+ 
¥. 
FLOWER-POTS. 83 
green fly nor the red spider will ever infest a plant that is frequently 
syringed. 
Flower-pots are of many different kinds, but the common red earthen- 
ware are decidedly the best, because they are the most porous, and 
consequently do not retain the moisture so as to be injurious to the 
plants they contain. They are of various sizes, which are designated 
by the number made ont of a certain quantity of clay called a cast. 
Thus the larger size, which is a foot anda half in diameter, is called 
a two, because there are only two made out of a cast; and the 
smallest-numbered size, which is only two inches in diameter, is 
called a sixty, because there are sixty pots made out of one cast. 
Wren I was in my gardening noviciate, I used to be very puzzled 
when I was told that rooted cuttings should be potted in thumbs or in 
sixties, and that a plant which required transplanting, should be put 
in a twelve, or an eight. Thumbs are still smaller pots than sixties, 
for there are eighty to the cast; but as they are seldom used, they are 
not described by their number, but they are called thumb-pots, be- 
cause they will not hold more than a large sized thumb. Besides the 
common flower-pots, there are double pots, one of which has been 
sent me by Capt. Mangles, which are very useful for balconies, as 
he roots of the plants are very apt to be injured, by the outside of 
the pot in which they grow being dried by the wind, or heated by 
the sun. When double pots are used, the interstice between the 
pots should be stuffed with moss kept moist. China, or any kind of 
giazed pots, may also be used for balconies, as the material of which 
they are composed does not permit evaporation; but they should 
always be filled at least a third of their denth with broken crocks, or 
potshreds, to ensure drainage. A very elegant flower-pot, manu- 
factured in Derby, has been lately presented to me id, ae Booth, 
which combines the beautiful form of a vase, with all the convenience 
of a common flower-pot and saucer. These flower-pots are made of 
the common red porous earthenware, and they may, of course, be of 
any desirable size. All pots should be well drained, by having a 
layer of potshreds at the bottom, to prevent the hole from becoming 
choked up with the earth pressing against it; and hair-rooted piants 
such as heaths, and most of the Australian shrubs, should kave the 
pot filled to a third of its depth with potshreds. Succulent plants, 
such as the cacti, and mesembryanthemums, should be drained with 
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