268 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES. 



witliout disturbing their roots ; annuals raised in heat 

 to the open borders ; and so on ; and, when this 

 power of moving plants is wanted, pots afford the 

 only means of doing so. It also cramps the roots, 

 diminishes the tendency to form leaves, and increases 

 the disposition to flower. Another object is, to effect 

 a secure and constant drainage from roots of water ; 

 a third is, to expose the roots to the most favourable 

 amount of bottom heat, which cannot be readily 

 accomplished when plants of large size are made to 

 grow in the ground even of a hot-house ; and, finally, 

 it is a convenient process for the nourishment of deli- 

 cate seedlings. Unless some one of these ends is to 

 be answered, and cannot be effected in a more natu- 

 ral manner, potting is better dispensed with. 



That it may be advantageously dispensed with, in 

 many cases, is evident from several facts more or less 

 well known. The nurserymen prefer " pricking out" 

 their delicate seedlings into pans, or movable bor- 

 ders, instead of pots ; and they always thrive the bet- 

 ter. In conservatories, the necessity of shifting plants 

 from place to place may be often avoided ; while, 

 under judicious management, those which are planted 

 in the open soil have greatly the advantage of others, 

 both in healthiness and easiness of management ; and 

 there is no doubt that Pine-apples will succeed better 

 unpotted, if planted freely in soil exposed to a proper 

 amount of bottom heat. This was first asserted by Mr. 

 Martin Call, one of the Emperor's gardeners at St. 

 Petersburgh {Hort. Trans., iv. 471), and has been since 

 practised very successfully by others. In the year 



