276 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES. 



the earth, and in winter allow a free circulation of 

 any superabundant moisture. 



If woody plants are allowed to remain growing in 

 the same pot for many years, as is sometimes the 

 case, one of two things must happen ; either the 

 roots, matted into a hard ball, become so tortuous 

 and hard as to be unfit for the free passage of snp 

 through them, or they acquire a spiral direction. In 

 either case, if such plants are turned out of their 

 pots in a conservatory, or in the open ground, with a 

 view to their future growth in a state of liberty, new 

 roots will be made with difficulty, and it will be 

 a long time before the effects of growth in thefree 

 soil will be apparent. Where the spiral or corkscrew 

 direction has been once taken by the roots, they are 

 very apt to retain it during the remainder of their 

 lives ; and if, when they have become large trees, 

 they are exposed to a gale of wind, they readily 

 blow out of the ground, as was continually happen- 

 ing with the Pinaster some years ago, when the nur- 

 serymen kept that kind of Fir for sale in pots. In 

 all such cases as these, the roots should be carefully 

 disentangled and straightened at the time when trans- 

 plantation takes place. 



If, however, a potted plant is managed in the most 

 perfect manner, no such entanglement or coiling up 

 will take place. To be managed perfectly, a plant, 

 when young, should be placed in as small a pot as it 

 will grow in, and it should be gradually and succes- 

 sively transferred to larger pots as it advances in 

 size. If this is done, the warmth to which the pot 



