DECEMBER. 
373 
Pinus Insignis here, near, if not quite, 60 feet high, which has 
given me many cones from which numerous seedlings have been 
rai#ed. The parent tree was a very young plant in 1838, yet it 
was not then injured, nor has it been in subsequent years, although 
I have lost others growing near it. It is now intensely green, 
going through the last winter unscathed, and yet most of the 
seedlings raised I'rom it were killed, although more sheltered than 
the parent tree, which is fully exposed. This fact furnishes us 
with another physiological problem not easily solved. 
J. T. 
A WORD OR TWO ABOUT WATERING PLANTS. 
The following cursorily written remarks are not intended for 
practical gardeners, but for inexperienced amateurs and young 
gardeners ; indeed, principally for a portion of the latter. For, 
whilst we bear willing testimony to the conduct of a numerous 
class of young men, who are deeply anxious to learn thoroughly 
everything appertaining to their profession, and solicitous to dis¬ 
charge properly the duties confided to them ; there is also, we 
must (however unwillingly) confess, a large class who take but 
little interest in their business. Watering is one of the most im¬ 
portant operations in plant culture, and yet how often is it most 
improperly performed by the latter class of young men. I believe 
I do not in the least exaggerate when I say that more plants are 
killed by improper watering than from all other causes put 
together. No matter how perfect the drainage may be, nor how 
carefully the soil may be prepared, if watering be improperly per¬ 
formed failure is certain. 
Often and often have I taken considerable trouble to explain to 
young men the requirements of difierent kinds of plants, and of 
plants in different states of growth; and yet, most annoying, the 
next watering has been performed as indiscriminately as former 
ones, without any regard to the condition of the plant or the state 
of the soil in the pot. 
In small places, where a gardener can himself daily inspect 
everything under his charge, no very serious injury can occur 
under his experienced eye, but in places of large extent the case is 
different. The carrying on of new work or other improvements 
in a di^nt part of the grounds, will often for several days prevent 
the gardener from minutely inspecting matters of this nature, and 
the consequences are often serious before detected. 
Heaths may be beyond recovery before the evil is found out; 
even soft-wooded plants will often suffer from a similar cause. You 
go into your stove some morning and in looking round see a fine 
plant of Clerodendron dropping its flowers before they are ex¬ 
panded ; you examine the surface of the soil in the pot and all 
seems right, but give the pot a good rap with your knuckles and 
you at once discover the cause ; you call your man, John Careless, 
and ask him why he has not followed your directions by properly 
B B 3 
