242 



PLANTING. 



few potsherds being placed over the 

 hole in the bottom of the pot, and 

 an inch or two of soil placed over 

 them, according to the size of the 

 pot, the young seedling or newly- 

 struck cutting is held with one hand, 

 and soil sprinkled over the roots ])y a 

 trowel with the other. When the 

 jjot is filled, the soil is consolidated 

 by lifting the pot with both hands a 

 few inches high, and setting it down 

 once or twice with a slight jerk ; 

 afterwards supplying water so as to 

 moisten the whole of the soil in the 

 pot. The thumb, or a potting-stick 

 should previously be passed round 

 the inner edge of the pot, so as to 

 firm the soil round the rim ; other- 

 wise the water is liable to run down 

 round the edge of the pot, without 

 moistening the soil in the middle. 

 Immediately after planting, the pot 

 should be set in a position where it 

 can be shaded during sunshine ; but 

 on no account should tender plants 

 be shaded during cloudy weather, or 

 covered with an opaque covering 

 during night, unless for the purpose 

 of protecting them from cold. Of 

 course the after treatment of every 

 ■plant in a pot must depend on its 

 nature ; all that it is necessaiy at 

 present to treat of is the manner of 

 planting. 



Transplanting plants which have 

 already been grown in pots is either 

 efiected by removing the ball or 

 mass of earth containing the roots 

 entii-e, or by gently breaking the 

 ball in pieces and stretching the roots 

 out on every side. When the ball 

 is not broken, the operation is called 

 shifting. Plants are often reared 

 in pots on account of their tender 

 nature when young, or for the con- 

 venience of transporting them to a 

 distance, though they are intended 

 ultimately to be planted in the open 

 ground. In almost all cases of this 

 kind, the ball should be broken, and 



the pit having been prepared with 

 the greatest care, as in common 

 planting, the fibrous roots should 

 be stretched out in it as far as they 

 will go on every side. Hence, a 

 plant which has been grown in a 

 very small pot, when it is to be 

 transplanted into the open garden, 

 may often require a pit three feet or 

 four feet in diameter. There is not 

 perhaps an operation in the whole 

 science of gardening that affords a 

 higher gratification to the planter 

 than transplanting plants from pots 

 when the pits and soil are properly 

 prepared, and the roots carefully 

 stretched out without being bruised 

 or broken. In consequence of the 

 extraordinary sources of nutriment 

 which are thus afi'orded to the plant, 

 and of the greatly increased power 

 given to the roots, the shoots which 

 it makes the first year are extra- 

 ordinary, and evince a degree of 

 vigour which none but a gardener 

 of experience could believe possible. 

 On the other hand, when a plant in 

 a pot is turned out into a jiit, how- 

 ever well the soil may be prepared, 

 if the roots are not stretched out, it 

 may remain for many years without 

 growing much faster than it pre- 

 viously did in the pot. This is often 

 the case with the more rare species 

 of the Pine and Fir tribe, and with 

 Magnolias and other plants kept in 

 pots by nurserymen ; and it is fur- 

 ther attended by this evil, that the 

 plants are easily blowTi to one side 

 by the wind. In the case of surface- 

 rooted plants, such as Pines, if they 

 have been some years in the pot, 

 they never send out roots sufficient 

 to keep them upright ; and hence the 

 Pinaster and Stone Pine, which are 

 almost always kept in pots in British 

 nurseries, are generally found lean- 

 ing to one side in plantations in this 

 country. It is necessary, however, 

 to make the distinction between 



