THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
2(51 
their rapid growth during the summer as contrasted with 
their slow progress or absolute rest during the winter. 
Air and light are as necessary for plants as for ourselves. 
I might even go a little farther and say that when the 
plants grow up in your windows tall and thin, with wiry 
stalks and pale yellowish leaves, they indicate by their 
general appearance an insufficient amount of light and air. 
When this is the case more air and more light through 
clean window-panes would be beneficial. Moisture is 
necessary, since the roots can only absorb nutriment 
when in a soluble state. As we have said, the soil itself 
is composed of particles through which air-spaces abound. 
The water must be just sufficient to keep these particles 
moist, and the air in the spaces is thus kept in the con¬ 
dition of moist air. The roots traverse these air-spaces, 
and it is, therefore, moist air which roots want rather than 
water. If it were water simply which plants wanted, we 
should cork up the hole in the flower-pot, and prevent the 
water getting away. Instead of this, we try to hasten 
the passing of the water through as much as possible, by 
not only keeping the hole as clear as possible, but often 
by putting pieces of broken material over the hole to act 
as drainage. 
That plant will generally be the healthiest, therefore, 
which wants water most often. This will show that there 
are plenty of air-spaces, and that the roots are making 
good use of them. If it does not often want water it is in 
a bad way, and less water rather than more must be given. 
The frequency of watering, then, should be according 
to the rapidity with which the water passes away. If 
when you pour water on earth it disappears almost in¬ 
stantaneously, it would be safe to water such plants every 
day. There are several methods adopted by professional 
gardeners to determine when a plant requires water : 
1. By the general appearance of the soil, or feeling it 
with the finger. 
2. Tapping the pot with the knuckles. The pot has a 
sharp hollow sound or “ ring ” when the earth it contains 
is dry, and a dull, heavy “thudding” sound when moist. 
Take a pot of dry soil and one recently soaked with water 
and try this experiment. 
3. By lifting the pots and testing their weight, wet soil 
being, of course, much heavier than the same quantity 
when in a dry state. 
Fill two pots with soil, water one only, and then lift 
them both for comparison. A little practical experience 
will soon enable you to tell when your plants are dry by 
each or all of the above methods. 
Always use soft (/. e., rain or river) water in preference 
to that from wells or springs. In towns where water is 
supplied by the corporation, expose it to the sun in a 
wide tub or other vessel for a day or two before using it 
for your plants. 
Never use cold water. Water for plants should be 
equal in temperature to the atmosphere of the room in 
which they are growing. 
Never water a plant that is already wet; but when a 
plant is dry give it sufficient to moisten the ball of earth 
thoroughly. 
Plants require water less frequently during dull, damp 
weather than during the summer, when the sun is power¬ 
ful and the light intense. Water for syringing or sprink¬ 
ling should be quite free from mechanical impurities, as 
chalk or lime. Muddy water leaves spots and patches 
of dirt on the leaves after it has evaporated, and necessi¬ 
tates their being sponged clean. 
If you notice a pot that does not get dry, but that ap¬ 
pears to be in a wet and stagnant condition, turn out the 
sickly plant at once. Examine the crocks or drainage 
and displace it (without breaking the ball) if it is clogged 
up with wet soil. Look out for worms. If you see the 
holes and tracks, but no worms, tap the soil until they ap¬ 
pear and remove them. Now take a perfectly clean and 
dry pot of the same size, or even less, drain it, and turn 
your plant into it, pressing and shaking it down by gen¬ 
tle taps on the bench or table. If the surface of the ball 
is moss-grown, remove it with a blunt stick and put a lit¬ 
tle fresh earth round it. Now your plant is in a fair way 
for recovery, and in nine cases out of ten, if carefully 
watered, it will recover its freshness and beauty. 
Repotting.— If you take a few turnip or mangold 
seeds and plant them they increase in weight and size 
very rapidly, so that what in the spring-time was a pound 
of seed may, after growth for some months, become 
changed into several tons weight of produce. This in¬ 
crease of substance and weight is mainly the result of 
root action—that is to say, the plants have absorbed all 
this weight of material from the soil in solution. It 
naturally follows that the soil becomes less rich every 
time a crop is removed, and to supply the deficiency the 
farmer adds, evefy year or two, more plant-food in the 
shape of manures. Now, what' is true of the farm is true 
of the smallest plant in your window. The formation of 
every leaf and every blossom leaves the earth in your 
flower-pot poorer than it was before ; hence, after some 
few months’ growth, one of two things becomes neces¬ 
sary. You must either place the plant in a larger pot, 
adding at the same time more fresh earth, or you must 
add manure or plant-food to the pot in which you wish 
the plant to thrive still longer. Sometimes it is conveni¬ 
ent to retain plants in small pots, and then a pinch of 
guano or sulphate of ammonia in a quart of water makes 
a first-rate stimulant, adding new life and vigor to any 
plants which had begun to show signs of stunted growth, 
owing to their soil having become exhausted. I have 
alluded to plants as being perfect chemists in their way, 
selecting from the elements in the soil what they most 
require for building up their cells and fibres—their leaves 
and flowers. I have also alluded to some of our native 
wild-flowers; and now t ,I want you to distinctly under¬ 
stand that all the species or distinct types of plants, even 
most of the rare ones of our hothouses, are also wild 
in the temperate and tropical countries of the world. 
Again, every known plant has a Latin name given to it 
by botanists. This name is given along with a descrip¬ 
tion of the plant, and is often accompanied by a plate 
or drawing; and the reason the name given is a Latin 
one is because Latin is understood by all scientific men 
throughout the world. But there is no necessity for you 
to call your pet plants by their Latin names, although 
fuchsia, geranium, calceolaria, and many other Latin 
names are now firmly fixed in our own tongue. 
