251 



POTTING. 



all of them require to be shaded, to 

 prevent excessive transpiration till 

 they have begun to grow. 



Plants in pots which are to be 

 transplanted into other pots with 

 the ball entire require compara- 

 tively little care. The new pot 

 should be at least one size larger 

 than the old one out of which the 

 plant is to be taken, and, being 

 properly drained, and some mould 

 put over the drainage, the plant to 

 be changed is turned out of the 

 first pot by turning it upside down, 

 holding the left hand on the surface 



of the soil in the pot, and with the } 

 neck of the plant between the two I 

 middle fingers, while the bottom of 

 the pot is held with the right hand, 

 and then the ball is loosened by the 

 edge of the pot being struck against 

 any fixed object, such as the side of 

 a potting-bench, or the handle of a 

 spade stuck in the ground. The 

 ball containing the plant will thus 

 drop out into the left hand, and the 

 potsherds that have come out with 

 it being taken off with the right 

 hand, the ball thus prepared is set 

 in the middle of the prepared pot, 

 and the interstices between the 

 ball and the sides of the new pot 

 are filled in with earth, and made 

 firm by a potting-stick. The pot 

 may then be lifted up with both 

 hands and set down two or three 

 times with a jerk, so as to consoli- 

 date the whole. The pot is then to 

 be supplied with water to such an 

 extent as to moisten the whole of 

 the earth which it contains ; and it 

 may be set where it is finally to 

 remain without the necessity of 

 shading. This operation is called 

 shifting. 



In potting plants, whether in 

 small or in large pots, it is essen- 

 tially necessary that the inside of 

 the pot should be perfectly clean 

 and dry. If it is not clean, and if 



particles of earth are adhering to 

 the sides of the pot, the fresh soil 

 put in when the plant comes to be 

 shift-ed will so adhere to the matter 

 attached to the sides as to prevent 

 the ball from being turned out with- 

 out breaking, and tearing asunder 

 the fibrous roots of the plant. When 

 the sides of a pot in which a plant 

 is to be planted, or a ball shifted, 

 are wet, the new soil becomes sod- 

 den or soured, and also adheres so 

 firmly to the sides of the pot as not 

 to come out in shifting without 

 breaking, as in the preceding case. 

 The soddening or souring in this 

 latter case appears to proceed from 

 the choking up of the pores of the 

 sides of the pot. 



Potsherds, or crocks, are pieces 

 of flower-pots, tiles, or bricks broken 

 very small, and used for draining 

 pots where it is required to retain 

 a certain degree of moisture round 

 the roots of the plants. Thus pot- 

 sherds should be used for hair-rooted 

 plants, such as the Cape and Aus- 

 tralian shrubs, and also the North 

 American Ehododendrons and Aza- 

 leas ; as they require to have their 

 roots kept in an equable state of 

 moisture, which would be destruc- 

 tive to the Cacti and other similar 

 plants. But cinders, when of a 

 large size, are very useful in drain- 

 ing pots for very delicate succulent- 

 rooted plants, as they do not either 

 absorb or retain moisture, which 

 crocks always do. When cinders 

 are sifted, the largest may be re- 

 served for this purpose ; and the 

 ashes that fall from them, or any 

 coal too small to burn, will be use- 

 ful for setting greenhouse plants on 

 during summer, as they will pre- 

 vent worms fi-om coming out of the 

 groimd under them. Unless this 

 precaution be taken, worms will 

 creep through the boles at the bot- 

 tom of the pots, and do great injury 



