Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-08-30
Too Much Water.

There is nothing which at first thought
seems more startling than the proposition
that water is not the food of plants, and
that in a general sense it is rather an enemy
than an aid to vegetation. True, some
plants grow in water; but these plants
seem to require little. If we cut water
plant across, much less juice is found in
it than in those which grow on arid
plains. Indeed, we see at once that this
must be so in the nature of things. A plant
exposed on every side to arid atmos-
pheres, must evaporate largely, and need
great supply. A plant under water can
not evaporate, and hence water in its
structure is useless to it.
Plants take up the matter which forms
their juices in the form of vapor, not as
water. The soil in which plants grow
during simmer is damp, not wet. We
may take this soil and subject it to Sc
we're pressure, but not drop of water
can we squeeze out; yet the plant takes
the elements of water from it, and as
water, we find these elements in the stem
structure.
The rapid carrying away of water from
the soil is the foundation of the modern
practice of under draining; and the re-
moving of the roots from all contact with
water, and the preserving them from it's
deleterious influence, is always an aim
with the good cultivator.
While life is dormant, water does not
seem to injure it. The seed Of the water
plant will die for long time in the cool
mud at the bottom of the pond. But as
soon as the breath of spring warns it
into life, it sends up its leafstalk rapidly
to the surface, there unfolding it's blade
above the watery element. The seeds of
plants have not this rapidly upward
growth. The little germ meeting water
as it unfolds, is sure to rot at once, unless
the water passes away as rapidly as it
falls. Myriads of seeds sown I'D the earth,
never come to the surface. A little water
standing about the germ for an hour or so
as it pushes, rots it. This is one of the
secrets of light, sandy soil, in which to
SOW seeds. The water rapidly passes
away. Also is it the secret of success
with those who SOW seeds on the surface,
rather than below the level of the ground.
The earth between the rows or in the al
ley-ways, employed to cover the surface
sown seeds, always leaves them above
the water line. They are damp, but
never wet, and they usually grow.
So also with those who plant trees. 1t
is well known that trees must not be set
deep. If the roots are deep, they are in
water no longer than when they are near
the surface. The heavier the soil, the
worse it is for the deep planted tree; and
the finer and more delicate the roots,
the worse they are when deep planted.
Trees with forky roots, such as the oak
and the standard pear, suffer very little
by deep planting, unless the soil be very
wet. They may be at the bottom of a
hill, where the washings of the hill will
make an annual deposit, covering the
surface-roots several inches a year, with
out any injury, while finer rooted plants,
like an arborvita or hemlock spruce,
would soon die under these annual inflic-
TONS --- +.~.......-e
In fact, the finer the roots, the nearer
the surface should all things be planted,
and some of them, indeed, should be like
some seeds, placed entirely on the surface,
and the earth drawn up over the roots,
instead of the roots being placed beneath
the surface of the level soil, as in ordi-
nary planting. People often say that the
beautiful spring flower, the trailing
arbutus, cannot be made to grow when
cultivated but this is simply because in
replanting we set the roots beneath the
level instead of above the natural sur
face. The kalmia and rhOdodendron,
also of this fine rooted character, require
to be planted above the natural level, in
order to guard against too much water.
Let every planter of trees or fruits be-
ware of too much water. Gardeners
Monthly.