136 
CULTURAL HINTS. 
scribed the limits of its operation, so long as it can be discovered to exert i 
ameliorating influence, it will be recognised and practised by the intellige 
cultivator who determines to be satisfied with nothing short of the highej 
standard of excellence attainable, as a step on the way to his promised goal. I' 
must ever be as ready to snatch at the little helps, as to seize on the greater. 
Withoiit further preface, we shall now proceed to give a tangible turn 
these observations by considering a condition connected with the management ' 
plants in pots, which is certainly hostile to their prosperity, and, we believe, mo 
frequently the result of thoughtlessness than ignorance. We allude to the exposu 
of the pots in which plants are grown, to the direct action of a bright sun. 
No cultivator of the most moderate experience can have failed to observe 
dessicating efiects which it produces on the soil which the pot contains. Tl! 
result is the first and most apparent, and may, perhaps, appear to be easi 
remedied by the application of water, and of no further moment ; but it is not 
only consequence, for it brings in its train a series of evils, which frequentji 
accomplish the partial or entire defoliation of the stem, and even the ve' 
destruction of the vital principle itself. We more than suspect it to be the hinl 
upon which many a healthy specimen has suddenly turned, with a few days \ 
sunny weather, to a state fit only for the compost yard. The present supply [ 
fluid from the roots is not only cut off, through those which are usually the mcl 
active being thus deprived of moisture, but the delicate rootlets themselves are al 
injured — withered, and rendered incapable of fulfilling their of&ce ; or, as it k 
technically expressed, “ they are burnt.” Besides, the mechanical arrangement ’ 
the soil is disturbed, by the excessive waterings rendered necessary to keep|i 
moist washing the particles closer together. 
And yet, when we look at many instances of the practice even of our bf^/ 
cultivators, how often do we find the admonition conveyed by repeated injuries al 
disease engendered by the thoughtless exposure of pots to the sun, either slightjll 
or entirely disregarded ! We acknowledge that in many cases it is not an eaj' 
matter to shelter them ; but this is no reason why it should be neglected whene\l.’ 
it is practicable to obviate it. There is no genuine obstacle to interfere with thi 
pots being immured from the sun’s rays, which contain the plants commonly i 
out of the greenhouse in the summer season. Plants so situated are more complete 
laid open to injury from this source, than those retained in the houses or framj. 
The latter are partially protected by the sash-bars ; by the refraction and dififusiji 
of light in passing through glass ; and by the shades which are now alm|l; 
universally interposed. The former are without these lenitives, except here ail 
there the last ; and they are at the same time open to another evil, which materia j 
increases the disparity : there are the variations which are so constantly taking phjj 
in the state of the soil — its temperature and moisture, as the weather varies frci 
wet to windy, or clear and sunny ; and this frequent and sometimes excessip 
inconstancy, renders the roots far more susceptible of harm, both from excessiJ 
