GROWING PLANTS IN POTS. 163 



as slowly as possible to be kept in good health ; it should be 

 kept in constant check, for it is naturally of rapid growth. 

 However, this is not the place to teach the mode of culti- 

 vating ; but it is one of those points by which we wished to 

 exemplify the advantage of growing in pots, and especially cf 

 the power it gives us to check the advance of anything. 



AVhen we desire to retard a plant, it should be confined in 

 a small pot, independently of any difference we make in the 

 soil. When we wish to excite a plant, we should change the 

 pot as soon as the fibres reach the side and they begin to run 

 round it, because every fresh supply of the soil gives fresh 

 vigour. The rule therefore is unerring, independent of every- 

 thing else, although we have also the means of giving in- 

 creased effect by poorer or richer soil. 



Potting. — The various states in which plants come to hand 

 require that we should be prepared with plans to meet all 

 circumstances ; but in this particular place we only provide 

 for potting those which have not been in pots before ; and 

 these will comprise, — first, cuttings which have struck root ; 

 second, seedlings ; and, third, plants of a larger kind, which 

 are potted of all sizes required for forcing, or blooming in pots 

 without forcing, for the convenience of moving about. 



First, then, cuttings which have struck. These are neces- 

 sarily put first of all into small-sized pots, say two-and-a-half 

 to three inches over at the top. If these are not to remain 

 very long in their first pots, a bit of moss at the bottom "will 

 do for drainage as well as a piece of broken pot, but as the 

 latter is often to be had, it is more generally used. Let the 

 mould or compost be filled in highest in the middle, like a 

 cone, the top of which may be even Avith the top edge of the 

 pot ; raise the cuttings with a fiat piece of wood formed like 

 the blade of a knife, but thinner, raising them clean out of the 

 ground, the pot, or the pan, a few at a time. They have to be 

 carefully treated, so that the roots, which are always tender, be 

 not broken by the operation ; hold the root on the top of the 

 cone, so as to spread the fibres ; put a little soil on the root, 

 and press the plant down to its place, wliich is so that the 

 upper part of the root is but just covered, for many plants are 

 all the worse for being placed ^^uth the root much below the 

 surface. The tender roots must not be pressed hard, as they 

 would be injured, and the watering settles the roots and the 

 soil together very well This treatment will suit any plant, 



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