170 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



of the old pot, which may be done by tapping the edge 

 of the pot on a board or other solid material, having 

 the fingers placed across the pot, with the stem of the 

 plant between them, to receive it as it comes out of the 

 pot. The drainage materials should then be carefully 

 removed from the bottom of the old soil, and if the 

 roots are very numerous, and much matted round the 

 edge of the ball of soil, they may receive a few gentle 

 taps with the hand to loosen them a little. If the ball 

 of soil is very hard and firm, it will be better to remove 

 the greater part of it with care, and place the plant 

 entirely in fresh soil. 



In potting any plant, the pot in which it is to be 

 placed should be just one size larger than the one pre- 

 viously used, and the plant should be placed in the 

 centre of the pot, and at such a depth as will allow the 

 old ball of soil to be covered slightly with the fresh 

 earth, so as to fill the pot to within half an inch or less 

 of the top. The soil should be placed carefully around 

 the old ball, and a small flat stick should be used for 

 the purpose of pressing it down round the edges of the 

 pot, so that there may be no cavities in which water can 

 collect and injure the roots. When the pot is filled with 

 soil, the bottom should be stmck flatly on a table or 

 stone, which will have the effect of settling the soil 

 about the roots, and reducing the surface of it to a 

 level ; the plants may then be well watered from the 

 fine rose of a small watering-pot, and slightly shaded, 

 for a few days, till they have become established in the 

 soil. These remarks apply only to such plants as are 

 growing vigorously, and whose roots require to be shifted 

 into larger pots for the purpose of extending themselves. 

 But there will too frequently be found plants, which, 

 from injudicious potting, and too large a supply of water, 

 have been brought into such an unhealthy condition, 

 that their roots, instead of extending themselves, have 

 become contracted by disease. The cause of this may 

 always be traced to the pots having been insufficiently 

 drained, and watered too abundantly ; and when this 

 is found to be the case, the plants should be taken from 

 the pots, the soil carefully removed from their roots, 



