POTTING AND REPOTTING OR SHIFTING. 295 



quarters of a kitchen garden, or even when placed in a hotbed, becomes 

 too compact when used in pots, even though it receives as much 

 watering in the one case as in the other. The fact has been thus 

 explained. When the nature of the soil is such as that the cohesion 

 of its particles is greater than that which is formed between the soil 

 and sides of the pot, it loses hold of the latter, and becomes con- 

 centrated by every withdrawal of moisture, leaving an almost clear 

 cavity between it and the sides of the pot, and this cavity being 

 readily tilled with water, the soil is prevented from expanding in a 

 degree proportionate to the force that would be necessary to displace 

 the water. In addition to this, the fibres of the plant tend to bind it 

 together, and it ultimately becomes so much solidified that it either 

 refuses to take in sufficient moisture, or, if it does, it retains it so as to 

 prevent the ingress of a fresh supply ; whilst, at the same time, the 

 water so retained becomes impure, and consequently injurious to the 

 health of the plant. A similar quantity of soil in the quarter from 

 which the above soil is supposed to be taken will be found in a very 

 different state ; for there it is kept from contracting on any central 

 portion by its cohesion with the soil in the circumference. Hence the 

 necessity of using such soil for plants in pots as is not too cohesive ; 

 or, at all events, weakening its cohesive power by mixture with sand, 

 peat, turf, or other substances that may be found to answer the pur- 

 pose, and at the same time afford congenial nourishment to the plants. 

 The evils arising from the cohesion of soil in pots, have been well 

 nigh neutralized by the use of rough filling, composed of a mixture of 

 charcoal, broken bones, freestone, &c. 



Bottom Drainage. Whether plants are put in small or large pots, 

 the first point which requires to be attended to is, to cover the hole in 

 the bottom of the pot with some description of material which will 

 readily allow of the escape of water, and if possible prevent the 

 entrance of earth-worms. One crock, somewhat larger than the hole, 

 is placed over it, and over that is placed a layer of smaller pieces, in 

 depth more or less according to the size of the pot and the degree of 

 drainage wanted j and to prevent the soil which is to be placed above 

 from being washed down into this drainage, it is commonly covered 

 with a layer of fibrous or turfy matter, obtained from turfy soil, or 

 with live or dead moss, or cocoa-fibre refuse. In the case of small 

 plants, requiring nothing more than ordinary care, a single crock, 

 or in large pots a single oyster-shell, placed over the hole in the 

 bottom of the pot, is generally found sufficient ; but in very deli- 

 cate plants, a fourth, a third, or even half the pot is filled with 

 drainage material. 



The mode of sowing or planting in a pot is so simple and well known 

 as to require no description here. After crocking or draining the pot, a 

 little soil is put in with the right hand, and the seedling or plant held 

 in the left, the roots being spread out carefully while putting in the 

 plant, if a seedling, and the soil applied till level with the rim. A 

 gentle pressure with the hand, or tap on the bench, will lower the 

 soil an inch. The plants should be carried at once to their place, 



