J- 
34 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
I 2. Old Rots are jHst as good as new, only they must be j 
scrupulously clean inside and out, and dry when used. No 
: one deserves to have a flourishing plant who transfers it to 
] a dirty pot, with grains of earth hanging inside, and green 
j slime sticking to the outside. If a plant is placed in a clean 
pot, and becomes well rooted, and you wish to repot it, the 
ball will come out as clean and nice as a cheesecake ; but it 
the pot had been dirty or wet the ball will come out broken, 
i and with the roots strained and broken. For cleaning 
| pots, if not very bad, nothing is fetter than a scrubbing- 
; brush and plenty of clean water." If very dirty and green 
1 they may be soaked in soap water with a little soda in it; 
but after being scrubbed they should pass through clean 
water before being dried. It always betokens slovenliness 
to find dirty pots lying about in all imaginable corners. If 
kept clean and nicely piled up they are always fit for use. 
3. A prejudice has until lately existed in favour of -porous, 
soft-burned, red pots, as though the more porous they are 
i the better they act as a substitute for good drainage, whilst, 
from the evaporation of moisture thus proceeding from the 
sides of the pot, the finest roots are subject to alternations 
j of moisture and dryness, of heat and cold. For window 
purposes, if the pots stand exposed, in general I would prefer 
them to be hard burned, and also of a stone colour, in pre- 
i ference to red or a more dark colour. Some clay burns, 
nearly white, and that I should prefer, as the soil would be 
kept in a more equal temperature, and there would be less 
absorption and radiation of heat. Where the little extra 
expense -was not an object, very neat, strong pots might be 
made of zinc, and the outsides might be painted so as to 
look very ornamental. Almost every plant I have tried suc- 
I ceeds better in a zinc than in an earthenware vessel. I had 
long used worn-out zinc pans for striking cuttings in ; but 
Mr. Fleming was the first to use them for growing large 
ornamental plants in. So far as I am aware iron vessels do 
not answer so well, though I have had plants in them in 
great luxuriance. 
4. Soil. —The most unsuitable, perhaps, is that taken 
from the little gardens in large cities, because it is so im¬ 
pregnated with soot, gas, and other impurities. In the 
country, supposing that a piece of ground has been ridged 
up all winter, a little of the flaky surface scraped off on a 
fine dry day in spring will grow well almost any plant 
usually cultivated in windows, with the addition of a little 
sand or leaf mould. So little sfiffices for window plants, 
however, that it is best to get fresh soil if possible, such as may 
be obtained from the hillocks thrown up on the sides of 
i a highway in loamy districts, consisting of the loams of the 
j neighbourhood and the ground flints of the road, just taking 
! it after removing the grass, and choosing that part where 
the grass is not soft and broad bladed, but stiff and sharp 
j like pins and needles. If you go to a common take the 
same precautions. 1 have helped to point out the best 
places for many a handkerchief full on Primrose Hill and 
Hampstead Heath. If you did not mind a little trouble 
the turfs obtained of such stiff, wiry grass, cut about an inch 
and. a half or two inches thick, would make the best of all 
composts for general purposes if you could keep them a 
year before using them, or if you would take the trouble 
to place the grassy part of the turf on an old shovel, and 
Cellar it well over a bright fire. This allowed to sweeten 
for a memth or so afterwards in a dry, airy place would be 
in capital condition when torn to pieces by the hand, and all 
worms and insects would have been thoroughly done for. 
Heath Soil.— Fibry vegetable matter, mixed with sand 
I and flint, and found in elevated districts where the Heath 
I grows, is indispensable for fine hair-rooted plants, and is 
very valuable for mixing with other manure and soils, chiefly 
for regulating moisture and keeping the compost open. 
Unless in very sandy districts sand will also be useful for 
i keeping the soil open. The best is silver sand, so frequently 
advertised, found so plentifully at Reigate, several parts of 
Bedfordshire, and elsewhere. The next best is that which is 
obtained in gullies in the highways after heavy rain, consist¬ 
ing, in fact, of the ground stones of the road. When river 
or pit sand is used it is desirable to wash it in a tub, and 
i then dry it, which gets rid of much mineral and other 
impurities. The washing is effected by stirring the sand 
well in plenty of water, and pouring off the water repeatedly, 
the sand remaining at the bottom of the tub. All these 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, Ariux 21, 1857. 
matters are done sooner than I describe them, and the 
extra care may be expected to be followed by extra success. 
