The Culture of Pot-Plants 



CHAPTER I 

 POT-PLANTS IN ROOMS 



If anybody would get an idea of the magnitude of the trade 

 in pot-plants he should visit Covent Garden in the early 

 hours of the morning. In normal times they arrive in long 

 processions of vans coming from all directions, and when the 

 market closes they are all gone. This happens week after 

 week, month after month, year after year. Yet Covent 

 Garden, though the greatest centre of distribution in the 

 country, is only one of many where the same thing is con- 

 tinually going on. What becomes of these millions of plants ? 

 There would seem to be enough of them to fill every green- 

 house and every room in the kingdom, yet the demand for 

 more is incessant. The fact is that the majority of them are 

 short lived- — ^ not necessarily because that is their natural 

 habit, but because of the treatment which they receive at the 

 hands of those who buy them. Some are acquired merely 

 for a brief display, and are discarded as soon as they have 

 served their purpose ; others, by far the larger number, fail 

 as ^he result of ignorance or neglect. If they were cultivated 

 in a rational manner, an enormous amount of waste would be 

 prevented, and a very large sum would be saved annually by 

 the nation. 



In the first place, it is important to choose good plants. 

 Many are grown at express speed in hot-houses, and are 



