General Notices. 



317 



(with the improvement of the hole for the admission of the water made out- 

 side the pot instead of inside) are particularly suitable for plants which re- 

 quire a great deal of water in summer, and whose foliage is not low, or ample 

 enough to shade the plants from the rays of the sun, such as Tropse'olum 

 tricoloram and T. brachyceras, suggests three improvements. These are : 

 less depth in proportion to the width ; a better drainage by means of more 

 holes in the bottom ; and the admission of air through the drainage holes, by 

 raising the pot above the surface on which it stands by means of feet, or, in 

 other words, carrying down the sides of the pot an inch or two below the 

 bottom, and making two or three notches in the prolonged part. " That 

 shallow pots are of the utmost importance to flowering [)lants in promoting 

 their beauty, every day's observation more and more fully convinces us. No 

 gardener would now think of letting his vines or his peach trees have a border 

 as deep as it is broad, or, in other words, suffer their roots to extend down- 

 wards as far as they do horizontally. He would at once anticipate (and 

 justly) a failure in his crops from such a proceeding. And yet the cultivator 

 of exotics takes a course which is quite as unwise when he puts his plants in 

 pots that have the same depth as iliameter. The grand rule in all culture, 

 whether for fruit or flowers (for the means that will produce the former nuist 

 bring the latter), should be to keep the roots near the surface ; and this can 

 only be done by positively preventing them from descending, for it must be 

 recollected that all roots have naturally a downward tendency. In order to 

 accomplish this end with potted plants, there is no other way of proceeding 

 than by making the pots shallower ; and in this, we are persuaded, lies the art 

 of flowering plants quickly and well. It will repress straggling and rampant 

 habits, and, with a state of beautiful dwarfness, produce an unusually liberal 

 flowering condition. We are greatly mistaken if the Chinese are not better 

 philosophers than we are on this point ; for we believe they plant their 

 curious stunted trees in exceedingly shallow pans of porcelain.' (p. 44.) 

 HiinCs improved Garden Pots and Saucers, of which figs. 77. and 78. are 



specimens, are well calculated to accom- 



plish two of the desiderata mentioned in 

 the foregoing paragraph, viz., improved 

 drainage, and the admission of air ; and 

 they are also adapted to prevent the en- 

 trance of worms. Fig. 78. shows a pot 



Hunt's improved Garden Pot. 



Fig. 77. Hunt's improved Saucer. 

 with the improved bottom, which may 

 be used with or without a common saucer; 

 and j%. 77. shows the improved saucer, 

 with which any common pot may be used. 

 Two or three holes in the bottom of the 

 pot instead of one, and an increased width in proportion to the depth, would, as 

 the writer in Paxton's Magazine observes, be great improvements to these pots, 

 and we have no doubt they will be made without delay by Mr. Hunt. Even 

 as they are, they ai-e obvious improvements on the connnon form ; and the 

 additional cost, when made of the connnon material, is only 1^. 6d. per 

 cast. Ornamented pots of this kind, made either of the common material, or 

 of a beautiful cream-coloured clay obtained from Tcignmouth in Devonshire, 

 arc also manufactured by the same parties. For greenhouses, and for plants 

 in rooms, this last description of pot, combined as it is with the improvements 

 described, will be a great accjuisition. 



.3d Scr.— 181-3. Vl. Y 



