188 General Notices. 



that its virtues may promptly come in contact with the roots of the plants. 

 It may, however, be used at any wet season. 



"12. Any compost made of Guano, should remain a few days before 

 being used. 



" 13. Where liquid applications of Guano maybe desirable, as on tobacco 

 beds, or in gardens, 1 lb. of Guano, dissolved in four gallons of water, will 

 comprise a most enriching manure. The sediment remaining, if any, may 

 very advantageously be used with an equal quantity of water as at first 

 used. 



" 14. Where plaster cannot be obtained, to incorporate with the Guano, 

 a most excellent substitute will be found in pulverized charcoal, to be used 

 in the same proportion as plaster." 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



Plant-potting. — To understand plant-potting thoroughly, so as to be quite 

 capable of applying the materials used in this common, but too often imper- 

 fectly performed operation, is abstractly the practical solution of plant-grow- 

 ing. Science cannot teach this alone. Practice, founded upon a physi- 

 ological knowledge of the wants of plants, and a kind of finger-and-thumb 

 mode of supplying those wants, will enable us pretty clearly to compre- 

 hend it. 



Different kinds of plants require different soils. A Cape Heath, for ex- 

 ample, must have peat, whereas a Pelargonium requires loam. Notwith- 

 standing this difference in soil, they must be both potted so that water will 

 pass freely through the whole body of earth in the pot. Hence, if water 

 circulates unobstructedly through the entire mass of earth in which the plant 

 is growing, and the superfluous water escapes with perfect freedom at the 

 bottom of the pot; so air, in like manner, will diffuse itself spontaneously 

 amongst the roots, and a healthy and vigorous action will thus rapidly 

 proceed. 



The moment any circumstance arises to prevent the water from filtrating 

 through the soil, that moment air ceases to penetrate the ball, and the death 

 knell of the plant is rung ; or, what, in first-rate cultivation, is tantamount 

 to it, the plant stands between life and death. In potting, therefore, it will 

 be tolerably apparent that water and air must be supplied to every fibre, not 

 only at the outside of the ball of earth, but through every part of it. The first 

 important consideration deducible from the foregoing remarks, which presents 

 itself, will be, that plants are either killed with too much water immediately 

 surrounding the roots, or that, in consequence of defective potting, water 

 never penetrates through the ball, so that every rootlet may be regularly 



