Draining Flower-Pots. 349 



ished, just as one or other of these extremes was approached. Now we 

 need not hunt up statistical reports of learned societies to ascertain the dif- 

 ference betwixt the climates of Great Britain and the Northern United States 

 as regards atmospheric moisture ; knowing as we do^ experimentally, that it 

 is so great as to necessitate much more attention to drainage in that country 

 than in this. I speak advisedly, having followed the profession for about 

 an equal number of years in both ; and although not able to note the dif- 

 ference as indicated by Saussure's Hygrometer, or the wet and diy bulb 

 thermometers, I have not been unobservant of the same class of facts 

 which these instruments record \ in a less scientific way, perhaps, yet quite 

 natural and true, as indicated by doeskin garments, homespun, or shoddy, 

 as these may have been in requisition, or imposed upon me. In Britain, 

 gardeners have to apply fire-heat for days and weeks together, to dry up 

 the damp in their greenhouses, and water with the utmost care ; while here, 

 quite frequently, they follow a directly opposite course : and in both cases 

 for the very best of reasons. What force or philosophy, then, is there in 

 that " sneer " which curls upon the lip of the " smallest boy " in Jersey 

 when he looks upon " the imported ten-dollar novelty " with a few potsherds 

 at the bottom of the pot? This looks very much like trifling with an im- 

 portant subject. Still, there is hope for that boy when he gains a large 

 experience, and understands its true readings. 



If the views thus stated be correct (and, if not, let them be corrected), 

 the inference may fairly be drawn, that any one taking upon himself the 

 onerous duty of propounding rules for the guidance of all engaged in the 

 cultivation of pot-plants, whether in this or other lands, and making all 

 his deductions from his one compost-heap, and the atmospheric conditions 

 of his own neighborhood, will be apt to arrive at false conclusions re- 

 garding the action of others who may have the best of reasons for doing 

 things differently. We say not this by way of begging the question, or in 

 vindication of a practice which cannot stand upon its own merits, but to 

 state the conviction, that every man who has looked into the subject, and 

 who does not wish to stand sponsor for a weak-kneed bantling, a pecca- 

 dillo, a crotchet, or a whim, will continue to suit his action to his surround- 

 ings, and drain or not drain, as exigencies require. 



