284 



SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



PART II. 



(a, a, ), which opened to admit air (6), and could be covered at pleasure with two 

 rolls of tarpawling (c, c) ; the trees were planted in wooden boxes just large enough to 

 contain a single plant and perforated in their sides and bottom ((/), and their surface was 

 carefully covered with moss (e), tied down with cord. 



SUBSECT 2. Utensils of Culture. 



1406. The utensils used in grmuing plants are the pot, water-saucer, box, tub, watering- 

 pot, and syringe. 



1407. Of flower-pots there are several species and many varieties. 



The common flower-pot is a cylindrical tapering vessel of burnt clay, with a perforated bottom, and of 

 which there are ten British sorts, distinguished by their sizes thus : the 



1st size has 2 to the cast, and are called twos, being 



iid 4 fours 



3d 6 sizes 



4th S .. .. .. eishths 



, r >th 12 .. .. .. twelves 



6th 16 .. .. .. sitteens 



In. In. 



din. deep. 

 18 i 

 12 I 

 9 8 

 S 7 



In. In. 



ilia. Jeep. 

 "th size has 24 to the cort,and are called twenty -fours, being 5 6 



8th 32 thirty-twos 4 5 



9th 48 .. .. .. forty-eighths 3 4 



10th 60 .. .. .. sixties 2 2 



llth 80 .. .. .. thumbs or eighties 1J 2 



Common flower-pots are sold by the cast, and the price is generally the same for all the. 10 sorts ; two 

 pots or a cast of No. 1, costing the same price as eight pots, or a cast of No. 11. 



The storc-poi is a broad flat-bottomed pot, used for striking cuttings or raising seedlings. 



The pot for bulbous roots is narrower and deeper than usual. 



The pot for aquatics should have no holes in the bottom or sides. 



The pot for marsh-plants should have three or four small holes in the sides about one third of the depth 

 from its bottom. This third being filled with gravel, and the remainder with soil, the imitation of a 

 marsh will be attended with success. 



The stone-ware pot may be of any of the above shapes, but being made of clay, mixed with powdered 

 stone of a certain quality, is much more durable. 



The glazed pot is chiefly used for ornament ; they are generally gla-zed green, but, for superior occa- 

 sions, are sculptured and painted, or incrusted, &c. 



1408. The propagation-pot (fig. 175.) has 

 a slit in the side, from the rim to the hole in 

 the bottom, the use of which is to admit a 

 shoot of a tree for propagation by ringing in 

 the Chinese manner. Opposite to the slit is 

 an ear, or round appendage, with a hole for 

 hanging the pot to a branch. To those 

 who practise the mode of rooting shoots 

 without laying them down to the ground, 

 such pots will prove very convenient. In 



175 



176 



France and Italy they are formed in a similar manner, and for the same purpose, of tinned 

 iron ; and by such means they propagate the camellia, banksia, &c. 



The square pot is preferred by some for the three smallest sizes, of pots, as containing more earth in a 

 given surface of shelf or basis ; but they are more expensive at first, less convenient for shifting, and, not 

 admitting of such perfection of form as the circle, do not, in our opinion, merit adoption. They are used 

 in different parts of Lombardy and at Paris. 



The classic pot is the common material formed into vases, or particular shapes, for aloes and other plants 

 which seldom require shifting, and which are destined to occupy particular spots in gardens or conserva- 

 tories, or on the terraces and parapets of mansions in the summer season. 



The Chinese pot is generally glazed, and wide in proportion to its depth ; but some are widest below, 

 with the saucer attached to the bottom of the pot, and the slits on the side of the pot for the exit or- 

 absorption of the water. Some ornamental Chinese pots are square at top and bottom, and bellied out in 



The French pot, instead of one hole in the centre of the bottom to admit water, has several small holes 

 about one eighth of an inch in diameter, by which worms are excluded. 



140S Flower-pot gauge. (Jig. 174. ) In order to form pots of different sizes of a regular ratio to each other, 

 Knight has suggested a plan, of which this may be considered the substance. Assume as a convenient 

 proportion as to width at top, bottom, and height, 8, 5, and 6; lay down the vertical section of a pot of 

 this proportion on a board or large paper ; from its centre (a) draw two lines (b and c) passing through 

 the bottom of the sides, and equal distances measured on these lines will give equal accretions to smaller 

 or larger sized pots. Knight considers 2 inches as forming a proper difference in diameter m the scale of 

 sizes of pots, which is nearly double that in common use. 



1410. 1 'lie flower-pot saucer is a flat circular vessel, with a rim from one to two inches 

 high, and is made somewhat larger than tne bottoms of all the above sorts of pots. Its 

 chief use is to prevent the water, which escapes by the bottom of the pot, from proving 

 inconvenient on the shelves or stages in rooms or particular situations. In gardens they 

 are seldom wanted. A species named the carnation-saucer (jig. 176.) is formed as 

 much larger than the pot to be placed in it as to admit of surrounding its base with 

 water, in*order to prevent creeping insects from getting at the pot. In the centre of tlie 

 saucer is raised a basement on which to place the pot, in order to keep it dry, &c. 



1411. The qualities and durability of pots and saucers depend on the sort of clay and 

 degree of burning, in which a knowledge can only be acquired by observation and ex- 

 perience. Pots too much burned, crack and fall in pieces ; and those which are not 

 burnt enough, splinter or scale off with the frost and continued moisture. Porous 

 earthenware is most congenial to the plants; but by admitting transpiration by the sides, 



