GROWING PLANTS IN POTS. 165 



reach down to, bearing in mind that when the fibres are 

 spread, and the plant rests on the soil before filling up, the 

 collar of the specimen, whatever it be, should be just even 

 with the top of the pot, so that when the earth is filled in, 

 the plant pressed down, and the surface regiilated, the roots 

 may be just covered at the collar of the plant; the fibres wiU 

 be of coui'se further down the pot in a sloping direction. If 

 these plants are cramped for room, they cannot thrive ; they 

 may bloom, they may live afterwards, but they cannot possibly 

 keep up any healthy growth, unless they have room and soil 

 to spread tlieir roots in. Many American shrubs come out of 

 peat soil with a great lump or ball of the earth to them. 

 There must be room for this when it is reduced to a moderate 

 size and form ; but it must not be so far lessened as to trench 

 upon the ends of the roots, for if these be damaged, they will 

 just carry the flower perhaps, and then go back instead of ad- 

 vance. It requires great care to fill up the vacancies betw^een 

 these balls of earth and a pot, which is very dij05cult if the 

 ball be too large for the pot ; and there are many other evils 

 which result from the imperfect potting of these peat plants. 

 The peat earth which should be used to fill up these pots 

 should be pushed in close all round, every crevice should be 

 filled up, and that pretty tightly, or the water given to them 

 would run tlirough the new peat and not penetrate the old ball. 



Potting Bulbs. — The immense variety of bulbs which are 

 annually imported to this country from Holland and the 

 Cape, render it necessary to offer a few words on potting 

 them. For although many are grown every year in pots, few 

 are grown as they should be. All the sorts which require 

 planting in the ground with a good covering of soil, want the 

 same usage in a pot. The bulb should be covered, the pot 

 should be deep without being wide in proportion ; for 

 although it is possible to grow hyacinths in a two-and-a-half 

 inch pot, it is not to be compared to the same flower when 

 grown in a pot of six inches. 



Pots have been made at some potteries on purpose for 

 bulbs, and when the bulbs are first inserted, they should be 

 covered three inches wdth the soil they are to grow in. !N'ar- 

 cissus, tulips, and many other hardy bulbs, are always the 

 better for covering up, and it may be taken as a general rule 

 that all hardy bulbs are so. 



Those which are cultivated in stoves are frequently left 



