May S, 18*8. j 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
355 
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GLAZED FLOWER POTS. 
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C ONSIDERABLE attention has lately been directed to glazed 
flower potSj and I am led to make a few remarks concerning 
them. After a long experience of these pots every additional year’s 
practice and observation strengthen my favour for them, and I 
«ertainly would not now relish being compelled to grow a large and 
miscellaneous collection of plants in ordinary pots, and except those 
who have never had experience of glazed pots I have not met with 
a gardener who after a fair trial has not come to the same con¬ 
clusion. 
I had the pleasure recently of inspeeting the extensive general 
■collection of plants at Woodbank House, Dumfries, the residence 
of C. W. Scott, Esq., every plant of avhich is in glazed pots, and 
tinder the able management of Mr. James Cole, a member of a 
family in whom high art in plant culture seems hereditary. Mr. 
'Scott, after seeing glazed pots at Drumlanrig four or five years since, 
at once ordered the disuse of common pots. Mr. Cole told me 
he should be very sorry to have to return to them, and that he con¬ 
sidered a saving of labour in the houses at Woodbank to the extent 
of fully one man was effected by the use of glazed pots. He 
ridicules tie idea of their having any injurious effects on plants, and 
points, as well he may, to the luxuriant condition of his Erica 
Marnockiana and other Heaths, his Azaleas, greenhouse Rhodo¬ 
dendrons, &c. I should like to see any practical man look over his 
Odontoglossums, Cattleyas, Loelias, Crotons, or Nepenthes, and 
attempt to point out any injurious effects arising from the glazed 
pots in which the plants are luxuriating. 
I have heard some very droll objections raised by gardeners to 
these pots, a very common one being “ Do you not find these pots 
exclude the air from the roots ? ”, I am not aware that roots are 
the better for any more air than is supplied to them by pressure on 
the surface of the soil or by the holes and drainage in the bottom 
ef the pot, even if the surface could be entirely covered by the 
glazed ware. “ Do you not find the soil keeps too long moist and 
gets sour?” Never unless from errors in watering, that are as 
common with ordinary pots ; and I fail to see the benefit plants 
derive from arriving at the “flagging” point twice instead of once a 
day. In fact very little difference is found in this re.spect when 
the roots have taken full possession of the soil. Besides, I 
prefer potting firmly, so as to pack as much soil and nutritious in¬ 
gredients into the pot, and leave as little room in it for air and 
water as is possible, both of which in excess tend to rapid extinction 
of the nutritious elements of the soil. 
It would be interesting to know (admitting the force of such 
objections which, I do not) how much more air penetrates the side 
of a common pot when—as they very often are—covered thickly 
with green slime, or how much more evaporation goes on than in 
the case of glazed pots. If I knew of any cultural objections to 
the latter I would not use them, while on the score of appearance, 
cleanliness, and consequently labour, they have immense advan¬ 
tages. There is more saved in scrubbing and washing than covers 
their extra cost. In the case of gardeners who have much furnish¬ 
ing in mansions they are very handy, being always ready to pick 
up in a clean state, doing away with the much scrubbing often 
needed on emergencies. 
Some of the most healthy Ferns I have seen were growing in 
galvanised iron pots, and no doubt some of your readers may re- 
No. 410. — VoL. XVI., Third Series 
member the first prize Pelargoniums brought out at the great 
London shows over forty years since by the late Mr. Beck of Isle- 
worth, and I question if the Pelargoniums of those days were not 
equal in cultural merit to any that have appeared since. How 
much air and evaporation passed through the sides of such vessels ? 
If my fifteen years’ experience of glazed pots be worth anything 
I have no hesitation is saying that it proves the superior appearance, 
the saving of labour, and the constant cleanliness and comfort of 
such pots, and such experience has failed to reveal to me any cul¬ 
tural drawbacks in their use.—D. Tiiomsox. 
[On more than one occasion flove.' pots glazed on the outside so 
as to render them practically non-porous have formed the subject 
of discussion in this Journal. So far as we know, all that could be 
said for and against them has been advanced by competent men ; 
but discussions on passing topics appear to be soon forgotten by the 
majority, while every few years bring a host of new readers who 
are of necessity unacquainted with the matters previously treated 
and that are subsequently reintroduced. Letters have recently 
appeared of a nature that would suggest the subject as being entirely 
new' to our columns, whereas many articles have been published 
from writers who are happily still readers of and occasionally con¬ 
tributors to them. Mr. D. Thomson some years ago, as he is now, 
was an advocate of glazed pots for plants, and we are not betraying 
any secret by stating that a gardener w'ho was one of his most 
doughty literary antagonists, and a champion of porous pots, has 
long since been satisfied that he can grow plants as well in the kind 
of pots he once thought inferior as in those for which he claimed 
the advantage of porosity. 
We have seen glazed flow'er pots employed with great success in 
the cultivation of different kinds of plants. One of the most con¬ 
clusive examples of their suitability for the purpose for which pots 
are manufactured is afforded by Mr. Thomson himself. More than 
once we have had the pleasure of inspecting the plants at Drum¬ 
lanrig, and their condition demonstrated in the most conclusive 
manner the perfect adaptability of g'azed pots to Orchids and all 
other plants that were grown in them when judiciously watered 
and otherwise rightly treated as they were and are in that establish¬ 
ment ; and after seeing those plants it would be impossible for 
anyone devoid of prejudice on the matter to condemn glazed pots 
as essentially unsuitable for plant growth. 
Another very striking example of the successful employment of 
glazed pots equal in its way to the Drumlanrig experience that 
came under our notice was in the garden of the late Mr. Woodhead 
near Halifax, these pots being then almost exclusively used in 
grow'ing one of the most extensive and healthy collections of 
Auriculas we have had the gratification of inspecting. Several 
houses were filled with them, and we cannot imagine how any 
plants could be more sturdily vigorous and thoroughly satisfactory. 
They were not luxuriant in the sense of being Cabbage-like in 
growth, with large succulent le.aves that drooped under the influence 
of an hour’s sun ; but were remarkable for the leather-like persis¬ 
tency of their deep green foliage, while their stout stems and large 
heads of flowers required no sticks to support them. The cool 
breezes of the Yorkshire heights had no doubt something to do 
with the splendid condition of the plants, but it goes without saying 
that they would not have been in that condition if the glazed pots 
containing them had been even to the smallest extent disadvan¬ 
tageous. It may be surmised, however, that they would have been 
quite as good in the ordinary porous pots. That was not Mr. 
AVoodhead’s experience. He commenced using glazed pots experi¬ 
mentally, and necessity suggested them. 
Mr. Woodhead's business often called him from home for longer 
periods than were good for his plants, which either suffered by 
drought in his absence or had to be watered before they needed it 
to “ keep them going ” till his return, and sometimes they suffered 
from the excess of water when the weather proved different to 
prognostications. He had heard that plants in glazed pots required 
No. 2006.—VOL. LXXVIII., Old Series. 
