IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOWER POTS. 
17 
are of a similar shape to the Hyacinth glasses in common use, and are executed 
in China-ware after various patterns, forming, by themselves, an elegant ornament. 
'Bulb-glasses are open to two objections, — they admit light to the roots, which 
ought to be kept in darkness, and they scarcely allow of any neat support for the 
foliage and flower-stems. The former of these is partially obviated by darkly- 
coloured glass ; but both are effectually 
removed by Mr. Hunt's pot. They 
totally exclude light, and a neat con- 
veniency for support is provided. The 
latter consists of three brass wires, which 
are bent to fit the mouth of the pot, and 
rise about five or six inches above it. 
They are fixed to the pot by passing 
through holes made above the neck, the 
lower end resting in a socket provided 
on the exterior, as shown in the accom- 
panying woodcut. 
Another advantage necessarily fol- 
lows from this arrangement. When 
bulbous plants are cultivated in water, 
the hulbs ought never to be in immediate 
contact with it. But where the care of 
this matter is intrusted to persons un- 
acquainted with the nature of plants, 
it is not unfrequently neglected. The 
perforation, however, necessary to fix 
the wires, provides a way of escape, 
before the water can reach the bulb ; at 
least, when bulbs of a fair size are 
selected. It might, nevertheless, be 
still more effectually guarded against by 
making another perforation immediately 
below the neck. 
Each of these advantages, when 
viewed disjunctively, may appear some- 
what trivial to a superficial mind, and 
incapable of conferring any important 
benefit. But no one will be disposed to 
despise minor auxiliaries who has been accustomed to think of them in their proper 
and genuine light, as so many indispensable agents in compassing great things. It is 
a strict observance of lesser points that fills up the chasm between good and bad 
cultivation, and we may consider the new Hyacinth-pots as another progressive step- 
VOL. XII. NO. CXXXIII. D 
