THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 221 



EVILS OF INDISCRIMINATELY WATERING PLANTS IN 

 POTS, IMMEDIATELY AFTER BEING SHIFTED. 



O insert cuttings of plants, particularly those of a soft, 

 woody, or succulent nature, into moist material, before 

 the wounds made in preparing them are healed over, 

 is often attended with fatal consequences, from the 

 moisture finding its way into the pores of the plant, 

 thereby causing putrefaction and decay. The woody parts of plants 

 being more consolidated and less porous than their roots, are alto- 

 gether less calculated to imbibe an undue portion of moisture, yet 

 we find that even these do so to a most injurious extent ; therefore, 

 we may reasonably conclude that roots mutilated and placed in the 

 same circumstances would have a greater chance, from their peculiar 

 organization, to suffer from such a cause — nor can there remain a 

 doubt that they do so. This points out as most injudicious the 

 practice of turning plants out of their pots, reducing their balls, as 

 the case may be, thereby lacerating every fibre, and placing every 

 rootlet in a worse position than a cutting, and then finishing the 

 operation by giving a good drenching of water, which, as we have 

 already seen, must make dire havoc among the previously reduced 

 channels by which the plant receives its food. Such is, in a great 

 measure, the cause of delicate plants suffering so much from shifting 

 of the check they receive, unless the operation be carefully per- 

 formed, and consequent loss of time in recovering from its effects. 

 Still, this is an every-day practice, that has descended to us hallowed 

 by the custom of ages, and sanctioned by the highest authorities. 

 Who ever heard of directions for shifting or potting plants, that did 

 not end thus — " Give the whole a good watering to settle the mould 

 in the pots, and the operation is completed " ? After shifting or 

 transplanting plants in hot weather, when a dry atmosphere causes, 

 by excessive evaporation, an unusual drain upon the roots the neces- 

 sity of a supply will soon become apparent ; and administering it under 

 such circumstances is less injurious than under any other, from the 

 activity maintained in every part of the plant, rendering stagnation 

 an unlikely occurrence. But even then, when practicable, it is 

 better to confine them in a close moist atmosphere, which, with 

 water overhead and shade, will enable them to exist through the 

 medium of the leaves until growing has commenced, and the roots 

 are in a condition to receive, without injury, the necessary supply. 



It is, however, when there is a deficiency of heat, vegetation 

 languid, and a corresponding danger from excess of moisture, that 

 such precaution is most required, and the contrary practice most 

 hurtful. Among seedlings of tender sorts, the mortality from such 

 maltreatment is truly great ; and when the impossibility of trans- 

 planting such without, in some shape, hurting their few and almost 

 unformed i^pongioles, scarcely more consolidated than the fluid in 

 which they are thoughtlessly immersed, is considered, their certain 

 destruction is not to be wondered nt. 



July. 



