THE POTTING OF PLANTS. 45 



This washing the soil from the roots, instead of shaking 

 it off, has the advantage of leaving all the fibres or work- 

 ing roots intact, while by shaking the soil off the ball, the 

 most valuable parts of the root are injured. Plants thus 

 grown are particularly -valuable for distant shipment, as a 

 strong-rooted and vigorous plant is obtained without the 

 necessity of shipping a heavy weight of soil. 



The same practice is resorted to in another way, to 

 effect a saving of freight in shipments. For many years 

 we have sent to our patrons in the trade thousands of 

 plants annually, every particle of soil being first washed 

 from the roots ; the plants, in all cases, arriving in as fine 

 order as if they had been sent with the ball of soil around 

 them, and saving at least nine-tenths of the freight. 



This practice, however, is not proper, unless the season 

 is early enough for the plants to have time to become 

 established in the pots, and it is not prudent to do so later 

 than March. If the weather is hot, more care is neces- 

 sary in shading the plants until they have begun to root 

 in the new soil. 



I have never yet seen any writer on floriculture but who, 

 in his instructions on the potting of plants, reiterates the 

 cry of his predecessors about the imperative necessity of 

 draining pots, in the operation of shifting or potting 

 plants. This draining process is performed in various 

 ways, according to the school in which the operator has 

 been trained, or whose book authority he has taken as his 

 guide ; one simply places a piece of potsherd, or crock, 

 over the hole in the bottom of the pot ; another goes at it 

 more elaborately, placing large pieces below, and grading 

 off with finer ones, to the height of 2 or 3 inches ; another 

 finds great virtue in charcoal, as a drainage, used in the 

 same way ; another knows that oyster-shells, for that pur- 

 pose, cannot be excelled, and practices accordingly. 



Now fifteen years' extensive practice in the growing of 

 plants, without the use of crocks, charcoal, or any other 



