TRANSPLANTING, POTTING AND REPOTTING 39 
leveling it as the pot is placed to one side in an 
empty flat. (The jarring down of the soil should 
precede the firming with the thumbs, as this will 
compact the soil more evenly within the pot.) This 
should leave the soil a little below the rim of the 
pot, making a space to hold water when watering; 
and the cutting should be so firmly embedded that 
it cannot be moved without breaking the soil. 
With cuttings whose roots have been allowed to 
grow an inch or more in length, and plants with a 
considerable ball of roots—as they should have 
when coming from the transplanting flats —it is 
better partly to fill the pot. Hold the plant or cut- 
ting in position with the left hand and press the soil 
in about it with the right hand — firming it as di- 
rected in the former case. With a little practice 
either operation can be performed very rapidly. 
Florists do four to five hundred pots an hour. 
When for any reason it is necessary to put a small 
or weakly rooted plant or cutting, or a cutting that 
is just on the point of sending forth roots, in a pot 
that seems too large, put it near the edge of the pot, 
instead of in the middle. This will often save a 
plant which would otherwise be lost, and at the next 
shift it can, of course, be put in the center of the pot. 
If no small pots are at hand, several small plants 
or cuttings can be put around the edge of a four- or 
five-inch pot, with good results. Care must be 
taken, however, not to give too much water. 
