POTTING 67 



The variegated Cobea is probably the most difficult of all 

 the group to propagate. It needs the treatment of the propa- 

 gating pit and should be struck in April and May. All the 

 remainder will respond to more Spartan conditions and may be 

 made either in the spring or in the autumn. Shade, moisture, 

 and warmth are as necessary to them as to nearly all cuttings, 

 but, given these, no other difficulties are likely to intervene. 

 When struck, pot and grow on in the greenhouse. 



CHAPTER VI. 



POTTING 



Again and again we have had to refer to the potting of plants 

 which, we might venture to say, is the principal and ever- 

 recurring work in the glasshouses of a general nursery. 



To the man of experience potting is a simple, clean, precise, 

 and methodical operation, and is as simple as it looks ; but to 

 the fumbling fingers of the tyro it seems most formidable. 

 So precise is it that it becomes mechanical, so much so that when 

 the experienced potter stands up to his bench to pot a batch of 

 10,000 plants it may be taken for granted that every one of that 

 10,000 is subjected to the same manipulation in every detail 

 the same pressure, the same handling, the same twists and turns 

 the same movements throughout. 



Such method of handling conduces to rapidity of movement, 

 and we have known plantsmen who were old-fashioned enough 

 to take such interest in their work that they found great enjoy- 

 ment in standing at the bench ten hours a day and rattling off 

 600 per hour consistently. They were, of course, kept well fed 

 with plants and pots, and these were carried away as they left 

 the potter's hands. But we will not yet consider matters 

 relating to speed, and will get back to the fundamentals. 



There are certain principles essential to good potting upon 

 which we are adamant. They are : 



(1) The pots must be scrupulously clean and should, if not 

 new, be washed in preference to being merely rubbed out. 



(2) They must be bone dry when they are used. 



(3) If they are larger than ordinary 6o's, efficient drainage 

 must be provided for by sherds. 



