OCTOBER. 
235 
roots, and plants them out-doors, generally on a west-wall border in the kitchen 
garden, when they soon make strong growth, which must not be stopped, or the 
result would be wood, and not flower. By the middle of September they will be 
showing flower at the point of every shoot. Now is the time to lift them. If the 
weather be dry they should be well watered the day previous to lifting them. As 
soon as they are potted I place them under a north wall, and keep them moist 
with the syringe for a day or two to prevent them from flagging. I keep them 
under the north wall as long as I consider they are safe from frost. I find they 
do much better out-doors than in as long as the weather is mild. When they are 
taken in they should be kept near to the glass and have plenty of air. As soon 
as the pots are full of roots give a little manure water about once a-fortnight. 
With the above treatment F. Dominiana will well repay any one for the little 
attention it requires. It may be propagated as freely as any other Fuchsia, and 
grown in almost any light rich soil. 
Highgrove. A. Ingram. 
THE EVILS OF POT CULTURE. 
Tiie theory of horticulture may be better understood amongst us now than 
formerly ; but I am afraid our practice yet lags behind, and has still to make long 
strides before it overtakes the former. Perhaps it is not to be expected that such 
an idea should ever be completely realised in a general way ; our jjrogress in this 
respect, as in other things, is often interrupted by circumstances that render it 
impossible for us to follow the bent of our inclination, or the dictates of our 
judgment. Nevertheless I think it must be evident to the most of us that much 
that we ought to do can be done. Without being thought presumptuous, there¬ 
fore, I beg to offer a few remarks, under the above heading, on what appears to 
me to be some of our deficiencies in this respect, and in so doing it is more than 
probable that I shall state much that has already occurred to the minds of many of 
my readers. Still the subject has been seldom canvassed, and is amongst the few 
that have in a measure escaped being talked about by the multifarious hosts of 
horticultural writers of the present day. 
Among the utensils for carrying on the operations of horticulture the flower¬ 
pot is perhaps one of the most indispensable, at the same time the evils attending 
its use under certain circumstances are probably of more consequence than we are 
aware of, or if we are, we are not at sufficient pains to counteract them. I allude 
more particularly to the common system of growing our hothouse plants upon the 
exposed shelves and stages of our stoves and greenhouses. To the most super¬ 
ficial thinker such a system cannot appear otherwise than contrary to the most 
common laws of nature, and not at all in accordance with any plan which the least 
acquaintance with vegetable physiology would teach us to adopt. W e readily 
comprehend the importance of maintaining an equable atmospherical temperature 
in our hothouses, and the evil consequences arising from neglect in such matters 
to the flowers and foliage of the plants. Of how much and even more importance, 
then, must it be to protect the roots with the same care, which are far more sus¬ 
ceptible of injury from such causes ? and yet in the majority of cases they receive 
the least attention. In fact, where plants are grown in the manner before 
referred to, it is hardly possible to suit the conditions of both. It is plain that 
the roots of a plant growing in its natural state cannot be subjected to the same 
variations of temperature and moisture to which the leaves and branches are. The 
nature of the medium in which the roots are developed prevent this, and every 
practical gardener knows the importance of guarding against such evils in the 
operations of gardening. Yet in the case of plants grown in pots exposed to the 
sun and air, these evils have full play, and must affect health to a very consider¬ 
able extent. The pot being an active conductor, and presenting a large radiating 
surface, it is to the ball of soil which it encloses exactly what the wet cloth is to 
the water which the reaper wraps around his pitcher in the harvest field to keep 
the water cool. Let us take an instance. We shall suppose that the plant is 
watered in the morning until the ball of the soil and the pot is moistened 
