CASSELL'S POPULAE GARDENING. 



Extended insatiatle consumption has not only stimu- 

 lated production, but improved the methods and 

 products. At one time almost any clay that made 

 fair tricks or serviceahle drain-tUes was held to he 

 good enough for garden-pots. Hence not a few of 

 them were coarse, cliimsy, heavy, almost as heavy 

 as bricks — very little better, in fact, for cultural 

 pirrposes, or conveyance to distant parts. Modem 

 garden-pots are light, strong, clean, and durable. 

 Their quality is almost aU that can be desired, while 

 prices have fallen rather than risen with their 

 improvement. 



Several causes have contributed to this result. 

 Most of the leading potters are men who not only 

 put their capital but their hearts into their business. 

 They have a laudable pride in the quality of their 

 wares. Competition in garden pottery, and the offer 

 of medals, or other prizes, at the Manchester, 

 metropolitan, and other great horticultural shows, 

 for the best garden-pots, has also done a good deal 

 to improve it. A manufactory at Weston-super-Mare 

 has been the fortunate wiim.er of most of the premier 

 prizes at these competitions. Some attribute this 

 to the superior quality of the clay at the above 

 place. No doubt this led to the estabHshment. of 

 the manufacture of garden-pots in that locality, 

 about half a century ago. But as much, or more, 

 depends upon due intermixture, and proper working 

 of the clay, as upon its original quality or character. 

 That, however, is of the best quality for the making 

 of garden or other pots, terra-cotta or other vases, 

 window boxes, baskets, &o. 



One hundred parts of the dry clay consist of :^ 



100-99 



A layer of this clay overlies clay of inferior 

 quality and other strata, to a depth of about six 

 feet. Good as it is by nature, the potter immediately 

 sets about its further improvement by art, and the 

 preparatory stages of the process are very similar to 

 those adopted ia the formation or further improve- 

 ment of surface mould. Time, admixture, exposure, 

 are the slow but sure influences that bring the clay 

 into workable form, and mellow it into higher 

 quality. To bring these more actively and power- 

 fully to bear upon it, the clay is dug out and spread 

 over the surface to the depth of a yard or so.. In 

 this state it is left fully exposed to every vicissitude 



of our climate; rain, wind, sun, and frost being 

 the most powerful agents in improving the quality 

 of the mass. After the first layer is sufficiently 

 weathered, a second, third, or more layers may 

 be added until the clay-heap reaches to any con- 

 venient height. The longer the clay can be ex- 

 posed thus, the better as a rule its quality. Before 

 use, this heap of weathered clay is turned over, and 

 thoroughly mixed and incorporated in the process. 

 It is then passed through a mill, which completes the 

 mixing and the tempering of the clay, converting the 

 whole into a plastic mass of as nearly as possible 

 uniform quality. From the pug-miU it is carried 

 to the throwing sheds, where it is worked almost 

 as bread is before being placed in the oven ; the 

 workmen being assisted in completely working the 

 clay.by cutting it asunder with wires, and dashing it 

 together again, until it becomes sufficiently pKable 

 and homogeneous to be converted into garden- 

 - pots. 



These particulars refer only to the best clay ; 

 when stones abound in the clay, or it contains an 

 excess of silica, the one must be screened and the 

 other washed out before the clay reaches this stage. 

 When the amalgamation of all the parts of the clay 

 is completed, and its homogeneity is perfected, it is 

 then divided into boUs or ball's, in a similar way to 

 the division of dough into roll or loaf pieces. These 

 vary in size, according as the pots are to be large or 

 small, and practice enables the workmen to separate 

 the clay into the exact-sized ball needed for any 

 sized pot, with scarcely an atom of loss or excess. 

 Before reaching this stage, however, it was the 

 practice at one time to divide the clay into portions 

 termed casts. These were all of equal size, and 

 thus one cast of clay might make eighty pots 

 or one only, according to the size. Hence eighty, 

 sixty, forty-eight, thirty-two, twenty-four, sixteen, 

 twelve, eight, six, four, two, or one pot, out of a 

 cast or measure of clay, became popular and useful 

 measures of sizes. Until very recently the numbers 

 in the cast were the only index to measure in the 

 ordering of pots. As the amount of clay was the 

 same, the same wages — until the larger sizes were 

 reached — were paid for making eighty pots, twenty- 

 four, or twelve, and the same price was charged to 

 the purchaser. This system of selling pots is now 

 generally abolished, and a sliding scale of prices is 

 established, ranging from a farthing to five-and- 

 twenty shillings or more per pot, and from three- 

 pence to eighteen ahiUiugs per dozen. But from 

 the grinding, moulding, or throwing sheds, where 

 the clay has been worked into quality,, and divided 

 into balls, it is cast to the thrower, who sits at 

 his wheel, and moulds the finished pots out of the 

 balls as if by magic, by the aid of his fingers. This 



