DRAINAGE OF POTS. 



152 



DRAINING MATERIALS. 



water, and by filling the interstices pre- 

 viously occupied by that fluid with atmo- 

 spheric air ; it enriches the soil, by 

 separating carbonic acid gas and ammonia 

 from the atmosphere, and by facilitating 

 the decomposition, absorption, and amal- 

 gamation of liquid and solid manures. It 

 heightens the temperature of the earth, by 

 husbanding its heat, and surrounding it 

 with an envelope of comparatively dry air, 

 and by substituting the air for water with- 

 drawn through the interstices of the soil ; 

 for while the tendency of excessive mois- 

 ture in the soil is to bind the whole mass 

 into an almost solid substance, the tendency 

 of air is to separate its particles into atoms, 

 and render it porous : and the more porous 

 a soil is, the greater is its power of resisting 

 evaporation. For this reason, porous soils 

 are more moist in hot weather than those 

 of a more tenacious character. 



" Drainage enriches soils in another way. 

 All rain-water is more or less charged with 

 carbonic acid gas and ammonia. Now, the 

 larger the quantity of rain-water that passes 

 through the soil, the greater will be the 

 amount of these gases brought in contact 

 with the roots of plants. Nor is this all : 

 solid manures of the richest quality are 

 comparatively useless on wet, heavy soils ; 

 for while a certain amount of moisture is 

 essential to the decomposition of manures, 

 an excess arrests the process, and all the 

 most soluble portions are washed out long 

 before it is sufficiently decomposed to enter 

 into the composition of plants. Judicious 

 drainage, therefore, places the soil in a 

 proper hygrometrical condition for perform- 

 ing its important functions." 



Drainage of Pots. 



The effectual drainage of pots does not 

 Consist so much in the quantity of drainage 

 as in the arrangement of it. A potsherd 

 should be placed over the whole ; some 

 i ieces of pot, broken rather small, over 



that ; and these again covered with a layer 

 of peat-fibre or rough earth. This gives 

 efficient drainage, and need not occupy 

 more than an inch and a half of the j>ot. 

 The pots made in accordance with Crute's 

 patent are so constructed as to greatly 

 facilitate drainage, and the introduction of 

 broken potsherds, otherwise known as 

 " crocking," is obviated by the use of 

 Crute's Patent Cap, which induces perfect 

 drainage and promote aeration and venti- 

 lation of the soil. 



Draining Implements. 



The implements used in draining are a 

 spade, and in deep draining, and in a clay 

 soil, a series of two or three spades, varying 

 in size, and each sloping to the point, and 



DRAINING IMPLEMENTS. 



slightly rounded, so as to make a circular 

 cut ; a spoon-like implement abo is re- 

 quired for lifting the loose soil clear out of 

 the bottom of the trench ; and a level, 

 which may easily be formed by fixing three 

 perfectly straight-edged boards in an up- 

 right position and in a triangular form, held 

 together by a vertical board in the centre, 



