38 Potting and Watering. 



CHAPTER VI. 



POTTING AND WATEKING. 



JE will now proceed to consider the very im- 

 portant operations of potting and watering. 

 "Watering, especially, is the very life and 

 mainstay of a plant. To know when and how to water 

 is one, if not the greatest, secret of good plant cultiva- 

 tion. I hope to make you understand this hefore I' 

 have done. One important consideration in potting is 

 to have your soil in a proper state, neither too wet nor 

 yet too dry — just a medium state hetween. If too wet 

 the soil bakes hard together and the roots have no free 

 action ; if nearly dust dry you cannot have the ball of 

 the proper firmness all through, and watering at first 

 is very difficult. 



You should have the pots clean, inside and out, 

 hefore you begin to pot. If the pot has been in use 

 before, the remains of its former occupant may not suit 

 the taste of the new one. It is a general saying with 

 gardeners, " One plant's food is another plant's poison." 

 The roots of a plant always seek the outside of the 

 ball, forming a dense network all round the inside of 

 the pot ; any deleterious matter would thus be sure to 



