HOW TO PLANT IN WATER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 690, 11 February 1881, Page 3

HOW TO PLANT IN WATER.

(Queen.)

To begin with the acorn:. a hyacinth vase, or, failing that, a pickle jar, is the best-shaped jar to use for the purpose. Choose a fine, healthy-looking acorn, and crochet with moderately, coarse cotton a little network case just large enough to hold it. Take off the cup and put the acorn into this little bag point down-

warda, oloßing it,at. the top, and making a loop of cotton or chain skitch, about two inches long (niorp or less accordiog to the "depth of'the bottle) to hang it m by. Cut a narrow piece of wodd of such a size that it will lie'acroßS the top of. the jar without slipping in, paaa it through the loop, and thus hang the acorn point downprds in the glass, which must have . jugt-eo much.water in it that the tip of the acorn scarcely.touches it,. Keep the bottle in a dark cupboard until the acorn, "has spiouted, and then put it in (helight, "just as"you Would a hyacinth; 'being care: fill tp (iepp the water always at the same level. If properly mauaged, it will live '{or a longtime, .'■'■ . Jt is very.interesting to. try to grow '.plpef plants in, the same way, I have "been successful in rearing the ordinary sweet chestnut in water, giving it occa- .. sionally, by the way of manure, one drop of ammonia (sal volatile). 1 cannot say whether the same stimulant would suit an acorn, It ia quite two years since my chestnut was first started, and it seems : quite strong and healthy, t bqt of course ' yery tlpy, bejpg pnly about six inches above the surface of the water, A potato js well worth the trouble of growing in water, and should be managed exactly liko a hyacinth, ■ From every eye will start a minature potato plant, and even tiny tubers will form underneath. It will not last so long as either a chestnut or an acorn; as soon as the nourishment contained in the tuber is exhausted, and the new ones are formed, it will gradually wjther away, TJiis experiment is a particularly interestipg. one to carry out, fjiowing as It does, in broad daylight, the growth'and,devplop'mept of the potato, the greater part of which takes place ppderground in ordinary circumstances A carrot grown in sand is, if well managed, a highly ornamental object. A good-sized and perfectly healthy root must be chosen, and if it has begun to Bhoot at the top; so much the better. Cut off ■ quite even.y just the crown of the carrot and place it on the tnp of the pot full of . papd, coveving the outpr edge of it with a little more sand, so that the leaves' look . as jf they spring directly from it, Moisten it-well, and keep it in the dark until it jiaß beguu to sprout; be careful to keep it damp, and to move it into the light direotly the leaves appear, If the cultivation is successful, an ornament pretty " enough "for "any rbonT will be the result, and which will have, to a novjce, the op'pearance of q pot of ferns, Another ex. pefinient, not quite so ornamental, but none the less curious, may be made with a turnip, which must be as sound as possible Clean .the outside, taking care not tp'jnjure thp : part from whence the leaves ppring,' put a piece .off the bottom, and jtfop'pout the inside, so that you havo a hollow cup. Fasten string or wire to it, a6;that it can'behung to a wire upside Sown. Fill the cavity, and keep it filled ~"wit£wafer, Iff* sh or t time the 'leaves l||ll' begin |d sprout, and', pll curl up round'the ball (if. tho turnip, forming a ; pretty little hanging basket, Care must pe'taken to shift it occasionally, so' that each side'in turn is exposed to the light, or it will grow irregularly. These are pply a fow of the experiments of this sort ."i|at maybe made, JSach and all po.int out - their pwp.pajticular botanical leSson,. and no doubt much more is still to be X- learnt by careful and patient observation and experiment, ' ~'