142 



UTENSILS USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



are not so effective as they ought to be. To a working gardener or 

 amateur, therefore, they are altogether out of the question ; but for ladies 

 emigrating to other countries, they may serve as an inducement to gardening 

 recreations. 



SECT. IV. Utensils used in Horticulture. 



Garden utensils are vessels for containing growing plants ; for carrying 

 different articles used hi culture, such as soils, water, &c. ; for preparing soil 

 or other matters, such as the sieve ; and for protecting plants. The principal 

 are the plant pot or box, the watering-pot, the basket, the sieve, and the 

 bell glass. 



420. Earthenware pots for plants are made by the potter in what are 

 called casts, each cast containing about the same quantity of clay, and costing 

 about the same price, but differing in the sizes of the pots so much, that 

 while in the first size there are only two pots to a cast, in the tenth size there 

 are sixty, as in the following table : 



These are the sizes of the London potters ; but at Liverpool the sizes and 

 the proportions are somewhat different. The sizes are from No. 1, which is 

 20 in. in height and diameter, to No. 37, which is 2 in. in height and 

 diameter, as shown in fig. 51. About London the sizes of pots in most 



Fig. 51. Sizes of garden pots in Liverpool. 



general use are, twenty-fours, which are 5 in. in diameter and 6 in. deep ; 

 thirty -twos, which are 4 in. in diameter and 5 in. deep ; and forty-eights, 

 which are 3 in. in diameter and 4 in. deep. When pots in which plants 

 have been grown are to be laid aside for future use, they should be thoroughly 

 cleaned within, because the smallest particles of earth adhering to the inner 

 surface of the pot, when the pot is again filled with fresh soil, will, by the 

 rough surface produced, cause that soil so to adhere to the sides of the pot, 

 that the ball of earth, when the plant is to be shifted, cannot be turned out 

 of the pot without being broken in pieces. The garden pots in common use 



