POTTING^STJMMER MANAGEMENT. 163 



then pick out carefully all the old crocks used for drainage; 

 the roots in a healthy plant will be here very numerous. 

 Then with a sharp-pointed stick pick out some of the old soil 

 all round the ball, and give it a smart stroke or two on the 

 hand. This will loosen some roots, and make them ready [to 

 enter into the new soil. Have ready the pot well drained with 

 a few pieces of the rougher parts of the compost (or a thin 

 layer of moss) on the drainage. The pot should be so much 

 larger than the ball as to allow the operator to thrust the soil 

 down between it and the sides of the pot. Fill in as much 

 compost upon the covered drainage as will raise the ball rather 

 above the level of the rim of the pot, so that when it is pressed 

 and shaken down the ball will be below the rim, about the 

 thickness of a finger or more, if the pot is very large. Then 

 fill in the compost round the ball, and finish by a smart stroke 

 or two on the bench. Level the soil, and then the operation 

 is finished ; and so proceed till the whole are gone through. 

 Give a very gentle watering through a fine-rosed pot, and 

 replace them in the greenhouse. By potting them at the 

 season above indicated, they will not require shading, and 

 will be slowly making new roots to sustain the new growth. 



This potting time is a good season for increasing all such 

 as will bear dividing, but all plants so divided-off should be 

 placed either in a close frame or in a shady part of the house. 



SUMMEE MANAGEMENT. 



Where Ferns are grown under the stage, and the green- 

 house-stage is occupied through the summer with flowering- 

 plants, the Ferns will be greatly benefited if placed out of 

 doors from the end of May to the middle of September, only 

 remembering to keep in such as we have indicated as being 

 rather delicate with regard to wetting their leaves. The 

 situation for their summer residence should be one where they 

 will be shaded from the midday sun, and if the pots are 

 plunged in moss over their rims the Ferns will thrive all the 



