360 THE FORCING GARDEN. [MAR. 



according to the state of the old, observing the di- 

 rections already given on this subject, and taking 

 care that the pots be replunged entirely in old bark, 

 by keeping a sufficient stratum of it uppermost, 3 

 few inches thicker than the pots are in depth. 



At this time, also, the plants must be new pot r 

 ted. Let them be shaked out entirely ; the balls 

 be quite reduced; the roots be trimmed of all 

 straggling and decayed fibres ; and let them be re- 

 placed in the same, or in similar pots. The proper 

 size of pots, however, in which to put crowns and 

 suckers struck last season, is about four inches in- 

 side diameter at top, and six inches deep. 



A little clean gravel should be laid at the bottom 

 of each pot, in order to drain off extra moisture ; 

 and this should be observed in the potting of pine 

 plants of all sorts. I have generally observed, that 

 if the bark heat be not violent, the plants will push 

 very strong fibres into this stratum of gravel, in 

 which they seem to delight. I therefore generally 

 make it two inches thick in small pots., and three or 

 four in larger ones, less or more, according to their 

 sizes. From the time I first adopted this mode of 

 potting, I hardly ever had an instance of an un- 

 healthy plant ; and this very particular, together 

 with that of keeping the plants always in a mild 

 bottom heat, is of greater importance in the culture 

 of pines, than all the other rules that have been 

 given respecting them, out of the ordinary way. 



The roots of pines seem to delight in gravel, and 

 the reader will see, by turning to the subject of 

 Soils for Pine-Apples, Section II., that I have been 



