CHAP. III.] 
WATERING. 
69 
Watering with warm water is very effica¬ 
cious in forwarding the flowering of plants. 
This was one of the things that was most 
repugnant to my prejudices in the course 
of my instruction in the art of gardening; 
and when Mr. Loudon had some nearly 
boiling hot-water poured on some boxes of 
hyacinths that I was very anxious to have 
brought forward, I could scarcely refrain 
from crying out when I saw the steam rising 
up from the earth. The hyacinths, how¬ 
ever, so far from being injured, flowered 
splendidly; though such is the force of pre¬ 
judice, that I could never see the little tin 
vessel containing the heated water carried 
out to them without a shudder. The effect 
of hot-water, not heated to above 200°, in 
forwarding bulbs is astonishing; but it must 
be observed that it should never be poured 
on the bulbs, or on the leaves, but on the 
earth near the rim of the pot. Hot water 
is also very efficacious in softening seeds with 
hard coverings when soaked in it; and some 
of the seeds of the New Holland acacias will 
not vegetate in this country till they have 
been actually boiled. 
