June 16. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
.901 
“natural material” it is intended to imitate. So nicely 
does Nature mix and balance her ingredients, that our 
crude mass of discordant substances forms a poor sub¬ 
stitute for the real soil itself; and even our best agricul¬ 
tural chemists acknowledge their inability to compound 
a material combining all the fertilizing qualities of a 
good alluvial loam iu anything like such a good con¬ 
dition as the same compound is to be found in many 
situations, “ ready mixed and prepared for use.” So 
difficult is it to confine all the volatile substances of 
which a handful of dirt is said to be composed, that the 
late Mr. Rham, than whom it would be difficult to find 
a higher authority, admitted the possibility of some of 
the most important agents to fertility escaping while 
being subjected to analysis, so as to have a false con¬ 
clusion founded upon those remaining. 
Be this as it may, it is not my purpose to inquire ; 
but I deem it right to mention it, as having some 
analogy with another subject to which this chapter is 
devoted—I mean, the application of water to plants, as 
the agent for supplying them with the food of which 
they are supposed to be in need ; and how far we may 
be mistaken in our idea of such food. As the present 
season is one in which the water-pot is put as much iu 
requisition as any other, it behoves us to be careful in 
using an agent so critical; for though it cannot but be 
* admitted that much good results from its use in many 
cases, yet there are others where a positive harm may 
take place from its misapplication; and of this it is my 
interest to warn the inexperienced. 
As water enters very largely into the composition 
of everything having vegetable life, and more espe¬ 
cially so with those of a culinary or edible kind, it 
is important that no lack of that necessary agent 
be allowed to check the growth, or frustrate the pur¬ 
poses of the intended vegetable. Then comes the 
question, what can we do to administer to its wants? 
Pouring on a deluge of water at a time when the other 
agents in connection with that fluid are either dormant, 
or otherwise incapable of performing the functions 
assigned them, must evidently be bad policy; for, besides 
the plants being injured by the application of water, 
very often of an improper kind, that genial moisture 
which rain imparts to the atmosphere can never be 
tendered them by any out-door application. When 
watering is performed under unclouded sunshine, or dry, 
withering winds, the evils above are sure to happen; 
besides which, it is much aggravated when water of an 
improper kind is used. We all know that rain-water, 
by its being for some time suspended in the atmosphere, 
becomes so thoroughly charged with it, that it carries 
to the ground certain portions of the air it has become 
possessed of, consequently, such aerified water is bulk 
for bulk lighter than ordinary well-water, and at the 
same time it is divested of many of those component 
parts which well-water is impregnated with. 
Now, though some description of well-water may be 
what is called “ more agreeable to our palate,” for what 
little we require of it, still, the water contains within 
itself the elements of death to plants; and though it 
rarely happens that such an event occurs, yet its pre¬ 
vention is more due to the counteracting powers of the 
soil, &c., than to any merit in the liquid used; for, 
besides the fact of well-water being several degrees 
colder than rain, or pond-water, and so acting as “ a 
retarder,” it is likewise hurtful from the pernicious 
matters it contains; drawn from a greater or less depth, 
it is sure to be more or less impregnated with the sub¬ 
stances it has been in contact with, which are often of 
a kind highly injurious to vegetation, if not absolutely 
poisonous. 
It would be wrong in us to affirm that a plant in 
a pot, languishing for liquid food, would be better with¬ 
out such water than with it; yet, something might be 
done to secure the use of better, or, it may be, remedy 
that which is the only supply. Hard well-water is much 
modified by exposure to the atmosphere; therefore, ponds, 
basins, or troughs, are used to give it the necessary ex- j 
posure, and all three appliances must be adopted where 
much has to be done by water of the kind mentioned 
above. This, however, is not always thus effected; for 
it sometimes happens that rain-water absolutely turns 
hard in a tank; and that of some ponds is equally so, 
though deriving their supply from the same source. 
The reasons in both arc the same ; some ingredient in 
the composition of the tank, or in the bottom of the pond, 
imparts that noxious principle to the water, which, 
.under the vague, but not improper, name of “ hard,” we 
give to water that such substances as soap will not 
readily dissolve in. We have seen a tank turn all the 
water hard that entered it for many months; but then 
it was the rawness of the mortar, and other materials 
which it imbibed, that caused it to be so, added, per¬ 
haps, to some similar saline bodies it received from the 
roofs that collected it. Pond-water may bo hard from | 
the same cause, i.e., the mud, or material, at the bottom ! 
might have the effect of turning it so ; or it might have 
drained from ground that imparted that property to it. 
There are many descriptions of soil that will cause this, I 
as may be known by the hardness of certain streams; 
and if proof were necessary of the evil effects of such 
streams or ponds, it is only necessary to look at the I 
vegetables which clothe their banks—a slight comparison 
will tell which of the two is most relished by the 
plants which delight in such places; we mean, plants 
that grow in shallow water, and on the edges of rivers. 
Where well-water must, of necessity, be used, limit the i 
quantity to the least that can possibly serve the pur- ' 
pose; and this may be done with out-door plants to a 
much greater extent than is often expected, for plants 
so growing are not so much hand-fed as those in pots, 
or some similar confined quarter. 
We may next observe, that all “over-watering ” is 
bad, especially when done with cold water of an im¬ 
proper kind; and whatever may be the difficulties in 
obtaining fine soft water, these difficulties had better be 
encountered than trust the well-being of valuable plants 
to the tender mercies of a fluid strongly impregnated 
with some mineral substance, better calculated to destroy 
insects than impart fertility to the soil; and though the 
addition of chemical ingredients will change hard water 
so as to be available for culinary or laundry uses, yet we 
question very much whether soda, and its kindred sub¬ 
stances, can be said to divert the mixture of its per¬ 
nicious quality by adding its own influence to the com¬ 
pound. This mixture of opposing elements may serve 
the chemical purpose of washing, but to render water 
more fit for plants, a less mechanical action must be 
adopted, and “ time,” that never-failing agent, will accom 
plish the task better than the forcible means concocted 
in the laboratory of the man of science. We advise the 
young gardener, who has only a deep pump to run to 
for every drop of water he wants for his plants, to 
prepare a basin or pond large enough for, at least, a 
week’s supply ; this, by being kept filled, and allowed to 
stand exposed to the air and sun, will speedily become 
divested of some of those properties so much at variance j 
with good culture; and though it is not likely to be so 
good as rain-water, yet it is better after such an expo¬ 
sure than it was before, and, consequently, may be 
used with more freedom. 
In the application of water to beds of seedlings, take | 
especial care not to do it until you feel satisfied the 
plants can no longer do without it, unless at a sacrifice 
to themselves ; to begin watering immediately the 
sun dries the upper surface of the ground, is bad in the 
extreme, and sure to lead to bad consequences. After 
a period of moist weather, it is some time ere watering 
