POTTING 



137 



Fig. 74. — Potted Cuttings. 



Set the plant always in the 



center of the pot. 



Now treat the pots as you have been treating the fiats. 



The easiest way of handling them, by the way, is to stand 



them in a flat or a pan, with 



moss around them. This, if 



kept wet, prevents the pots from 



quickly drying. Let the pots 



dry out a little on top, make 



the earth loose, and do not water 



again until you find that the soil 



beneath is also drying out. Then 



water generously, as before. And 



lest the plants should grow one- 

 sided by reaching toward the light, 



every few days turn the flat about, 



or else give each pot a half turn. 



Treated thus, the plants will grow quickly, and you will 

 soon begin to wonder if the pots are 

 not too small for them. You can 

 easily find out. Take one of them 

 soon after it is watered — not when 

 the soil is dry, or the earth may crum- 

 ble away. Hold the pot in one hand, 

 with two fingers across the top, one on 

 either side of the stem of the plant. 

 Turn the pot upside down, and rap on 

 the bottom with the knuckles of the 

 other hand, or with a knife-handle. 

 The ball of earth should drop lightly 

 against the fingers, the pot can be 

 lifted away, and you can examine the 

 roots. If a good many of them have 

 Fl j G ' ^. 5 '^ A p ] a r nt pushed through the earth, and are 



turned out of its pot, for r ° . 



examination of the roots, coiling against the bottom and sides, 



