40 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



apart, according to their size or development of foliage, 

 to allow the air free circulation about the outside of the 

 pots. The effect of this is most marked in the green- 

 house, and teaches us a lesson as to the great necessity of 

 the admission of air to the roots in all our' operations, 

 whether under glass or in the open field. If we pot off a 

 lot of Fuchsias, Geraniums, or other large-leaved plants, 

 with the pots touching each other, and place them in a 

 temperature of 60, in eight or ten days they will have 

 grown so as to cover the whole space over, so that the pots 

 can hardly be seen. Examine those in the centre of the 

 lot, and it will be found that the roots that have reached 

 to the side of the pot are few and feeble ; but move a por- 

 tion of the pots so that a space of an inch or two is made 

 between each, to give the air a free circulation around 

 the pots, and in six days after it will be found that strong 

 and healthy roots will have been emitted by those that 

 have been given the additional space, while the others left 

 standing close have made little or no progress in root 

 formation, and but a slender and weakly upward growth. 

 The roots in the open field, could we see them in their 

 unbroken state, as we can in turning out a plant from a 

 pot, would show the same differences in vitality under cor- 

 responding circumstances. 



It has often been a matter of surprise to many amateurs, 

 and even professional gardeners, how it is that such extraor- 

 dinary vigor and health are obtained in the plants grown by 

 many New York florists, in pots that seem to be entirely 

 inadequate in size for the support of such vigor. This is 

 done by a practice not very generally known outside of 

 this vicinity. When a plant shows by the condition of its 

 roots that it requires a supply of fresh soil for its support, 

 instead of shifting it into a large pot, it is taken out and 

 the soil washed clean from the roots, and either placed 

 back again in the same pot, in fresh soil, or in one of a 

 single sizo larger. 



