118 



CASSELL'S POPULAE GARDENING. 



Still a good doal may bo done by caution and 

 skill in this direction. Having turned out the plant 

 on one hand, as already described, with a sharp- 

 pointed stick in the other, proceed to pick away the 

 crocks from the summit of the root-mass or ball as 

 now inverted, and disentangle, as much as may be 

 without breaking, the roots, at the same time picking 

 and shaking away as much of the exhausted soil as 

 may be done with safety. During this careful and 

 minute examination of the roots the whole state of 

 the plant will be revealed. Before it is completed 

 the cultivator will have been 

 provided with all the data needed 

 to determine the size of shift he 

 will give. 



Estimating the growing force 

 of the plant, and taking into 

 account the purj)Oses for which 

 he is growing it, he will give it 

 a small or a large shift accord- 

 ingly. From one to three inches 

 would be counted a small shift 

 for a large plant, from three to 

 six a large one. 



The smaller the shift, the more 

 difficult the work of good pot- 

 ting. AVhere the fingers cannot 

 penetrate, a potting - stick, and 

 a sort of wedge-shaped dibbler 

 (Fig. 13), become indispensable. 

 The drainage, sub-drainage, and 

 bottom parts of the compost are 

 all placed in the pot. These 

 should be nicely arranged, 

 placing the larger and rougher 

 portions of the compost over the 

 sub - drainage, and pressing all 

 down firmly with the hand or 

 hand-rammer. 

 Place the plant to be shifted in the centre of the 

 pot, and see that the surface of the balls stands from 

 half an inch to three inches, according to the size of 

 the plant, beneath the top of the rim. Of course the 

 larger the plant the deeper the space, and vice versa. 

 This is the water-holder, and unless it is amj)le, no 

 firmly-potted plant can thrive. 



From this point proceed to fill in the sides, work- 

 ing the compost in among the roots with the potting- 

 stick and hands, as well as firmly filling the space 

 between their extremities and the inner edge of the 

 pot ; here the wedge will be found necessary. Per- 

 fect potting in this phase of it means perfect filling, 

 and when completed, not an atom of space should be 

 left vacant, and the roots should as far as possible be 

 equally distributed throughout the entire area of the 

 compost in the pot. 



A B 



Fig. 13.— A, Sharp- 

 pointed pottiug- 

 stick two feet 

 long ; B, pot- 

 tiug - wedge for 

 ramming soil iu 

 firmly between 

 pot and ball. 



State of the Compost. — It is impossible to 

 finish potting our plant without reference to this. If 

 the soil is too .dry, good potting is thereby rendered 

 impossible. If too wet, the results on the process of 

 potting are even more disastrous. A good practical 

 test is to take a handful of the compost firmly in 

 the hand, and squeeze it tightly together. If it so 

 slightly adheres under the pressure as to crumble 

 into fragments so soon as the hand is suddenly 

 opened, it is neither too wet nor too dry. 



The mechanical state of division of the compost 

 is also a matter of much practical importance. 

 At one time, and for all i^urposes, all soils were 

 run through a sieve before being used for potting. 

 Now sifted soils, unless for the sowing of seeds, and 

 the pricking off of cuttings or seedlings, are almost 

 banished from our gardens. The roughness or fine- 

 ness of the compost should, however, be largely 

 determined by the size of the shift. It would be 

 hopeless to attempt to force lumps of peat or loam 

 two inches square into inch areas between the 

 roots of plants and the sides of the pot. The 

 larger the shift, the coarser the soil, and vice versa. 



As to solidity of the new earth, that should be 

 largely influenced by the character of the soil, and 

 the hardness of the old ball, and can hardly be pro- 

 perly determined without a reference to the balls of 

 plants. These are the mass of roots, soil, and crocks 

 that fill the pots. The latter, or drainage, however, 

 is seldom included, unless, as is very frequently the 

 case, it has also been laid hold by the roots so firmly 

 as to have become inseparable from the soil. These 

 balls prove at once a help and a hindrance to many 

 potters. They enable the roots of plants to be 

 inverted and examined in the mass without diffi- 

 culty. But they also not unfrequently imprison the 

 roots in such iron-like fetters as to render their 

 liberation and enlargement utterly imj)0ssible. 

 Sometimes they become so saturated that it is im- 

 possible to dry them ; at others, so diy that it takes 

 days of thorough soaking to wet them through. 

 Plants seldom recover from the first condition, and 

 no plant should be shifted into a larger pot with a 

 sour or saturated ball. Leave it without water till it 

 dries, if it ever does so. Dry balls should be steeped 

 imtil wet through, and then stood out in an empty 

 pot somewhat larger than the ball to drip dry be* 

 fore being shifted into larger -pots. When extremely 

 hard, as in the case of many Heaths, and plants of 

 similar character, it is useless to try and soften or 

 disturb the ball. With care, some of the surface 

 roots may be slightly disturbed. In the process of 

 potting aim at making the add^d soil as hard as the 

 substance of the ball ; it is impossible by any amount 

 of ramming with fingers and thumbs, or the use of 

 potting-sticks, to do this. But it should be aimed at 



