it require to be watered much more fre¬ 
quently, for the soil is not only subject to the abstraction of 
moisture by the roots, but in ordinary conditions it is sur¬ 
rounded on every side by air, which in the case of the larger 
pot has a greater surface to equalise the difference of capacity. 
Further, in small pots the soil can be pressed much more firmly, 
and with good effect, than it can in a large-sized pot, which 
is another advantage. Then, very generally we might do with 
much fewer plants than we grow. Where abundance of flowers 
is required for winter and spring much watering may be saved 
by planting out numbers of commonly grown plants, either out 
of doors or in cold frames, repotting the plants in the autumn. 
Lastly, many plants usually placed on bricks, ash beds, or 
gravel walks, may be plunged in coal ashes, or even in soil in 
the kitchen garden, without any bad effects following, provided 
care in watering is duly given. Evaporation from the surface 
of the soil may be lessened by filling up to or over the rim 
with coarse sand. This plan has the disadvantage of the soil 
being hidden, and the danger of insufficient watering arising 
in consequence. 
In the management of plant and fruit houses a great saving 
in water may be brought about by dispensing with much of 
the “ damping down ” and promiscuous syringing usually car¬ 
ried out. All commonly cultivated fruits may be perfectly 
well grown without either. The practice of syringing Grape 
Vines is now almost obsolete, and damping-down vineries fre¬ 
quently is also being discontinued by many. The best ex¬ 
amples of Grapes for home use I have seen for a long time 
were shown me lately, and were grown without either syringing 
or damping being carried out. In the same garden were some 
of the healthiest Orchids I have seen, yet these were growing 
without any damping in any part of the structure. 
In light houses a thin shading will be found of the greatest 
advantage in very hot weather. It is not absolutely necessary 
where the ventilation is sufficient and where watering is care¬ 
fully managed ; but where labour is scarce as well as water 
shade the plants by all means. 
The only way that water can be saved in connection with 
borders in structures devoted to fruit culture is by means of 
mulching, and the best material for that purpose is horse drop¬ 
pings heated sufficiently to become sweet before using. Ap¬ 
plied as a layer 2 or 3 inches thick it has a beneficial effect on 
trees, the necessary waterings carrying its constituents to the 
roots. 
No. 104.—Yol. IV., Third Series 
No. 1760.— Vol. LXYII., Old Series. 
