April 9, 1891, ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
277 
T he time of year has now arrived when the inmates of glass 
structures should receive a thorough overhauling, and by 
repotting some and top-dressing others endeavour as far as 
possible to bring back to health and vigour any plants that 
have become debilitated, and also to keep in a satisfactory 
condition throughout the coming season those which are in 
•a thriving state. To accomplish these desirable objects many 
methods are practised in various gardens. This diversity is 
accounted for to a great extent by the different objects for 
which the plants are grown. In one case monster plants are 
wanted for exhibition purposes, in another large numbers of 
vigorous plants of suitable s'zes for decorative purposes, an 
essential point being that they must be grown in compara¬ 
tively small pots, and the primary aim in yet another case is to 
produce plenty of flowers for cutting purposes. Now I am of 
opinion that we do not value so highly as we should do repeated 
top-dressings as a means of producing great results. I do not 
by any means advocate a practice of top-dressing instead of 
repotting in the case of plants intended to be grown into large 
specimens, as there can be but little doubt that to accomplish this 
in the best way the plants must be repotted as soon as roots are 
plentiful, but when these plants or others are in pots of as large a 
size as is desirable they may be kept in perfect health and vigour 
with far less repotting than is often given them. Nowhere is this 
better seen than in Covent Garden, where plants remarkable for 
their vigour and floriferousness are established in relatively small 
pots. 
When turning many kinds of stove and greenhouse plants out 
of their pots, if the drainage is found in perfect condition and the 
balls of soil thickly matted, healthy fibrous roots must not be 
ruthlessly cut away in order to make room for a little fresh soil, 
or they receive a severe check from which it takes months to 
recover, and in some cases twelve months after the roots have 
scarcely pushed into the new soil. If such plants had been left 
undisturbed beyond the removal of 2 or 3 inches of the surface 
soil a little sweet and somewhat porous compost being placed on 
the top, there is at once an incentive for the hungry roots below to 
permeate the fresh soil on the surface as thickly as they have already 
done that below, and it would indeed be a phenomenal experience 
to find good cultivators who were not firmly convinced of the great 
value of surface roots. Yet in many instances plants are better 
supplied with roots at the bottom than at the top of the pots. 
Obviously they do not ramble so freely among the drainage because 
of the great amount of nourishment to be found there, but rather 
because the mechanical conditions are more favourable. This I 
think should teach us that our potting composts] need to be 
made still more porous than they are at present. Make the 
drainage perfect in the first place, the compost porous by a 
moderate use of charcoal, broken crocks or old mortar rubbish, 
the other ingredients being suitable for each particular plant, and 
roots will rapidly be produced. When the roots are there the 
plants can by the aid of manures be easily supplied with the 
elements necessary to keep them in a vigorous and healthy state 
with much less repotting than is often given. 
Take, for instance, the case of Eucharis grandiflora. Probably 
more plants of this popular flower are spoilt through too frequent 
No. 663.—VoL. XXII., Third Series. 
potting and the overwatering which generally follows than from 
all other causes together. Many plants have been totally ruined 
by mistaken endeavours to improve them. Again, such vigorous 
and free flowering stove plants as Allamanda Hendersoni and 
Stephanotis floribunda, when they cover a large amount of 
space on the roof of a stove, may, with the aid of rich top- 
dresshigs and liberal supplies of liquid manure, be kept in a 
highly satisfactory state for two or three years without being 
repotted. This, indeed, is the practice of many successful 
cultivators. 
I remember a fine Allamanda in a girden some years ago 
which covered a greater amount of space than any one specimen 
of its kind that I have met with sinse. This to my knowledge was 
not repotted for two years, but was twice during the growing 
season surfaced wifii cowdung mixed with a little soil, and also 
received two or three times weekly a thorough soaking with liquid 
manure brought fresh from the stables. With this treatment the 
plant was far more satisfactory than another Allamanda of the 
same variety planted out in an adjoining compartment of the 
stove. Pandanus Veitchi and the old but still useful P. variegata, 
when they have been grown to a suitable size colour splendidly if 
left undisturbed. When the pots are crammed with roots and but 
little soil visible, if a few' lumps of turfy loam or peat are pressed 
in, young roots are quickly emitted and form a network around 
the fresh soil. 
Perhaps there are no plants which are usually required to 
remain so long in the same sized pots as Palms. They are 
much used for standing in vases which are comparatively small, 
considering the size of the plants required to produce a good 
effect in the positions they are to occupy. It is fortunate, there¬ 
fore, that these noble plants may be kept for many years in pots 
that are of a moderate size ; but constant attention and high feeding 
are necessary to retain that deep green colour in the fronds which 
is so attractive, and so sure an indication of good health. The 
surface soil should be picked out with a pointed stick once or 
twice a year, anl a little turfy loam and leaf soil or peat pressed 
firmly on the roots ; this should be supplemented by a sprinkling 
of guano and Clay’s fertiliser mixed together in equal portions, 
and applied at least four times a year. After a time some Palms, 
by making roots very fast at the bottom, force the plants above the 
rim of the pot, and consequently make them too high for the 
vases ; in such cases 2 or 3 inches should be cut clean off the base, 
the plants placed in the same pots again, and have fresh soil given 
them on the surface. If kept in a close moist house for a time 
they quickly recover from the effect of this operation and become 
more attractive than before. 
Roses, too, are often potted more frequently than is either 
necessary or desirable. Pots ranging in size from 6 to 10 inches are 
the most convenient for forcing purposes, and when once well 
established in these sizes Roses will not require repotting for three 
or four years, sometimes longer ; but draining and potting must 
be well done in the first place. In potting plants of any kind that 
are to remain undisturbed for several years I prefer moss to any 
other material for placing over the drainage ; this is very lasting, 
and moreover the roots of all plants seem to like it, and quickly 
fill the moss with healthy feeders, and by the time the moss decays 
the roots themselves effectually prevent the soil clogging the 
drainage. Gi’eat care must also at all times be exercised to prevent 
the ingress of worms, or the most perfect drainage is speedily 
rendered ineffective. When once we have a pot filled with healthy 
roots, it is not a very difficult matter to supply them with the 
elements necessary to keep them in health and vigour without 
constantly disturbing and often destroying their roots to givo 
them fresh food, and I think I am not very wide of the mark 
in asserting that more plants are rendered weak and unsatis 
factory by having too much soil and not enough roots than 
by the oppesite extreme.—D. 
No. 2219.—VoL. LXXXiy., Old Series. 
