152 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



No wet, greasy, offensive stuff, which will not fall into dry flakes, is 

 suitable for mixing in potting composts ; whatever is used should pass 

 readily through a coarse-meshed sieve under a little pressure from 

 the palms of the hands, and leave the latter practically unstained. 



Superphosphate makes a fair substitute for decayed manure. 

 What is known to dealers as "mineral superphosphate" is a dark 

 grey powder ; although it has an odour of its own it is not at all 

 disagreeable. It is quite inexpensive. It may be supplemented 

 by liquid manure, used in the way to be described presently. 



Potting sand should be regarded as quite distinct from silver 

 or sowing sand. The latter is too fine in texture to be suitable 

 for composts ; moreover, it is relatively dear. Sand for potting 

 should be in large, coarse particles. What is termed " washed 

 river sand" is suitable, and it can be bought from local builders 

 as well as from florists. Sand helps to keep a compost open and 

 aerated. It also probably encourages root action ; certainly it is 

 found to be an excellent component of mixtures for raising seed- 

 lings and striking cuttings. In these propagating composts the 

 quantities both of leaf-mould and sand may be increased, and the 

 decayed manure, or superphosphate as the case may be, omitted. 

 The proportion of loam should be considerably reduced. 



Pots and Potting. The most useful sizes of pots to buy are 

 those with the following inside diameter at the top : three-inch, 

 five-inch, eight-inch. The first size will come in for the first 

 potting whether the plants are raised from seeds or cuttings; the 

 second for the next potting, also for the first and only potting of 

 bulbs; the third for the repotting of such plants as need a shift 

 from the five-inch. The various pots are known in the trade as 

 sixties, forty-eights, and twenty-fours, from the number of each in 

 a " cast." Those who must manage with two sizes had better drop 

 out the five-inch and eight-inch, and substitute a six-inch (" thirty- 

 two"), which is a very useful all-round pot. New pots ought to 

 be soaked in a tub of water for a few hours, and then stood to 



