14 
NEW METHOD OF POTTING PLANTS. 
favourable condition, they will, by mechanical means, keep it so. And by giving 
specimens only a small quantity of fresh earth at a time, as in the scanty shif tings 
we are referring to, those circumstances are ever maintained ; for before the new 
soil has time to acquire the closeness which is so undesirable, it becomes filled with 
roots, and provision is thus made for retaining it always porous. Here, then, is 
one, and, as we conceive, the chief reason for the utility of numerous and trifling 
pottings. 
Some cultivators will be disposed to ascribe a benefit to the proximity of the 
roots to the side of the pot ; as these are believed to be more abundant and healthy 
in such positions. It is an acknowledged fact that cuttings root sooner and more 
securely when in the neighbourhood of the pot's edge, than when situated in the 
middle of that pot. It is, moreover, we believe, indisputable that roots grow faster 
as they near the outside of a pot, than when they have a large mass of inefficiently 
drained earth to shoot into. And the way in which this is occasioned is not 
through the attraction which the pot has for the roots, or the love which they 
possess for creeping towards and over hard substances. Such a proposition would 
be preposterous. It is owing to their tendency towards any vacuum, in consequence 
of the greater porosity of the soil in its vicinage ; and they increase with enlarged 
rapidity when they come in contact with the side of a pot, or have reached the 
boundary of their soil, because they have then no obstacle to oppose their progress, 
and they can run on, and on, without any obstruction ; whereas, while in the 
earth, this substance itself must necessarily check their extension. 
The case of cuttings, then, striking root sooner when near to the edge of a pot, 
and of roots making additional progress when lying close to the outside of a pot, 
prove only that the earth is additionally porous in those positions, and that it is less 
compact, and less sodden, than in the centre of the pot. And while it supplies 
another reason for the advantages of small shiftings, it furnishes us with a principle 
which we shall hereafter have to make use of ; viz., that openness and porosity in 
the soil is the grand thing that is necessary to promote the free growth of the roots 
of plants. We might prove, if it were needful, that the pot itself has nothing to 
do with the more rapid development of roots, by a reference to the fact that border 
specimens increase faster than the most carefully tended potted ones. But all will 
concede this, and we shall not urge it. 
A further advantage consequent on gradual and frequent removal, is that it 
keeps the specimens more immediately beneath the culturist's observation, enabling 
him, at pleasure, to examine their state, and determine whether they are progressing 
satisfactorily or in any way ailing. By simply turning out the ball of soil, without 
breaking or disturbing it, the roots will always indicate whether or not the plant 
is in health, and likewise suggest the remedies in case of sickliness. It may be 
taken as an almost unvarying rule, that the diseases and displeasing aspect of 
plants arise from the state of the soil in which they are planted, when there is no 
palpable cause for them in the atmosphere, or in external accident. 
