114 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING 



in their seed-beds, until suflSciently large to he 

 placed singly in pots, or in their growing quarters 

 in the open air. In regard to the latter, the best and 

 safest way with many plants is to sow the seed in 

 their blooming and fruiting quarters. Washing home, 

 or establishing the plants in their new quarters, is 

 almost as important in regard to pricking off as to 

 dibbling in. 



Potting oflF. — This term is applied to the re- 

 moval of cuttings and seedlings from their rooting 

 nursery or seed-bed into single pots. The process 

 is somewhat analogous to the promotion of a child 

 from the nursery to the schoolroom. After potting 

 off, the plant must stand alone to some extent, and 

 has to thrive or fall by itself in its own pot or space : 

 from being one of a mass, it is made an independent 

 individual, and great care is needed in the first pot- 

 ting off. In seed-pans and nursery-beds the roots of 

 different plants get very much mixed. The evil is 

 aggravated by the plants standing too long and being 

 placed too closely together. The process of root dis- 

 entanglement is difficult and dangerous. The deli- 

 cacy or the brittleness of the roots of many plants 

 causes not a few breakages, bruises, and many severe 

 losses of roots. The best way of preventing these 

 is by potting off early. So soon as fairly rooted, 

 pot off. 



Size of Pots. — These can hardly be too small, 

 provided they are of sufficient area to receive the 

 roots without bending them back upon themselves or 

 twisting them round. The plants should be lifted 

 out of their nursery quarters, each wdth its roots and 

 the ball of earth into which they have run intact. 



The best way of insuring this is to slip the fingers 

 of the left hand carefully under and through the 

 plants, so as to retain them in the mass and form in 

 which they are growing. Invert the pot, give it a 

 gentle tap on the potting- table, or bench, to loosen 

 the pot from the compost ; remove the pot or pan, and 

 carefully place the plants without the pot in their 

 original positions. Then, w4th or without the aid of 

 the small pointed stick or dibber already described, 

 begin at one side, and carefully separate the plants, 

 retaining as much soil as may be to each. With 

 more common plants, it is a common practice to re- 

 turn the plants to the bench with a sudden jerk, which 

 will break the nursery-soil or ball into fragments, 

 each retaining its plant ; or the ball may be divided 

 through the centre, and each plant separated from 

 its neighbour by the skilful manipulation of j)ractised 

 fingers. 



The potting off of each plant into a single pot 

 must proceed as rapidly as possible until all are 

 finished. It is very important in- this first potting 



that the roots should be caref uUy distributed through- 

 out the compost. For example, the pots are often 

 filled probably two-thirds or more with drainage and 

 compost before the plants are inserted, and if care- 

 lessly potted, the whole of the roots will be huddled 

 together in that particular plane ; whereas, skilfully 

 handled, the placing of the roots and filling in the 

 earth around them will be so timed and correlated 

 that almost every bit of soil will have its roots, and 

 no two roots will lie together or touch each other. 

 Thus, when growth is renewed, every root will find 

 its own food within easy reach of it, and the entire 

 mass of earth, large or small, be utilised and filled 

 with vigorous roots within a mere tithe of the time 

 that it would have taken them to do so under care- 

 less cramming in and the absence of a painstaking 

 disposition of the roots. 



Neither will it be needful at this first potting off to 

 compress the soil so firmly around the roots as in any 

 future pottings. At this stage not a few of the roots 

 will probably be found detached from the soil, and 

 of a soft and brittle character. Any undue pressure, 

 especially in a new mass of earth of a very different 

 degree of solidity to that from which the plants have 

 been just removed, would, of necessity, injirre the 

 spongioles or mouths of the roots that wiU very 

 generally extend beyond the balls ; and as it is on 

 these that the well-being or even life of the plant 

 depends, it is of the utmost importance that these 

 should start fairlj^ and freely into the new soil. As 

 the mass of soil in the pot is in most cases of potting 

 off so very inconsiderable, and wall be so soon filled 

 with fresh roots, this loose potting off — the word is 

 used relatively in relation to other pottings, and not 

 absolutely — ^proves to be the better way. 



Besides, as potting off should always be succeeded 

 by a good watering home, and water is the great 

 consolidator of soils, the roots will find their new 

 home sufficiently solid for their well-doing. 



A little extra nursing proves most useful after 

 potting off. If the plants could be returned for a 

 week or ten daj^s to the fostering atmosphere of their 

 nursery quarters, it would prove the best thing pos- 

 sible for them. The danger period of all plants after 

 potting off, is that measured by the period of their 

 detachment from the soil. So soon as the roots grip 

 hold of the new earth or compost, that moment, 

 under ordinarily fair treatment, the health and life 

 of the plants are secured. 



Shifting, or Kemoval into Larger Pots — 



This is what is emphatically called "potting." Hence, 

 in practice, " Pot that plant " really means, give it a 

 larffer pot — that is, more room for its roots. Re- 

 potting, however, sometimes in practice comes to 

 just the opposite of this, and the experienced potter 



