1S71. ] 
WATERING POT-PLANTS. 
93 
with great care, many leaves are broken off in the operation. I would not advise 
any one to grpw it in a stove, as it succeeds best in the greenhouse.— James 
Douglas, Loxford Hall Gardens. 
ON WATEKING POT-PLANTS. 
O^OW often should I water my plants ? This is a question again and again 
put to every member of the blue-apron fraternity by those who are lovers 
of flowers, and at the same time growers of pot-plants in a small way— 
on the window-sill of the dwelling-house to wit. A very simple question 
it is, asked in all faith and earnestness, and a ready answer is expected ; but it 
is a question which, to me, has ever been “ a poser.” I have been for over twenty 
years a grower of pot-plants, have watched their development, and written down 
their habits, yet I cannot conjure up an answer which will at once afford the aid 
and information sought, and form a sure basis for practice. 
There is not in the whole culture of specimen plants, short of the actual 
potting (without doing which efficiently it would not be possible to water them 
efficiently and in accordance with their requirements), a point of more vital 
importance than this one of “ watering.” Perhaps there is not a more tiresome 
occupation than that of ascertaining the need of water, by feeling the surface of 
the soil, tapping the sides of the pots, lifting, &c., which are almost matters 
of daily necessity, avoidable only by those who by a long course of study— 
having superintended the potting of each plant, knowing the quantity and tone 
of health-of its roots, the tenacity or porosity of the soil in which it is grown, 
and how firmly it is potted, &c.,—know exactly the circumstances of each indivi¬ 
dual. The necessity for administering water is often determinable only by the 
quantity of healthy roots in contrast with the growing head. This, taken in 
connection with the facts referred to above, and the whole again influenced not so 
much by the brightness or dullness of the weather, as by the condition of the air 
generally in point of salubrity or aridity, that is, whether deficient of moisture 
and highly absorbent in its nature, or possessing a redundancy of humidity, 
which it communicates more or less freely to all subjects around, will afford a safe 
guide in watering; but the conditions are not all easily ascertainable. 
Irregular waterings destroy more good plants annually than most other 
causes. This is not always the offspring of inattention ; a divided charge, and 
similar causes, are often antagonistic to the well-being of chosen specimens. But 
there is one thing clear above all: we should expunge from our practice the mode 
of watering by drops or driblets, that is, the giving a little to each plant against 
it may want it, or in case it should need it ere the house is again watered, &c. 
If we but take a rational view of the subject, we shall not be long in arriving at 
the conclusion that plants, like all animated life, should have their alternating 
phases—gentle in their application certainly, apparent none the less. When a 
plant is newly potted we first permit the surface-soil to become moderately dry, 
