GENERAL CULTURAL NOTES 17 



care should be exercised in preventing a check through putting them 

 in soil which is of a lower temperature than the sand from which 

 they have been taken. It should not vary more than two degrees 

 at the time of potting. This precaution is especially important in 

 the potting of the warmth loving conservatory plants. 



Glean Pots. It is the common custom, and a bad one, to put 

 plants in dirty pots with merely the rough of the soil remain- 

 ing in them being removed with a stick or cloth before using. This 

 operation takes more time than washing. A large number of pots 

 submerged in a big tub of water and allowed to stand for a few 

 days will have the material adhering to them softened so that with 

 a piece of woolen cloth and a boy that knows how, a large number 

 can be cleaned in a short time so that they will be as good as new. 

 There is no doubt that dirty pots work to the injury of the plants 

 in them. The inside soil adhering to the pot after use prevents a 

 plant being easily knocked out and the green on the outside tends 

 to make the pot less porous; besides, a plant looks better by far 

 in a clean pot than in a dirty one. New pots or thoroughly dried, 

 clean ones should not be used until they have been dipped in water 

 immediately before using, as they are apt to absorb too much of 

 the water meant for the plant after potting. Have divisions in the 

 potting shed for each size; it saves both time and pots, and when 

 potting is to be done everything goes along more smoothly when the 

 various materials are ready at hand. There is usually more time 

 wasted in gathering the necessary sizes from here, there and every- 

 where, wiping out a few at a time and punching a stick through 

 the aperture at the bottom than would be spent over the work if 

 it were properly done. System counts in this as in everything else. 



Drainage. Crocking or arranging pieces of broken pots or 

 other material over the hole in the bottom of the flower pot for drain- 

 age is an operation to which too little attention is apt to be given. 

 For quick-growing soft-wooded plants in small pots, or for those 

 which are intended to remain in the pot only for a short time, there 

 is no necessity for an elaborate system of drainage. Especially is 

 this the case where the ball of earth becomes so dry as to require 

 watering at least once a day. With plants of this nature, in pots 

 above the size of 3-inch, a little rough material thrown in the bot- 

 tom will give compensatory results; but as usually done this work 

 takes more time than if the pots were supplied in the regular way 

 with potsherds. The rough pieces of the potting soil are gathered 

 up by hand and put in the pots as potting proceeds. 



