GREEN-HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 993 



and this evil will be daily increasing, till the ball becomes so 

 dry that it will not even take in sufficient water for their sup- 

 port should even a superfluity be given to them. This occurs 

 very frequently, and is not often detected until the plants show 

 evident symptoms of dying, and may be considered the cause 

 of the failures in nine-tenths of the plants planted out where 

 this precaution is not attended to. Few plants better illustrate 

 this circumstance than that of the beautiful family of Camellia, 

 which make very small roots in proportion to the size of their 

 leaves and branches, and for want of this precaution may be 

 attributed the stinted and sickly appearance v/hich these plants 

 very often are found to assume when planted out ; although, if 

 attended to in this particular, few plants thrive better or con- 

 tinue longer to maintain their places in houses of this descrip- 

 tion. Watering at the root should be very punctually attended 

 to after planting, until the whole borders have attained a proper 

 degree of moisture, and until all the plants in the house have 

 extended their roots beyond the limits of their former pasture. 

 Afterwards it seldom occurs, excepting where the flues come 

 in contact with the borders, that they become too dry. When 

 the planting is finished, liberal supplies of water should be 

 given them, not only at their roots but also over their branches, 

 for a considerable time, particularly if the operation were per- 

 formed in spring; and the borders should be carefully examined 

 to their very bottoms frequently, to ascertain how they stand 

 affected in regard to a proper degree of moisture. In planting, 

 in the first instance, it will be necessary to introduce many 

 plants to produce any degree of immediate effect, which may be 

 from time to time removed as they encroach on those intended 

 to be permanent, or as the latter increase in size, which, under 

 favorable circumstances, will be the case in a few months 

 after planting. As it may not be desirable that they should be 

 sacrificed, and as few of them can be removed after being once 

 established, without either sustaining injury themselves or in- 

 juring those around them, we would suggest the propriety of 

 having all that is intended to be so removed, in large pots, 

 which will enable the cultivator to remove them at pleasure, 

 without much trouble or injury to those that remain. 



6 I. 



