9 



sizes for small plants, cigar boxes cut iu two or three equal 

 parts will answer. 



Drainage. We advocate drainage, and claim that it is 

 beneficial to plant-life, when plants are in larger than wha t 

 is called a four-inch pot. The reader, Avho has perused other 

 works on this subject, may fear that we are now getting into 

 hot water and may demand our reasons for making such a 

 statement. Well, suppose we own apiece of low ground in a 

 town er village ; it is surrounded by an <^mbankment from 

 five to ten feet high ; when it rains our ground is covered with 

 water, which will not drain off for several weeks. \ye say to 

 our friend the "no drainage " florist, we will allow .3'Ou to use 

 that piece of ground for planting out all your flowers. His re- 

 ply would be, " I don't want it." Why? "Because the water 

 does not drain off." We repl^' that it does ; that all the land 

 surrounding mine is higher, and the water drains off int^ 

 that, and some goes into the clayey subsoil, and in a few 

 weeks the water will all be gone. " Yes, that is true ; but it 

 don't drain oHfast etiou'jh, and before the water is all gone the 

 soil is sour, and if my plants were in it they would be injured 

 if not destroyed ; the roots on many of them would rot in that 

 time.** The above would undoubtedly be in substance the re- 

 plies of the " no drainage " florist, yet it is only going to the 

 extreme to show the absurdity of his doctrine. Had we said 

 to him he could have the ground for planting out his Callas, 

 Caladium Esculentum and like plants, the offer (had he needed 

 the ground) would have been accepted. The fact is, if . ther^ 

 is no drainage, or if the drainage is defective, the water' does 

 not psiss iwYixy f'Ast enoLigJi. 



We have seen in green-houses where the roof was not 

 thoroughly wftter-proof, after a long, heavy rain, some of the 

 pots in Avhich plants were growing filled to the rim with 

 water, which did not pass av/ay for more than 48 hours. The 

 pot was porous, but the pores were filled up with muddy 

 water, so that it was difficult for the water to filter thro.iigh* 

 and by remaining so long in the pot would be injurious", to 

 ninety-nine plants out of one hundred. 



For plants in small pots, drainage is not essential to their 

 welfare, because the pot does not contain but a very small 

 amount of soil, and at the most there is but little water in the 

 pot, which will drain off in a short time, even though the pot 

 be not porous, if there is a hole in the bottom of it. But for 



