38 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



do much better in the smaller size, for the reason that the 

 smaller mass of soil in the 2-inch pot allows the moisture 

 to pass off quicker, and thereby prevents the soil from 

 becoming sour, or sodden, which would be the case, more 

 or less, if the cutting had been overpotted in a 3 or 4-inch 

 pot. The operation of potting cuttings is very simple, 

 and, in florists' establishments, is performed with great 

 rapidity, average workmen doing 200 plants per hour. 

 The pot is filled to the level with soil, a space made with 

 the finger, in the centre of the soil, of sufficient size to 

 admit the root, which is placed in the opening thus 

 made ; the soil is closed in again by pressing with the 

 thumbs, close to the neck of the cutting, which firms the 

 soil around the root ; a smart rap is struck the side of 

 pot with the hand, which levels the surface of the soil, and 

 the operation is done. For nearly all the commoner kinds 

 of bedding plants, such as Verbenas, Heliotropes, etc., 

 cuttings in these 2-inch pots, if stood on tables, which are 

 covered with an inch of sand, and occasionally moved, to 

 keep the roots from pushing too far through into the sand, 

 will grow in a healthy condition from three to four 

 months, at least, at the cool season of the year, from 

 January to May. But when plants are required to be 

 grown as specimens, or of larger size for sale in spring, 

 they must be repotted at intervals, as the condition of 

 their growth demands ; for example, to grow a Fuchsia 

 of a height of 6 feet and 3 feet in diameter, a pot of at 

 least 12 inches across at top, and 12 inches in depth, would 

 be necessary, but it would not do to jump from the 2-inch 

 cutting pot to this size at once ; three or four different 

 shifts. are necessary to attain this end ; these shifts should 

 be made, as a general thing, not greater than from a 2- 

 inch size to a 4-inch, and so on. I know that, a few years 

 ago, considerable agitation was made in favor of what was 

 termed the "one shift system," and fine specimens were 

 exhibited by its advocates, to show its advantages. There 



