CHAPTER XIX 



Potting 



We must know how to pot plants and cuttings, even 

 though we shall use pots as little as we can. Pots are ex- 

 pensive, they take up more room than flats, and they are 

 more troublesome to handle. Pots dry out more quickly 

 than flats, and so have to be watched more carefully. Never- 

 theless, they have certain very great advantages. Plants 

 in pots do not have to struggle with their neighbors, and 

 thus can more quickly grow large and strong. When plants 

 grow too big for their pots, they can be repotted without the 

 slightest injury to their roots, and do not have to wait to 

 recover. Cuttings, after they are once started, always do 

 better in pots than in flats. Therefore, although for most 

 of the time we shall use flats, yet for plants which are deli- 

 cate, or in which we are specially interested, we shall use pots. 



In buying pots we should take care to get them well made 

 and uniform. They should "nest" well; that is, when 

 empty they should fit snugly into each other. Those are 

 stronger which have a thickened rim. For ordinary plants 

 the deep or so-called standard pots are best ; for bulbs, 

 except for lilies and gladioli, use the shallower bulb pans. 

 For our present purpose, raising seedlings to set out of doors, 

 two-inch, three-inch, and perhaps four -inch pots are the sizes 

 that we shall need. The two- and three-inch pots will need 

 only a crock (a piece of broken pot) or a stone, over the hole 



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