128 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL, SOCIETY. 



The proper size must be determined by each grower, and it 

 depends upon the purposes for which he wants the plants. A good 

 commercial size I consider to be a seven-inch pot ; for show and 

 exhibition purposes I should choose eight-inch and nine-inch pots ; 

 the latter being sufficiently large for very large plants. A size 

 larger than this I should not consider advisable to adopt, unless I 

 was desirous to produce something with which to astonish 

 spectators. 



Returning once more to our plants in three-inch pots : all the 

 plants that are strong and healthy, and have filled their pots with 

 roots, can l)e transferred to pots two sizes larger at each successive 

 potting thereafter; this is the limit I give to the novice. The 

 'professional can go a size larger, that is from a three-inch to a six- 

 inch pot, and from a six-inch to a nine-inch pot, and so on. 

 Much tact as well as knowledge is required in the watering of 

 plants after such ample shifts. On no account can this extreme 

 latitude in potting be extended to any other than rapidly growing 

 plants. 



Soil. — The soil can now be considered at length, and on a more 

 comprehensive scale, since at this stage of growth it is to play 

 the most important part. What is the best soil for potting plants? 

 may be asked. 



To that question I would reply that for any and all plants 

 requiring soil to grow them in, the chief component of all soils 

 should, with few exceptions, be composted sods from grass 

 pastures that have been out of tillage for a considerable period of 

 time. If I had my own choice of a place for sod cutting, I 

 would invariably select the hollows in the pastures, as the best sod 

 for potting purposes is found there. The soil is always deeper 

 and richer in such places, the best particles of the surrounding 

 elevations being washed down there by rains in the i)rogress of 

 time, some localities of course furnishing richer soil than others. 

 I cut these sods of the same thickness as those used for sodding, 

 and lay them up in square piles, grass-face downward ; first three 

 layers of the sods ; then a layer of fresh cow manure, free from 

 straw or any other litter. I continue in this manner until I think 

 I have enough in the j^iles to last me a year or more. If it is left 

 in this pile for a twelvemonth before using it will be the better, as 

 it will ])ecome more mellow in that time, and the nitrogen and 

 other fertilizing substances in the manure will become thoroughly 

 incorporated with the loam. 



