CHAPTER XXIV 

 CARE OF A GREENHOUSE 



Potting. 



AMONG the many operations connected with the manage- 

 ment of a greenhouse this is probably the most important ; 

 for how can a plant get any assistance from the other 

 favourable conditions, such as suitable temperature, and 

 careful watering, if its roots are caged and cabined up 

 in a worthless soil, or so adjusted in a good soil that it 

 requires several months' energy to get them into a feeble 

 way of providing for the plant's sustenance ? In indoor 

 plant culture there is this great advantage that we can 

 to a very large extent choose our own soil, which cannot 

 be done outside. Even if the basis is not a good one, its 

 harmful effect may be greatly reduced by the addition of 

 leaf soil, peat, lime rubble and numerous other useful in- 

 gredients. I hope those who are of opinion that any one 

 can pot a plant successfully will have occasion to change 

 their hasty opinion before they have completed the perusal of 

 this chapter. The best soil that can be procured for potting 

 purposes is the first three or four inches of an old pasture. 

 Here there is most likely to be plenty of good fibrous 

 roots, which keep the soil well open, and are the chief test 

 of a good potting soil. 



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