90 
TIIIC COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May J1. 
impossible to get the whole thoroughly moistened un¬ 
less you give it a tub of water to stand in for a couple of 
hours or more, according to the size of the pot? 
Then, there is a third, who manages plants very well, 
so long as they aro under the roof of his greenhouse, or 
pit, but cannot be brought to see how extremes of tempe¬ 
rature, and light, and moisture in the atmosphere and at 
the roots affect them. That they are organised, living 
existences, with perspiring and respiring functions, 
| almost as sensitive as his own, is only a pretty theory 
for hoarding-school misses! He laughed outright, and 
] considered it a capital coarse joke, when I spoke of 
j teaching certain folks the importance of this, by 
j whipping them out of bed, and placing them, without 
! Rny habiliments, in a clear, frosty air, with the pensive, 
| cold moon, telling them to shiver, and be wiser in 
future! And yet, what would be considered insanity 
were we to practise it on ourselves, or attempt to do it 
to others, is perpetrated every day upon plants, without 
a shade of a feeling of compunction. For instance—it 
would be an easy matter to shift a few plants in a green¬ 
house, or take two or three out to a cold shed, getting 
them in again as soon as shifted; but that is a 
peddling way of doing things ; there is nothing grandly- 
comprehensive, or largely-systematic about it — and 
forthwith, all the plants that are demanding more 
pot-room are collected in the potting-shed ; and, how¬ 
ever great the changes to which they are subjected, 
there they remain until each and every one of them 
have received their fresh pots, that there may be no 
difficulty in properly arranging them on the shelves, 
and doing all that is necessary at once. Our friend has 
heard of airing soil for potting—of getting it at an 
early season warmed, either by the sup or otherwise, 
that the young roots may receive not the smallest chill; 
but he magnanimously prefers, even on a chilly day, 
going to, and cutting soil from, his compost-heap at 
once; looking upon all such extreme fuss and care as 
bordering upon, and analogous to, the quackery of some 
of our elder, though successful, florists, whose composts 
were made up of an almost unlimited number of in¬ 
gredients, and many of these so infinitesimally small 
in quanity as would quite chime in with the ideas of 
our modern homoeopathists. 
Then, though he has heard and seen enough of the 
case of having w r ater in winter and spring, when 
applied to the roots of plants rather warmer than the 
atmosphere in which they are generally placed, lie has 
been so much in the habit of drinking cold liquids him¬ 
self, on the principle that if there was any strength in 
j them they would warm themselves and him too after- 
! wards, that as soon as one of these potted plants, when 
j standing in the shed, even shows a feeling of languor or 
| drooping, down comes a refresher to them in a deluge of 
j water a little removed from freezing point; and after 
' all this, when the plants afterwards stand still, get 
I diseased, covered with insects, and one set of leaves 
i turn yellow and blotched after another, there is a world 
; of wondering how it all could come about; and a host 
of questions sent to gardening periodicals, to get a 
solution of the enigma; the last part being the best of 
the whole, so far as we scribblers are concerned. 
Then," as a fourth case, and a companion to the last, 
there are little errors committed as to the position and vir- 
, cumstanccs which plauts should have at different periods 
; of thoir growth. So much is this case, that the most 
successful in gardening will, generally, be not so much 
those with large means and conveniences, as those who, 
by earnest study, have got into the knack, as it were, of 
almost intuitively giving their plants the very position 
they require. Let us give one instance of this, bearing 
upon the present question of failure. 
Here are a number of plants taken out of a green - 
] house on this second day of May, to be shifted and taken 
back again. The plants have been enjoying plenty of 
air, and as much sunlight as chooses to come. They arc 
replaced again, and receive just similar treatment. They 
show, sometimes, a little flagging and languor; but the 
only surprise is that they want watering, with all this 
additional pot room, more frequently than before, and 
they get-it; and by-and-by, after several serious mis¬ 
givings, they fill their pots and get on well. Another 
man shifts plants the same day. He has done every¬ 
thing implied in these previous remarks, as to proper 
moisture in the old ball, suitable condition of soil, &c., 
avoiding extremes of temperature. He knows, that how¬ 
ever carefully performed, the shifting of a plant from 
one pot to another always involves less or more of a 
check, and his first care is to mitigate or counteract it. 
lie knows that a closish, warmish, moistish atmosphere 
promotes elongation downwards and upwards, and his 
first care is to secure fresh .rooting and growth for 
his shifted plant. If be cannot place his plants in 
a pit where he can, for a week or two, give them 
these accessories, lie places them together in a part 
oi the greenhouse, where, by removing the air in their 
vicinity, he can keep them closer than before. He 
waters, of course, but before the roots begin to enter 
freely into the new soil, and if a sudden burst of sunshine 
should cause the plants to look distressed, he does not 
fresh soak the soil, when he knows it is wet enough 
already, but he lessens the evaporation of moisture 
from the foliage and stems by just dcuin;/ them all over 
from a syringe; and if even with this, frequently 
repeated, there should still be the smallest signal of 
distress, then, through some of the hottest and sunshining 
hours, he takes means for giving his plants a slight 
shade. By this means the roots will soon interlace the 
fresh soil; no, or little, check will be given ; and ere long, 
these potted plants, gradually inured to it, will flourish 
in the usual temperature and atmosphere of the house. 
All this, it is true, involves thought and consideration; 
but these, and not lucky hits, are generally the attend¬ 
ants of success in all departments of knowledge. 
The same remarks apply to bedding plants. They 
must be exposed to no sudden extremes. If plauts do 
not show it at once they are sure to feel it, and when¬ 
ever a severe check is given there is a great and need¬ 
less demand made at the vital powers to surmount 
it. Some time ago, I saw a number of jrlants next to 
destroyed from being removed from a warm pit; the sun 
having shone upon them for a couple of hours without 
ever being thought about. Had they been shaded, had 
they been removed in dull, warm weather, they would 
have sustained no injury. No possible directions in 
these matters can make up for want of thought. In the 
dog-day weather, which April lately presented us with, 
the water from an open fountain was warm enough for 
the generality of plants even a little tender. What 
would you think of a person, who ought to know better, 
going, as a mere matter of routine, to the same re¬ 
ceptacle after one of these frosty nights that carried 
such dismay among our fruit gardens, and watering 
with that cold water his tender annuals in hotbeds? 
Success greatly depends on never allowing a check to 
be felt. I never go into a shed, and see some dozens of 
pots of cuttings hanging their languishing heads, with¬ 
out a lit of the shivers, and a wish that the poor things 
were placed in thoir suitable quarters. I engross every 
word that Air. Heaton has said about the giving away of 
cuttings. I should have a difficulty in deciding whether 
I had more pleasure in giving or getting. But when a 
person solicits a cutting, and then acts toward'it as if it 
was a piece of dried* hay or straw, trusting to some 
roundabout method of reviving it when hegets home, then, 
I confess, that I ieel it would have been better to have 
saved me and himself the unnecessary trouble, as such cut¬ 
tings seldom find themselves changed into healthy plants. 
