Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-06-14
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

practitioners want to use their own
heads in the matter. They prefer to
rely on authority. For instance, II a
bed Of rosebushes gets no water at all,
by reason of an unusual drought, and
yet the roses bloom large and beauti-
full and the leaves green and utterly
free from BLACK spot" they are un-
willing to accept these facts as a tip
from Nature to refrain from too much
watering.
The very next season, without re-
calling single bit of the free advice"
given them by natural conditions. they
begin the old round of evening water
lngs, inadvertently permitting a great
deal of spray to get on the leaves.
Roses demand little water, a dearth,
as 1t were, which Is understandable
only when it is kept in mind that our
cultivated varieties are the children of
the hardest parents, prickly shrubs
which were the widest of the wild.
One has but to regard carefully the
growth and habits of that splendid
climber, the DR.. Van Fleet, to under
stand somewhat fully what this means
to the roses in our garden.
These things do not forget their an
cestral ways simply because they
bloom in manner to please mankind.
IS.
and as apparently filled with the eter-
nal moisture, as If their roots were
standing in a tub Of water.
Hence Templeton Jones, it is to be
understood, never used his watering
pots for rose bushes He reserved the
big can entirely for such things as the
hibiscus, which demand a good water
ing at their roots.
A couple of gallons, put exactly
where 1t Is needed. at the right time.
will do more good than minutes of
sprinkling with hose. in which pro-
ceeding a great deal of water is un-
consciously put where 1t is not needed
instead of where it should 60.
Another pot in the Jones collection
is rather fancy, painted a light green,
but its color is not its chief point,
rather its spout.
uated. with a comparatively small
nozzle or head. This arrangement
permits one to poke the nozzle into a
crowded border, and get at places
which would be inaccessible with the
larger can.
Until one begins TO investigate water
ing or sprinkling cans, as they are
more commonly called in this country,
Jones AYERS. one will not stop to realize
the honorable lineage of these humble
but necessary implements.
They go back to the oldest times,
both in England and France. Indeed,
the lOng-Snouted one is definitely label
ed the French pattern
And behind France and England the
history of sprinkling cans goes back TO
Greece and Rome, to Egypt, and, of
course, to China. Nothing ever was
thought OF by man, apparently. that
some wise Chinaman did not think of
1t first.
Ancient Of ancients, some of those
olo Egyptian bricks, with peculiar
looking birds and figures on them
these sculptures, in some instances,
show Egyptian gentlemen in few
clothes, holding a genuine sprinkling
can in their right hand, from which
they proceed to direct a shower upon
some peculiar plant. probably the rose
of Egypt
The last Of the Jones trio Is one
for indoors. def combination of cop
per and brass, the bowl copper, the
handle shining brass The spout is
straight as a string. ending in a simple
opening, the same size as the spout.
This sublime sprinkling can Is used
for placing water in indoor pots and
bowls. 1t holds but quart and may
be directed into the almost closed
mouth Of an ivy jar or the like.
Templeton Jones believes that he Is
helping to bring a necessary gardening
tool back into the popularity which it
once had and which it still deserves.
He SAYS he has ideas. too about the
sad eclipse Of the market basket, which
ought to be returned to more general
usages and will, he feels, If he has
anything to do with it.