ON WATERING. 
179 
How valuable, then, such an aid in the management of deli¬ 
cate plants 1 Indeed we think the extended use of this pot will 
serve to show us that much which has hitherto been mysterious, 
in cases of sudden death, does resolve itself into the simple ex¬ 
planation of starvation. Certainly, no one at all anxious about 
his charge will be content to work in the dark, where such ready 
means are at hand to ascertain exactly the state of the most 
vital portion of his favorites. We do not apologise for this di¬ 
gression, as the importance of the subject deserves our serious 
attention ; and we would advise the immediate granting of licenses 
for the benefit of our provincial friends. 
ON WATERING. 
People are apt to think that when their garden looks dry it 
wants water, and that they are doing good in administering that 
element; but self-evident as this may seem to be, the benefit is 
not quite so positive as it may appear to be. On the other hand, 
there is a very great risk of doing serious injury. 
How can this be? will be the ready interrogation. Plants 
require that the soil should be moist; when it is dry, the use of 
water moistens it: therefore, watering must be beneficial, and 
the oftener we water the more benefit we confer. This seems 
plausible enough; but it is just these repeated applications that 
do all the mischief. 
We are speaking of hot dry weather. We will suppose that a 
garden gets a tolerable sprinkling every evening—enough, in 
fact, to saturate the surface, which then looks cool and comfort¬ 
able. Next day the sun causes the evaporation of this moisture, 
and the ground at the surface being, as it were, made into a 
pudding by the drip-drip of the water, becomes baked into pie 
when the sun has drawn off the water. In fact, the surface be¬ 
comes what is familiarly called caked. Now this is repeated, 
night after night, by these dribbling waterings; and the conse¬ 
quence is, that the whole mass of earth gets caked hard, it be¬ 
comes thoroughly dry just below the surface, and, if drought 
