294 POTTING AND REPOTTING OR SHIFTING. 



which plants are placed should always be made larger than the roots 

 which it is to contain ; and in the case of large plants, convex at the 

 bottom and not concave, that the plant being placed on the centre of 

 this convexity, and the roots spread out in every direction, the soil, 

 finely pulverized, ought to be gently thrown over them, either by 

 dropping it perpendicularly, or throwing it in a direction from the 

 centre to the circumference ; that the plant should not be pulled from 

 side to side or up and down, in order to settle the earth about the roots, 

 as was formerly practised with that view, but the effect of which was 

 to break, bruise, or double the fibres ; and finally, that the soil should 

 be settled about the roots by one thorough watering at the time of 

 planting, and that this watering, in the case of deciduous trees at least, 

 need not in general be repeated. 



Potting and Repotting or Shifting. 



To pot a plant is to sow or plant it in a pot, box, or tub ; and to 

 repot or shift it, is to turn it out of one pot or box and replace it in 

 the same or in another, with the addition of fresh soil. The mass of 

 soil and roots which is to be shifted is termed a ball. If the object 

 is to add fresh soil, without using a larger pot, then a proportionate 

 quantity must be removed from the ball or mass containing the roots 

 of the plant to be repotted; but if the object be to add fresh soil 

 without disturbing the roots, the mass or ball of soil and roots is 

 simply placed in a pot a size larger than that from which it was 

 taken, and the vacant space between the ball and the pot filled up 

 with soil. If the object should be to grow the plant in a smaller pot 

 than that in which it was before, then the ball must be considerably 

 reduced, so as to be somewhat smaller than the pot in which it is 

 to be placed, in order to allow room for some fresh soil. The imple- 

 ments, utensils, &c., necessary for potting are : a bench or table, either 

 fixed or portable, and which must be perfectly level ; pots, tubs, or 

 boxes; broken pots, oyster- shells, or other materials for drainage; 

 proper soils, a trowel, a small dibber, a spade, and a watering-pot and 

 water. 



Potting. Plants are either sown in pots, planted in them when 

 newly originated from seeds, cuttings, or other modes of propagation, 

 or removed to them from the free soil when of considerable size. 

 When a rooted plant, placed in a pot, has begun to grow, its fibres 

 extending in every direction, soon reach the sides of the pot, where, 

 being checked, they are compelled to follow its sides till, after a short 

 time, they form a net-work between the pot and the earth which it 

 contains, so firmly enveloping the latter, that when turned out, it 

 remains entire as one solid body, or, as it is technically called, "ball." 

 As the plants advance in growth, they are moved into larger pots, and 

 thus derive the full benefit of the fresh soil. 



The same soil which is suitable for the open garden is not ahvays 

 suitable for using in pots. Every gardener must have observed that 

 soil that will remain sufficiently open for the roots of plants in the 



