POT 



POT 



iibry peat, fibry loam, rotten wood, and charcoal. 

 Winter temp., 55 to 60 ; summer, 60 to 90. 

 P. angusta'ta (narrow). . May. Trinidad. 

 1823. 



crassine'rvis (thick - nerved). 2. South 



America. 1/96. 



macrophy'llu (large-leaved). 3. May. West 



Indies. 1794. 



ntbrine'rvia (red-nerved). 2. South America. 



1820. 



POT- MAKIGOLD. Cale'ndula ofcina'lis. 



POTTING. In perfonning this opera- 

 tion the Pots are the first consideration, 

 and for information relative to these, 

 see Flower-pots. 



Time of Potting. This, when neces- 

 sary, should generally he done after 

 pruning, and when fresh growth has 

 taken place. The reason for this is, 

 that it is advisable never to give more 

 checks to a plant at once than cannot 

 be avoided. The cutting down is a 

 check, the repotting or shifting is an- 

 other. Therefore, in both cases, we 

 apply an extra stimulus for a short 

 time immediately after, by keeping the 

 plants closer and warmer. 



State of the Soil. It should neither 

 be dry nor wet. If very dry, it will not 

 pack so well in the pot ; the water, if it 

 passes freely at all, Avill find chinks and 

 crannies for itself, and it will be long 

 before the general mass becomes suf- 

 ficiently moist to support a healthy 

 vegetation. On the other hand, if wet 

 soil is used, it is apt to pack too close ; 

 frequent waterings are apt to puddle it ; 

 the very closeness, even when the drain- 

 age is all right, prevents the air from 

 penetrating. To know the proper dry- 

 ness, take a handful ; if by tightly squeez- 

 ing it just holds together slightly, it will 

 do ; if it forms a compact mass, so that 

 it might be laid on the potting-board 

 without any risk of tumbling to pieces, 

 it is too wet. It is not necessary that 

 the whole of the material should be in 

 a uniform state of moisture ; for in- 

 stance, we want some rough stuff to 

 place over the drainage, that may be 

 drier. The soil is rather fine ; and to 

 improve its mechanical texture we in- 

 sert little nodules of fibry loam or peat; 

 little or big, in proportion to the size 

 of the pot, and the smallness and large- 

 ness of the shift given. These nodules, 

 if not too numerous, may be drier. So 

 in the case of a manure, which we may 



wish to act both as a mechanical agent, 

 | and to give out its nourishment not at 

 ', once, but for a long period. It should 

 be old ; but it should be hard and dried. 

 When rapid action from manure is 

 required, it should be finely divided, 

 and regularly mixed with the soil, or 

 used largely as a mulching or top- 

 dressing. 



The soil should be rough and open. 

 Exceptions there are, such as a cover- 

 ing for small seeds, which must be 

 fine ; in fact, if just pressed into the 

 appropriate soil, a dusting of silver-sand 

 scattered over, and then a square of 

 glass put over the pot, it will answer 

 better than the finest sifted soil. We 

 would not use a sieve at all, unless a 

 very fine one to get rid of the mere 

 dusty portion ; and this should always 

 be done before adding sand as a light- 

 ening agent. The rule to follow, for 

 general purposes, is to use rough and 

 lumpy fibry soil, in opposition to that 

 which is fine and sifted; but let that 

 roughness consist in numbers of small 

 rather than a few of larger pieces, and 

 when the latter are used, let them be 

 in proportion to the size of the pot> 

 and the size of the shift given. For 

 instance, for a 4-inch pot, the largest 

 pieces may range from the size of peas 

 to horse-beans ; for an 8-inch pot, the 

 largest pieces may be like walnuts, but 

 not many of that size ; and for a 16-inch 

 pot, a few pieces may be large as eggs, 

 with every other size downwards, and 

 well packed with the finer soil from 

 which the mere dust has been extracted. 

 Securing and Preparing suitable Soil. 

 Heath soi/, so necessary for hair-like 

 rooted plants, can only be procured 

 from upland commons where the heath 

 naturally grows. Loam of almost every 

 quality can be procured by taking the 

 surface turf from pasture, and the sides 

 of roads, and building it in narrow 

 ridges when dry, and using it after 

 being so built up for six or twelve 

 months. Failing these sources, for all 

 plants not requiring peat earth, suitable 

 soil may be obtained from the sides of 

 highways, and by skimming off the 

 flaky material from the tops of ridges 

 that have been trenched up for some 

 time in the kitchen- garden. In using 



