62 GARDEN AND FARM TOPICS. 



vigorous health to start with, or success is not likely to 

 ensue ; for once a plant gets unhealthy, it is a loss of 

 labor to attempt to get it again in health. It is better 

 to throw it away, and start again with healthy slips, 

 seeds, or plants. 



If the young plants have not been raised at home, by 

 slips or seeds, it is always better to purchase young, 

 healthy plants than large plants that have been forced 

 into flower, although we well know that, with the great 

 majority of plant cultivators, this advice will be thrown 

 away, as five people out of six buy only plants in flower. 

 It is really far better for the purchaser to be guided by 

 catalogue descriptions than to buy plants that hav been 

 forced into flower at a high temperature. 



Supposing, then, that the plant has been purchased 

 from the florist, and has been growing in a pot three 

 inches deep and wide, it is usually in a condition to 

 require a larger pot, which will be known by observing 

 that the roots mat the outside of the ball of earth. Such 

 a plant, whether it be a Rose, Geranium, Fuchsia, or any 

 other similar free-growing plant, will require a pot one 

 or two inches wider than that it has been grown in. It 

 is usually the safest plan to shift it into only one size 

 larger ; but if two sizes larger are used, then at least an 

 inch of " drainage " should be placed in the bottom of 

 the pot, so that the water can pass freely from the 

 greater mass of soil. This drainage may consist of 

 charcoal, broken pots, oyster shells, etc. If the plant 

 has been only placed in a pot one inch larger than it 

 has been growing in, then there is no need for drainage. 

 We ourselves never use drainage in our flower pots, 

 unless for some reason we are obliged to give them an 

 extra large pot, when the drainage is used to counteract 

 the evil effects of using a too large pot. 



