184 SOILS USED BY NURSERYMEN IN POTTING PLANTS. 
So far as relates to new plants, however, this opinion may generally be correct, 
for nurserymen are always anxious to obtain large specimens of any rare species ; 
but with regard to the old inhabitants of our greenhouses and stoves (especially 
the former), this principle is by no means to be depended upon. We have con- 
versed with nurserymen on the subject, have examined the soil in which plants 
received from them was potted, and compared it with that which our own expe- 
rience has proved to be most suitable ; and the result of our inquiry has uniformly 
been, that the soil used in nurseries for common plants, is invariably less nutritious 
than is necessary to grow such plants in perfection. Indeed, a little reflection 
must convince every person that such is the case. No one can doubt that the 
object of nurserymen in growing plants of the description here mentioned, is to 
bring them to a saleable state, and afterwards retain them in that state till tKey 
meet with a purchaser, without once thinking of cultivating them in a superior 
manner ; while the aim of the gardener or amateur is as obviously to grow them 
to the highest possible perfection. Were nurserymen to attempt to effect the 
latter object on so large a scale as is necessary to maintain their establishments, 
they would require accommodation of nearly twofold extent, and likewise render 
the greater part of their plants unsaleable ; for common plants purchased at nur- 
series are seldom required to be large, and indeed, purchasers will rarely go to the 
expense of procuring large specimens, even when they are desirable. 
The real statement of the case then is, that with nine plants out of ten which 
are procured from nurseries, the cultivator who is anxious to obtain fine specimens 
should pot them in stronger and richer soil than that used by the nurseryman. 
This rule, however, is by no means infallible, and we merely wish to expose the 
impropriety of what we believe to be the professed opinion, and urge cultivators to 
be guided more by tbeir own experience, or the general appearance and habits of 
plants. We may likewise qualify this statement by saying, that it is more 
applicable to plants of three, four, or more years' growth, than to those which are 
younger and smaller. It should be observed, that to the manner in which plants 
are usually potted in nurseries there can be no possible objection, as it is deserving 
of the highest encomium, and it is to the soil alone that these remarks are directed, 
not as being really objectionable, but as containing an insufficient quantity of 
nutriment to induce the plants to attain a high degree of luxuriance or perfection. 
Intimately connected with this subject, because resulting from the same cause, 
is another particular which it may be well to mention here, relative to plants 
purchased from nurserymen. We allude to the size of the pots in which common 
plants are usually kept in nurseries, and would recommend all persons who may 
have occasion to procure plants from such establishments, to examine the roots 
immediately on receiving them, as it will almost invariably be found that they 
require shifting into larger pots, particularly those of the description to which our 
previous remarks on soil are applied. 
