THE POTTING OF PLANTS. 37 



did we swallow a sufficient quantity to keep the stomach 

 at the temperature of ice-water for any length of time, 

 fatal results would follow. 



A point indispensable in our hot and arid climate is, 

 that all plants in the green-house should stand on close 

 benches, overlaid with sand or ashes, or some such mate- 

 rial This keeps moist and prevents the plants from suf- 

 fering, if any omission occur in watering. We know that 

 the practice in many places is entirely different from this, 

 the plants being stood on benches of open slat-work. 

 No plant can be kept healthy in such a place, unless with 

 at least double the labor of watering necessary with those 

 standing on sand. This, like many other of our mistakes, 

 is copied from the mode pursued in England, where a 

 colder, moister, and less sunny climate may make it a 

 necessary practice. 



For this reason also, we prefer to use benches, or tables, 

 instead of the stair-like green-house stage, which is now 

 almost discarded wherever plants are grown for sale. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE POTTING OF PLANTS. 



The first operation of potting is when the rooted cutting 

 is transferred from the cutting-bed to the pot. Almost 

 without exception, plants of every variety, at this -stage, 

 should be placed in a 2-inch pot ; occasionally some of the 

 coarser-growing Geraniums may require the 3-inch size, 

 from the fact of the roots being too large for the 2-inch ; 

 but there are few exceptions of this kind. The great 

 mass of plants, when in the condition of rooted cuttings, 



