112 
THE NEW SYSTEM OF POTTING. 
of shifting is due, rather than to any original combination or previous preparation. 
It has not until recently been proved that some kinds of peat soil in general use are 
greatly;deficient in texture and quality, and in many instances are wholly rejected ; 
while that which embodies in a greater degree a quality deemed of essential 
importance, namely, a texture in which pure decomposed vegetable matter greatly 
preponderates in a proportionately pulverized state, is preferred. The superiority 
of such a material is generally to be tested by the absence of all extraneous matter ; 
and not unfrequently is it found quite free from sand. 
Perhaps the most simple and efficient plan of improving the texture of soils 
without the aid of additional material, is simply by reducing its quantity, in the 
disuse of the close or binding portion, by a process as follows : — Place proportions 
of the compost in a sieve of two-eighths of an inch in the wire-work, which by 
he'mg partially moved will permit the loose portion of the soil (as the least valu- 
able) to pass through, and the remaining portion when modified (if requisite) by 
being entirely passed through a sieve of a medium size, will be more uniform in its 
texture, and favourable to an equable circulation of moisture. This process may 
be varied for any quality of soil, either for the purpose of attaining luxuriant 
growth, or for the first potting of young stock. 
2d. Suitable proportio7is and arrangement of material in the process of potting 
are also essential to superior cultivation, particularly when young and tender plants 
are transferred from small to large pots. A rule of proportions, applicable to the 
former part of this head, has already been given in a previous page. The two most 
general and fatal errors in potting are, first, in so placing the large potsherd (or 
other material) over the bottom hole of the pot, as to admit a very imperfect 
passage for the superfluous moisture ; and, secondly, a very partial, and often an 
entire omission of intermediate drainage, as a portion of porous material placed 
immediately upon the lower drainage, to prevent the soil from filling up the inter- 
stices of the potsherds beneath, and to modify, by its absorbent qualities, the 
fluctuations of temperature to which plants may be exposed ; also, by its coarser 
texture, to prevent the component parts of the soil above from remaining saturated 
in extreme cases of exposure. Next to the quality of soils, the success of cultivation 
generally will, in a great measure, depend upon the quantity and arrangement of 
the remaining parts. 
3d. A due exposure to atmospheric and solar agency is indispensable to the 
successful co-operation of other influences employed in the process of cultivation. 
The distinct agencies upon the mutual action of which the successful management 
of plants depend are, first, those to w^hich they are subjected in the process of 
potting, &c., viz., the influence of organic and chemical substances ; and, secondly, 
those which act upon their external surfaces, as light, air, heat, &c., each afi*ecting 
to a certain extent the whole vegetable system. Atmospheric and solar influence 
should be so modified as to balance the power of absorption to which plants are 
exposed ; in other words, the intensity of the former should, as a general rule, be j 
