Page:The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory.djvu/64

58 wonderfully rich in leaf and flower, in pots so small that, like the king who was puzzled by the apple dumpling, one might wonder how the roots were ever got into so tiny a receptacle. The amateur may take lessons from both, but he is not to follow either, for the market system of plant growing is not adapted in all particulars for the private garden. But if you will purchase one of these luxurious plants, you will find that it is in a new pot, and that the soil is sandy, and will not acquire the texture of mud or paste, even when heavily watered. If you turn the plant out of the pot, you will find that the roots form a tough fibrous mass that have touched the pot all round, and, at the bottom, are closely wound round some pieces of broken brick or flower pot that, in the first instance, were carefully packed so as to afford instant escape to every drop of water in excess of what the soil in the pot would retain without being actually wet. The leafy part of a plant must have light and air, and the roots must have air and moisture. The plant that was potted in mud was killed by suffocation, for the texture of the soil prevented the access of air to the roots. The beautiful market plant was nourished by air as well as water at the roots, and it was encouraged to make a free growth before coming into flower, which, in the first place, ensured size; and then it was allowed to get pot-bound, which promoted the production of an abundance of flowers; and to make amends for the comparatively small amount of soil in the pot, it was supplied from the first and always with soft water slightly charged with some fertilizing agent, and always warm as the air the plant was growing in. There were other circumstances that conduced to its perfection, but these we will not inquire into, because, as remarked above, the amateur cultivator would not be prudent in adopting the practice of the market growers in extenso, even if that were possible, as, generally speaking, it is not.

It is, therefore, important to master the art of growing plants in pots, and for the practice of this art a certain amount of machinery is necessary, which we shall now hastily describe.

is the workshop, storehouse, and tool repository. It is a good plan to place it so as to cover the stoke-hole, and thus make a snug place of it in winter. It may be a quite rough affair, but it must be large enough and weatherproof, and quite light. Old window-frames and doors may be