THE POTTING OF PLANTS. 65 



to grow a Fuchsia to a height of six feet, and three feet 

 in diameter, a pot of at least twelve inches across the 

 top and twelve inches in depth would be necessary ; but 

 it would not do to jump from the two-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 

 two-inch size to a three-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 is no question that, in the hands of a 

 careful and experienced man, it can be done, but it 

 must necessitate much closer watching in watering, in- 

 volving much more labor than the trouble of the safer 

 plan of repeated shiftings. The time to shift a plant 

 from a smaller to a larger pot is shown by the roots be- 

 ginning 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 con- 

 dition known to gardeners as " working roots," a con- 

 dition not very easy to describe, unless to say that the 

 appearance of such roots is white, soft and succulent. 

 We 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 some- 

 times 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, know well how to turn a 

 pudding or a jelly out of a form, but who did not think 



