150 VILLA GARDENING part ii 



may be the use of the spade, the rougher treatment dislodging 

 a good deal of the fine soil from the fibre — the two are not so 

 well blended as when the soil (be it peat or loam) is pulled into 

 fragments with the hands just previous to using it. The soil 

 shoidd be prepared specially for the size of plants and the pots they 

 are intended to fill. For small pots it should be broken up fine ; 

 for large plants it may be rougher, containing all the fibre as 

 taken from the pasture or common ; but it should not be sifted 

 except for cuttings or plants just rooted, which it is intended to 

 transfer from the cutting pots to others of the smallest size. The 

 size of pot used in what by gardeners is termed the shift must 

 vary according to the health and condition of the plant. If the 

 plant be small, a pot 1 inch larger in diameter will be enough. 

 Large plants may have larger proportionate shifts, but it is not 

 often that a larger shift than 2 inches wdll be required. The 

 drainage of the pots should be proportioned in depth to the size 

 of pot employed. In the case of small pots, or say pots 6 

 inches in diameter, 1 inch in depth will be ample ; but in 10-inch 

 or 12-inch pots 2 inches will not be too much. I have never 

 found much advantage to follow the use of an inordinate amount 

 of drainage. It reduces the earth -holding capacity of the pot, 

 and renders the plant more liable to sufter from ckought. But the 

 drainage should be properly placed. One large piece shoidd cover 

 the hole in the bottom, so arranged that the water can get away 

 and out at the hole freely. Most of the best -made pots for 

 specimen plants have holes pierced through the sides of the pot, 

 close down to the bottom, in addition to the one in the centre, and 

 these too should be covered with large pieces of crock. Then a 

 layer of good-sized pieces should be laid all over the bottom ; on 

 these should be placed a layer of smaller fragments, and on the 

 top a tliin layer of still smaller bits. A pot so drained cannot 

 become water-logged. On the drainage should be placed a little 

 Moss, to keep the finer particles of soil from being carried down 

 by the water. Sometimes a few rough fragments of tui-fy soil is 

 used instead of the Moss, and this latter plan answers quite as 

 well. I have gone rather fully into this matter, because, in tlie 

 case of hard-wooded plants, it is very important. The soil should 

 be used in a medium state, neither wet nor dry, but in a nice 

 healthy crumbling condition. Neither should the balls of the 

 plants that are to be operated on be in an extreme state of dryness 

 or wetness. If a plant reqiures water, it should stand for several 

 hours, to allow all surplus water to drain away before potting. It 

 is better to give two shifts a year to a fast-growing young speci- 

 men than to run any risk of overpotting. In potting on healthy 



