The Garden Under Glass

WATER FOR GREENHOUSE PLANTS 233 made by screwing a hexagonal nut on a bamboo cane and driving a peg through the hollow part left by the pith. If the rapper be kept in the shade, or in water, it will not quickly become loosened. There are other methods of making rappers, such as cutting a stick with a knob at the end or fitting a piece of wood in a bamboo cane and wiring it on, but I have always found the nut form most suitable. THE DRYING OFF OF BULBS, ETC. The Principle Explained The drying off process is governed by this law of growth —that the supply of moisture should only be sufficient to meet the demand. Now, when a plant has completed its yearly growth, and probably also its flowering, it is evident that it has little further need of moisture and nutriment. But so long as the growth remains on the plant it will be draining supplies from the bulb, as not only science but practical experience teaches us ; for it will be noticed that if water be altogether withheld while the leaves still remain on the plant the bulb becomes soft and flabby. As long, then, as this growth continues, water must be administered, and in most cases feeding will also be necessary to enable the bulb to store up sufficient virtue to infuse vigour and quality into the next season’s flower, which in many cases precedes the expansion of foliage. If the practice were made of keeping the plants watered when there was no top growth and no root action, the soil would become sour and the roots and probably the whole plant would decay. Thus, besid.es the waste of time and water, there would be also the loss of the plant. Whether the time when growth is not apparent be a period of rest or of