162 PKACTICAL GAKDENIXG. 



drainage hole of the pot ; and such, is the disposition of the 

 root to feed itself, that they wdl do this at all times whenever 

 they have a chance and the supply within the pot is at all 

 limited. They will grow to the ground long before the pot is 

 full of roots, if they are stinted of water above. 



We hardly know any one operation so generally misunder- 

 stood among people who really love flowers for their o\vn 

 sakes, and expend large sums to gratify their taste ; they in- 

 dulge in " slight waterings " until their favourites decay, and 

 the owner wonders how it is they will not thrive. jSTo matter, 

 therefore, whether pots are in a dwelling-house, a greenhouse, 

 a common frame, a stove, or a conservatory, they must never 

 have shght or half waterings ; better leave them alone until 

 they, by flagging at the points of the shoots, indicate thirst, 

 and then water them thoroughly, than continue dabbling with 

 them with such drops as will only wet the top of the soil, 

 and leave them actually perishing below the deceptive wet 

 surlace. We cannot, in fact, tell whether a plant requires 

 water by the moisture at top, unless when it was last refreshed 

 the entire soU was moistened 



The Room eequired for a Plant. — One more rule is 

 apphcable to pots of all kinds and in all situations. If we 

 require a plant to grow fast, it must always have plenty of 

 room : if we desire to starve or check it, we must keep it con- 

 fined. This enables us to regulate the growth of anything ; 

 all we have to study is the kind of progress we require. 

 There is no difficulty in growing plants rapidly; but we have 

 to study the nature and habits we have to deal with. Those 

 who grow for sale try to grow everything fast ; others, who 

 grow for beauty, must recollect that the faster a plant grows 

 the longer are the joints, the further apart are the leaves and 

 branches, the more bare are the stems, and at the greater dis- 

 tance will the flowers be placed. 



Fuchsias are very badly grown by nine cultivators of 

 every ten ; and the public exhibitions are sadly disfigured by 

 long gawky plants, hardly able to sustain themselves, with a 

 succession of bare stems and flowers wide apart, and no more 

 richness of foliage than a badly forced Hlac ; and all this 

 because in books and papers they have been taught to grow 

 them fast. We have even seen large plants exhibited with 

 an assurance placed on them that they were cuttings at a 

 given date. But the fuchsia is a plant which should be grown 



