334 



POTTING AND REPOTTING OR SHIFTING. 



all the roots. In shifting from a small pot into a larger one, the larger pot 

 being drained and prepared, the ball is turned out of the smaller pot by 

 turning it upside down, and while holding it in that position, with the ball 

 resting on the palm of the left hand, with the stem of the plant between two 

 of the fingers, striking it gently against the edge of the potting bench, so as 

 to cause the ball to separate from the pot. The ball being now in the left hand, 

 and turned upside down, remove the drainage from it with the right, then 

 reverse it, and place it in the larger pot, filling in the vacant space all round 

 with fresh soil, gently compressing it by working it in with the trowel or a 

 wooden spatula. In shifting from a large pot to a smaller, the ball being taken 

 out of the large pot must either be reduced equally on every side and on the 

 bottom, by paring off a portion of the roots and soil, including of course 

 almost all the spongioles, or the soil must be shaken off from the roots 

 entirely, the roots cut in, and the plants inserted in the smaller pot among 

 fresh soil. In shifting plants from one pot to another, care should in general 

 be taken not to place the collar of the stem deeper in the new pot than it was 

 before in the old one, excepting in the case of plants which root readily from 

 the stem, such as balsams and a few others ; but in general, in pots as in the 

 open ground, the stem should rise from a gentle eminence, and the ramifica- 

 tions of the upper roots, where they depart from the stem, be seen above the 

 soil. By this means the descent of the sap to the roots is not checked by the 

 pressure of the soil on the collar, and the ramifications of the roots become 

 much stronger, and covered with a thicker bark. 



748. Seasons and times for potting and shifting. — Small plants may be 

 potted at any growing season ; but the most favourable are spring and 

 autumn, and the least so mid- winter, even under glass, owing to the absence 

 of light. Shifting also may be performed in any season ; but the most suit- 

 able for established plants is just before they commence their annual growth ; 

 while young rapidly-growing plants may be shifted from time to time as 

 long as they continue growing. Slow-growing woody plants are seldom 

 shifted oftener than once a year, unless it is desired to accelerate their 

 growth; but rapid-growing plants, such as pelargoniums, and such annuals 

 as the balsam, cockscomb, &c., are shifted many times in a single season, 

 beginning, more especially in the case of the balsam, with a pot of the 

 smallest size, such as No. 11, which is li inches in diameter (420), and 

 gradually increasing the size as the plant advances in growth, till from being 

 2 inches high in a pot of the same height in April, it is 3 feet or 4 feet high 

 in a pot 1 foot in diameter in June or July. By heat and frequent shifting 

 for upwards of a year, pelargoniums are grown so as to form bushes 3 feet or 

 more in diameter in pots of not more than 8 inches or 10 inches across. Pine- 

 apples are grown to a large size in comparatively small pots, but the soil 

 employed is rich and frequently supplied with liquid manure. 



749. The most difficult plants to manage in pots are the hair-rooted 

 kinds, such as all the Ericaceae, and many Cape and Australian shrubs, requir- 

 ing sandy peat soil, which must be well drained, and kept uniformly 

 moderately moist, but never either soaked with water, or very dry. The 

 drainage must be so perfect as to prevent the possibility of water stagnating in 

 the soil ; and while the nature of this soil, sand and peat, readily permits the 

 water to pass through it to the drainage below, the porous sides of the pot 

 incessantly cai-ry off moisture by evaporation, and the more so as heaths 

 require to be kept in a rather dry atmosphere. The roots of heaths, and 



