THE POTTING OF PLANTS. 39 



is no question that, in the hands of a careful and experi- 

 enced man, it can be done, but it must necessitate much 

 closer watching in watering, involving much more labor 

 than the trouble of the safer plan of repeated sbiftings. 

 The time to shift a plant from a smaller to a larger pot is 

 shown by the roots beginning to mat around the outer 

 surface of the ball. It is not necessary to shift when the 

 first roots touch the side of the pot ; let them curl pretty 

 well around the ball, but they must not be allowed to 

 remain long enough to become hard or woody. They must 

 be of that condition known to gardeners as " working 

 roots," a condition not very easy to describe, unless to 

 say that the appearance of such roots is white, soft, and 

 succulent. We would think that the mode of shifting a 

 plant from a smaller to a larger pot would soon suggest itself 

 to the operator, even though he had never seen it done ; 

 but it is a little ludicrous to see the various absurd 

 methods sometimes resorted to by our amateur friends to 

 attain this very simple end. One proceeds with a knife 

 and inserts it all around the sides of the pot, and thus 

 scoops it out ; another favorite way is to break the pot 

 with a hammer. I have known many of our lady amateurs 

 to practice these methods, who, no doubt, knew well how 

 to turn a pudding or a jelly out of a form, but who did 

 not think that the ball of earth enveloping the roots of a 

 plant could be turned out of a flower-pot in the same way. 

 In most cases, the slightest tap on the edge of the pot is 

 sufficient to turn out the ball of earth. Soil, in depth ac- 

 cording to the size of the plant, should be placed in the 

 bottom of the pot, the ball placed in the centre, and the 

 soil packed moderately firm in the space, either by the 

 fingers or by a piece of stick made cf suitable size for the 

 purpose. When plants are first potted off, or shifted, they 

 should be stood with the pots touching each other, if the 

 diameter of the plant is less than that of the pot ; but, as 

 they begin to develop growth, the plant? should be spread 