Soils that would grow plants very well if they were planted 
in them in the open garden in summer may not suit plants 
in pots. If that soil is ratliev sandy and open the roots will 
extend freely. Though rather dense and loamy the bulk ot soil 
in the garden prevents many of those alternate shrin lungs and 
Spellings which would be hurtful in a pot, because the shrink¬ 
ing up when dry might leave ant empty space round the sides 
of the pot, to the injury of the best roots there, and requiting 
some trouble fo get the whole thoroughly moistened again, 
lienee the importance of using a soil rather sandy than 
otherwise. The following mode> will help you to determine 
the soil’s nature. Place a little bit ot the soil in the 
palm of your left hand; wet it, and work it into a paste with 
the finger of the right hand. If it feels soft and unctuous 
under the finger you may add a third of sand or other open 
matter. If it feels gritty and rough little or no sand will 
be necessary. 
Manures.— The heath soil I have alluded to not only 
keeps other soil open, but from the vegetable matter it con¬ 
tains acts as the best assistant to most window plants. The 
next best is leaf mould, formed of decayed tree leaves of 
the deciduous kinds. Almost all may be used when 
eighteen months old except the Oak, which should always 
be above two years. When pretty well decomposed they 
should be kept in a dry plqce to ma ke them sweet and arrest 
decay. The next best is cowdung, collected in dry cakes 
from a pasture, piled up and kept dry and open before being 
used for a twelvemonth at least. Hotbed dung, however 
rotten, sheep dung, &c., should be used very sparingly, and 
more in the way of surfacings than mixture with the soil. 
The soil when used should neither be dry nor wet. If 
very dry you will never wet it thoroughly without setting 
the plant in a tub. If very wet it will go together like a 
brick, and it will require great care afterwards to bring it to 
a healthy, open state. The following will be a sort erf 
guide. Take a handful of your soil and squeeze it vei,y 
hard. Unclasp your fingers, and leave it in the palm of 
your hand. If it remains in a piece, showing the marks of 
your fingers, it is damp enough. If it falls down as soon as 
you unclasp your fingers, without leaving or retaining the 
marks of the pressure, it is too dry. If you can lay it down 
on your potting board somewhat carelessly without its 
crumbling to pieces it is a sure sign that it is too wet. You 
will soon find it out after a few experiments, and know when 
it may be necessary to dry more, or add drier soil, or to use 
the rose of a watering-pot and several turnings with a 
trowel or spade in order to make it moist enough. Thou¬ 
sands of plants have been ruined from inattention to these 
simplicities. 
Unless for very small plants in small pots the soil should 
not be fine. A sieve should be rarely used. The roughness 
of the soil should be in proportion to the size of the shift 
and the size of the pot. For instance, in a four-inch pot 
we should like a good portion of the soil to be as rough as 
peas. In a six-inch pet we would in addition have many 
pieces as large as beans, and in a twelve-inch pot a good 
many the size of walnuts ; and to promote openness of tex¬ 
ture, knowing that even the soil most full of vegetable fibre 
will run together as the fibre decays, we would use, whenever 
we could get them, little bits of charcoal and pieces of sandy, 
open freest©ne mixed with the soil, or put in as the potting 
proceeded. 
One word more as respects soil. It should not only be 
moderately dry and rough, but well aired, and fully as 
high in temperature as that enjoyed by the plant to be 
transferred to it, so that the roots, even the finest of them, 
are not chilled, this heat being imparted by the direct rays 
of the sun, or from being placed near a fire if necessary. 
5. Drainage. —This is the next thing to be attended to, 
and will ever form an element of success in all cases where 
a plant is to remain several months in the same pot. The 
best mode of covering the hole in the bottom of the pot, I 
believe, would be to have semicircular caps of zinc to place 
over them: no worms could then enter from below. The 
next best is a rounded piece of broken pot, with the convex 
side downwards, and then smaller pieces placed over that, 
with the concave side downwards, a layer of smaller pieces 
still, terminating with the finest, about the size of Radish 
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