CHAP. IH.j 
WATERING. 
63 
ferent side presented to that luminary, by 
the efforts it must make to accommodate 
itself to its new situation. On the other 
hand, however, it may be urged that chang¬ 
ing the position of the plant, particularly 
while it is young, will be beneficial in pre¬ 
venting it from taking any particular bent, 
and in promoting the equal distribution of 
sap through all the branches. 
Watering is a most essential branch of cul¬ 
ture. It has been already fully explained 
that the seed cannot vegetate, and the plant 
cannot grow without water. Carbon, and 
all the other substances that form the food of 
plants, must be dissolved in water to enable 
the spongioles to take them up; and the 
spongioles themselves, unless they be kept 
moist, will soon lose their power of absorp¬ 
tion. Nothing indeed can be more evident, 
even to a common observer, than the neces¬ 
sity that plants feel for water; if a mimulus 
or a pelargonium in a pot, for example, hang 
its head and droop its leaves, what an extra¬ 
ordinary and rapid effect is produced by 
giving it water! In an almost incredibly 
short time its leaves become firm, and its 
